Allianz Kai Frankfurt
- A Case Study of Digital Building
by omake, 2005
Index
Introduction
1 Building Project: Outline
2 Digital technologies
2.1 The Challenge
2.2 Rationale: Integration & control & Standardize
2.3 Methods & Implementations
3 Architectural Impact & Future development
3.1 Design
3.2 Management
3.3 Performance
3.4 Use
Conclusion
Reference
Introduction
Intercom and building communication and management facilities have always been a constituent part of the digital building technology in Germany in the past decades. With the rapid development of semiconductor technology, many products of high performance and reliability are emerging from this field, whose applications are much beyond the conventional building communication facilities. The application of components controllable through software and the use of effective bus technology have laid the foundation for this development. This paper will use a case study on the Allianz Kai building to indicate the role of those digital technologies and their architectural impact. Utilization of these digital technologies and its integration into the modern telecommunication and data network will also be covered.
1 Building Project: Outline
Allianz Kai building was a office building finished in July 2002, the new administrative headquarters of Frankfurter Versicherungs AG, located at the Friedensbrücke across the Main, accommodates more than 2,500 staff on altogether 105,000 square meters of floor space.
Faced with a highly exposed site at the chief southern access road to the city, the designer, Architect Joachim H. Faust, aimed at creating a building that defines the transition from the suburban accumulation of residential buildings to the singular and self-contained high-rises of Frankfurt. A stone façade faces the street and harmonizes both the scale and the material of the new structure with the buildings on the opposite side.
2 Digital technologies
2.1 The challenge
The first problem to face is the integration of information based on technologies with different language. The challenge is to integrate all those existing and new “information islands” of current and new applications into a functioning utility automation system. Control center need to know the overall operating conditions but the corporate culture is often resistant to telephone and fax communication, thus, information flow between facilities is limited. Utilities use the standards as a bridge between power plants, substations, and the control center, and to communicate within substations. They now have a broader perspective with more information on overall operating conditions such as change of loads, power production schedules, and other plant information.
In Allianz Kai project, 15 different building systems and functions were to be integrated including. It required 17 large DDC panels controlling more than 41,500 data points. (See following figure)
| Architectural Devices | Data point |
1 | System for HVAC | 5500 |
2 | System for fire and smoke exhaust system | 2000 |
3 | Interface to the steam supply system | — |
4 | Lighting control system | 25000 |
5 | CCTV system | — |
6 | Fire alarm system | 5000 |
7 | Burglar alarm system | 2200 |
8 | Access control system | — |
9 | Internal and external alarm system | 1000 |
10 | Intercom system | — |
11 | Parking and watchman tour system | 800 |
12 | Energy metering system | — |
13 | Emergency door lock system and remote operation of gates and main entrance doors | — |
14 | Elevator monitoring | — |
15 | Information and communication systems | — |
| total | 41500 |
Another issue might be the time limitation. Entire building system need to be done within three months, including installation, programming, and commissioning.
How to coordinate all sub-systems and manage them? In this case, digital technology was wildly used to meet all the challenges for this building project. Other than time-consuming custom development, proven and readily available standard solutions were sought respecting the tight schedule.
2.2 Rationale: Integration & control & Standardize
For the building to function as an integrated system, the final technological ingredient required is a network. This network needs, ideally, to be real-time, and to have simple device interfaces comparable with the cheap nature of existing building devices such as light switches.
——Sue Sharples, Vic Callaghan, Graham Clarke (1999)
The idea to integrate all the system required in this project is to use TCP/IP and the Internet based technology. By using TCP/IP protocol as the communication conventions it is possible to connect or internet work different hardware technologies. Comer (1988) stated in his book: “The internet technology hides the details of network hardware, and permits computers to communicate independent of their physical network connections”.
Comparing with proprietary communication systems base on one specific vendor (See following figure), the internet technology made the “open system inter-connection” available. It has been designed to facilitate communication among machines with diverse hardware architectures with different network hardware, applications, and operating systems.
