User(s)

The integration of users in the design and operation of a building is fundamental. Firstly, the public outside the building are by number the most frequent users of a building due to its public appearance. In addition, the user’s activities are creating the demand for a city or a building. As their activities change over time, it is essential to consider adaptive structures and services in shifting scales.

Lifecycle

The consideration of lifecycle and its assessment is important in order to get a holistic understanding of a project in the built environment. When considering single building parts, contemporary tools allow the estimation of its value. For elements sucjh as windows, walls and buildings, the financial value can be calculationed precisesly by integrating contextual information and specific lifecycle knowledge.

New material such as pervasive computing has a different development of their lifecycle-value than structural building elements. Digitally networked objects and their services can raise their value due to information mining. Because of the fast evolution of new hardware and services, pervasive computing can get of no or negative value when laid off. Odilo Schoch’s doctoral thesis “Ubicomp Kaizen” focussed on this aspects in order to develop sustaining services in the built environment.

The diagram below shows financial value and lifecycles of building elements during building operation. Contemporary and future digitally networked services have an unpredictable development of lifecycle-value.

The image below shows the project Villa Garbald which integrated digitally networked services such as data-network and smart building control in order to allow a soft usage of the old ühysical structure. the building is a listed object in Switzerland. Odilo Schoch was responsable for the media technology of the old and new buildng.