My first Publication Arup_BuildingDesign2020_v2 | Page 34

Systems
“At the moment there’s an enthusiasm for all things smart, how we’re
going to capture all this data… but to what end? In several years you’ll
have a lot of sites where no systems are talking, and then you’ll have
the exemplars of data collection shining out, where the data is open and
operable in as many systems as possible.”
—Damien McCloud, IT & Comms Systems
3.1 Growth
Current drivers in building design include
urbanisation at the global scale, and an
expanding constellation of resources
for collecting and processing design and
performance data at the building and
systemic levels.
Urbanisation in the developed and
developing world alike will pose design
challenges requiring unprecedented levels
of cross-project integration, as well as
heightening pressure for resource efficiency
in construction and operation.
While the necessity to design buildings
for long-term relevance is becomingly
increasingly apparent, the retrofit of existing
building stock will be an equally critical
workstream for a resource-limited future.
Emerging economies will come to
represent a greater proportion of global
design work, both in terms of design and
labor capacity as well as in terms of the
quantity, scale, and type of building projects
taking place in countries with growing
populations, rising middle classes, and
expanding connectivity to the developed
world.
Left: The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Design Hub
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