While integrate different systems mentioned in the context, such as HVAC systems and temperature sensors, as well as devices and appliances located within the complex, monitoring and control of those architectural devices came to be the point to achieve convenience, security providing, and energy saving. “To facilitate the control”, Scott Howe (1996) mentioned, “There must be a way to communicate the intentions and to actuate them on the device. Both of these require special hardware at both ends which can range in sophistication depending on the work to be done. The controlling of various devices is known as Direct Digital Control (DDC) technology”.
Meanwhile, digital standard of technologies provides a platform to achieve efficiency. Following ASHRAE[①] Standard Project Committee’s “charter”, the BACnet protocol was first published in 1995 as a set of standardized methods to achieve interoperability between and among HVAC direct digital control systems and other computerized building automation equipment. Modeled on the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) basic reference model, BACnet has facilitated interoperability and provided the ability to select the different vendors for particular task, and it was wildly used in Allianz Kai building.
2.3 Methods & Implementations
A integrated digital Facility Management System was finally finished in Allianz Kai building. Following figure indicated the structure of entire system:
Seven of the building automation systems (BAS) were integrated by EIB-BACnet gateways. These included:
1 | DDC system for HVAC |
2 | DDC system for fire and smoke exhaust system |
3 | Lighting and motorized window shade systems |
4 | Intercom system |
5 | Fire system |
6 | Burglar alarm system |
7 | M-Bus energy metering system |
Other systems were tied in either directly by means of a virtual terminal interface or via a BACnet OPC server or Modbus/BACnet interface:
1 | Interface to the steam supply system |
2 | CCTV system |
3 | Access control system |
4 | Internal and external alarm system |
5 | Parking and watchman tour system |
6 | Emergency door lock system and remote operation of gates and main entrance doors |
7 | Elevator monitoring |
8 | Information and communication systems |
Taking full advantage of the “multi-vendor” aspect of BACnet, the selection of the DDC controllers came to be quite easy. BACnet unitary controllers were selected for the control of 2,000 fire dampers via a BACnet MS/TP network and 4,000 HVAC data points over an ARCNET LAN.
Direct Web access to all data was provided by a Web server that used BACnet/IP over Ethernet to talk to the field equipment. Meanwhile, to enable normal Web browsers as workstations, all DIN-graphics[②] had to be created in a Web-accessible format.
3 Architectural Impact & Future development
Through this case, it could be indicate that the introduction to building control systems of networks and intelligent agent might be one of the most important things that strongly changed the way we design a building. It affects today’s architecture in many aspects.
3.1 Design
A house is a machine for living in.
——Le Corbusier, (1921)
Composing with numerous sensors, effectors and control units, intelligent buildings, were designed in such a way as to effectively form a ‘machine’. In theory, a wide range of sensors and controllers could be utilized within a standard. In resent years, several Standard Building Systems were produced. It strongly affected the way of architectural design. By all means, the ‘industrialization’ of building system design was achieved.
A great deal of groundwork has been done to coordinate the building industry infrastructure. Whether BACnet and other building automation technologies succeed at changing standard residential construction, it is clear that at least some of the innovations are already entering the marketplace, albeit in fragmentary forms. Those achievements brought the design process with efficiency. In the case of Allianz Kai building, entire building system was finished within three months. It was clear to designers, that given the 12-week timeframe, a traditional contracting process was out of the question. As a result, the project was divided into several more manageable teams of smaller subprojects. These took advantage of existing control cabinets and cabling and included the EIB interface, fire alarm system, burglar alarm system, 17 DDC panels, 69 fire damper controllers, workstations for HVAC, EIB and specialized subsystems, and the security management system.
After successfully completion of each subproject achieved, design groups put their projects back together. Supporting by the industrial standard, the resulting coherent system would be expected to seamlessly provide all required interoperable functions.
Intranet-Web solution was used in this task after building all of the workstation graphics in a Web-capable format and the database in a JDBC-accessible (Java Database Connectivity) format. It provided a suitable solution for the KM over teams.
