The pace of technological development continues to astound even the most ardent innovation champions. The BD+C editorial team is on a mission to track and evaluate the latest tech tools and trends that show promise for widespread AEC adoption. Here are three compelling developments that we will be watching closely in 2019:
1. The rise (finally!) of 5G. Years of hype and buzz around the fifth generation of cellular mobile communications has led to more apathy than enthusiasm over 5G networks. But 2019 promises to be the year in which 5G finally gets off the ground. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon are all working on 2019-20 launches for 5G network offerings in parts or all of the U.S. It promises new levels of connectivity and unprecedented speeds. (Latency—the time delay required for information to travel across a network—is expected to drop from 100 milliseconds with today’s 4G networks, to just one millisecond with 5G.) This will lead to breakthrough wireless applications that rely on “real-time” communication of data. Think IoT, edge computing, smart buildings, and wearable tech applications.
2. Cheaper, smarter, multifunctional sensors. Wireless sensor technologies like MEMS ultrasonic sensors—combined with more sophisticated analytics platforms—show promise for widespread adoption of smart building operations and advanced project team operations and collaboration. Next-gen sensor technologies can collect multiple pieces of data (CO2, light, temperature, etc.) while supporting a critical role in a building’s operations (e.g., occupancy sensor). They are cheaper, longer lasting, more accurate, more robust, and faster than the previous generations of sensors.
3. “Anything as a service.” We’ve all heard of “software as a service.” But did you know there are firms that offer “analytics as a service,” “artificial intelligence as a service,” “cybersecurity as a service”? These companies are part of the cloud computing boom, and they are disrupting traditional business models by providing digital tools, services, and expertise on a subscription basis. These platforms allow AEC firms to “tinker” with advanced tools and methods—and also consult with some of the industry’s brightest minds—while minimizing risk and resources.
CALLING ALL ‘AEC INNOVATORS’!
BD+C is launching a recognition program, AEC Innovators, to honor the industry’s brightest minds and most accomplished innovators and disruptors. We’re looking for individuals who 1.) have developed something tangible, something groundbreaking—design idea, app, business tool, construction method, breakthrough material, business approach, real estate model—for their firm or client, and 2.) can talk about ROI/results and provide real-world examples of its application. The 2019 AEC Innovators will be featured in the August 2019 issue of BD+C.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
200 Fillmore
Built in 1963, the 32,000-sf 200 Fillmore building in Denver housed office and retail in a drab, outdated, and energy-splurging shell—a “style” made doubly disastrous by 200 Fillmore's function as the backdrop for a popular public plaza and outdoor café called “The Beach.
| Aug 11, 2010
Integrated Project Delivery builds a brave, new BIM world
Three-dimensional information, such as that provided by building information modeling, allows all members of the Building Team to visualize the many components of a project and how they work together. BIM and other 3D tools convey the idea and intent of the designer to the entire Building Team and lay the groundwork for integrated project delivery.
| Aug 11, 2010
High Tech High International used to be a military facility
High Tech High International, reconstructed inside a 1952 Navy metal foundry training facility, incorporates the very latest in teaching technology with a centerpiece classroom known as the UN Theater, which is modeled after the UN chambers in New York. The interior space, which looks more like a hip advertising studio than a public high school, provides informal, flexible seating areas, abunda...
| Aug 11, 2010
Putting the Metal to the Petal
The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine was founded in 1985, but the organization didn't have a permanent home until May 2008. That's when the Michael Klahr Center, which houses the HHRC, opened on the Augusta campus of the University of Maine. The design, by Boston-based architects Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott, was selected from among more than 200 entries in a university-s...
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: BIM/Information Technology
4. Architectural Visualization through Gaming Technology Before 3D walkthroughs for client presentations were popular, HKS manager of Advanced Technologies Pat Carmichael and his team were working to marry gaming engines with 3D building models. "What's being tasked to us more and more is not just to show design, but to show function," Carmichael said.
| Aug 11, 2010
The softer side of Sears
Built in 1928 as a shining Art Deco beacon for the upper Midwest, the Sears building in Minneapolis—with its 16-story central tower, department store, catalog center, and warehouse—served customers throughout the Twin Cities area for more than 65 years. But as nearby neighborhoods deteriorated and the catalog operation was shut down, by 1994 the once-grand structure was reduced to ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Jefferson Would Be Proud
The Virginia State Capitol Building—originally designed by Thomas Jefferson and almost as old as the nation itself—has proudly served as the oldest continuously used Capitol in the U.S. But more than two centuries of wear and tear put the historical landmark at the head of the line for restoration.
| Aug 11, 2010
Let There Be Daylight
The new public library in Champaign, Ill., is drawing 2,100 patrons a day, up from 1,600 in 2007. The 122,600-sf facility, which opened in January 2008, certainly benefits from amenities that the old 40,000-sf library didn't have—electronic check-in and check-out, new computers, an onsite coffeehouse.
| Aug 11, 2010
American Tobacco Project: Turning over a new leaf
As part of a major revitalization of downtown Durham, N.C., locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company decided to transform the American Tobacco Company's derelict 16-acre industrial plant, which symbolized the city for more than a century, into a lively and attractive mixed-use development. Although tearing down and rebuilding the property would have made more economic sense, the greater goal ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Healthcare
11. Operating Room-Integrated MRI will Help Neurosurgeons Get it Right the First Time A major limitation of traditional brain cancer surgery is the lack of scanning capability in the operating room. Neurosurgeons do their best to visually identify and remove the cancerous tissue, but only an MRI scan will confirm if the operation was a complete success or not.
