Perceptions of built environment professionals on intelligent office buildings: The interplay between technology, design for sustainability and responsiveness

Gündoğan, Handan; Dikmen, İrem; Atasoy, Güzide

Abstract

The confluence of technological advances, climate mitigation efforts, and evolving user expec-
tations has significantly transformed how the built environment is conceptualized, designed, and
delivered; Intelligent Buildings (IBs) are not an exception. The systematic literature review
revealed that there have been limited studies exploring the perspectives of Building Environment
(BE) professionals on IBs, along with divergent emerging descriptions of IBs, creating an ambi-
guity for their practical realization. To address this gap, this study aims to explore the intelligence
in office buildings based on professionals’ interpretations and its practical implementation
through design features. An exploratory study was carried out by conducting semi-structured
interviews with 63 domain professionals, and qualitative content analysis was utilized to iden-
tify emerging themes during the interviews. Nine themes were identified for describing Intelligent
Office Buildings (IOBs). Professionals’ perceptions were found to vary according to their na-
tionality and profession. The original contribution of this study is that by reflecting the per-
spectives of building environment professionals worldwide through interviews and revisiting the
existing debates in the literature, the current IOB design approach is delineated. The core IOB
concept evolves around the occupant-oriented approach and the integration of climate-responsive
design strategies with a balanced level of technology uniquely serving a well-defined purpose by
taking advantage of regional conditions. Research findings have theoretical contributions by
unravelling the IOB concept and design features, shedding light on the dual roles of technology
and design principles. These findings on guiding principles for the design of IOBs can provide a
valuable framework for BE practitioners.

Citation

Gündoğan, H., Dikmen, İ., & Atasoy, G. (2024). Perceptions of built environment professionals on intelligent office buildings: The interplay between technology, design for sustainability and responsiveness. Journal of Building Engineering, 95, Article 110088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2024.110088

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 28, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jul 2, 2024
• Publication Date: Oct 15, 2024
• Deposit Date: Aug 7, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 3, 2026
• Journal: Journal of Building Engineering
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 95
• Article Number: 110088
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2024.110088