Work

Ten questions concerning the future of intelligent buildings

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Buildings face growing pressure to reduce energy use and carbon emissions while maintaining healthy, resilient indoor environments. Conventional automation often optimises isolated functions and cannot coordinate environmental, operational, and occupant requirements across building systems and lifecycles. Intelligent buildings (IBs) can address these limitations through integrated sensing, analytics, adaptive controls, and responsive materials, but effective implementation remains essential. This paper examines how IBs address these pressures and identifies the conditions required for responsible building intelligence. The ten questions are organised into four thematic clusters covering foundations, technologies, performance, and ethical and social implications. The paper examines these questions across building information modelling and digital twins, ubiquitous technologies, smart materials, operational systems, grid flexibility, Industry 5.0, and data responsibility. The discussion demonstrates that these technologies can improve coordination, energy flexibility, maintenance, indoor environmental quality, and lifecycle decision-making. However, technology alone does not make a building intelligent or guarantee measurable environmental and human outcomes. Effective IBs require interoperable systems, reliable data, clear performance objectives, cybersecurity, maintainability, accountable governance, and meaningful occupant participation. Neighbourhood coordination is important because shared energy assets, local grid constraints, and environmental exposures cannot always be managed by individual dwellings. Accordingly, IBs should be assessed through measurable outcomes, including comfort, health, safety, energy flexibility, resilience, privacy, and long-term value. The resulting research agenda supports human-centred, low-carbon, grid-responsive, resilient, and ethically governed intelligent residential buildings.

Source: Building and Environment

DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.115189