Teams were assembled to deal with each subproject consisting of switchgear technicians, electricians, and control and HVAC technicians. The division of the overall project into smaller subtasks and the subsequent reassembly of the project “puzzle” demanded an innovative system configuration. Here was the biggest risk of the whole project: it would not be possible to prove the interoperability and required response time performance of the reassembled “puzzle” until about six days before the acceptance date, at which time further testing and corrections would no longer be possible.
BACnet and other building automation technologies require widespread changes to the way buildings are made, changes that call for cooperation among the manufacturers of construction components, utility suppliers, and regulatory agencies that oversee the building industry. With the rapid changes in electronic and materials technology, it may well be that new standard building technologies will become obsolete by the time it can gain a footing. Providers for cable television, telephone, and new communications services are struggling to define technological standards, and the ownership of copper wire and fiber optic cable networks to each dwelling has been a valuable resource held by local telephone and electric companies. These organizational changes in the urban infrastructure may well have an impact on the way housing is wired and cabled for power and communications. The new information infrastructure being developed offers the possibility of broader participation in civic and community activities, access to educational resources, as well as work, shopping and entertainment. Higher bandwidth communication technologies are being developed to provide electronic community town meetings, distance learning, home shopping, and video on demand. However, it remains to be seen whether the technology will enhance and enrich the lives of citizens.
Finally, even after technical and organizational challenges are met, many will find a fine line between an intelligent building that maintains comfort levels and an overbearing house that monitors the inhabitants too closely.
3.2 Management
When a complex building was built, managing various layers of change came to be the key to ensuring that change takes place in an orderly manner. Different levels of change become the responsibility of different people. To emphasize that importance, Brand (1994) highlighted in his book: “The layering also defines how a building relates to people. Organizational levels of responsibility match the pace levels. The building interacts within individuals at level of Stuff; with the tenant organization or family at the Space Plan level; with the Landlord via the Services (and slower levels) which must be maintained; with the public via the Skin and entry; and with the whole community through city or county decisions about the footprint and volume of the Structure and restrictions on the Site”.
In this case, entire complex building supervision and security management system was laid out as a multivendor system. All of the required functions for building automation, such as the graphical display of all the various systems and the extensive security management system, could be accessed in a completely integrated manner. Each software package was able to make full use of its “best-of-breed” functionality without limitations. Workstation navigation through the system is based on building floor plans and the specific building system with the hierarchy: system type - building area - floor - system data point. The navigation does not require knowing to which I/O or data server a particular system has been assigned.
Comparing with the BACnet based FM system in Allianz Kai building different BAS standard might be used with in a single building. Following is the FM system of Shiodome building, Japan, with a combined approach of BAS standard. It clearly implicates the effort approaching flexibility within different standards.
3.3 Performance
The choice of network architecture can have a significant impact on project costs and system performance. In this case, four of BACnet network options were used as follows:
- Ethernet
- ARCNET
- MS/TP
- PTP
Obviously, this choice did not cover all of the network options, even on BACnet’s menu. However, it indicated that the choice should only depend on the required performance of project. As the president of Innovation AG, Karl Leber (2002) announced, “The most expensive, high-performance network does not always result in better overall system performance. Likewise, the more cost-effective network solutions do not necessarily result in lower performance if they are appropriately applied”.
Dealing entire building system as a group of Layers, or Units, depending on different standard, the idea behind is to enhance the performance of each unit to form a building which is “akin to human intelligence”.
However, In this case, entire buildings seems to be developed as a computer-based systems, akin to robots, gathering information from a variety of sensors, and using web-based techniques to determine appropriate control actions. Digital BMS was set to govern the building environment so as to optimize energy-consumption, user comfort, safety, and monitoring-functions.
3.4 Use
In a typical single vendor system, “Hand-Off-Auto” switches and indicators, such as the HVAC DDC controllers, needed to be equipped with a local display for manual operation and program editing. But in a multi-vender system, vendors sell the sensors and controller units to connect the security system, lights, telephone, and other devices to a personal computer. In this case, the installed Web technology in Allianz Kai building offered a cost-effective and convenient solution. Simple flat panel displays were installed with built-in industrial PCs that only needed a Web browser to visit the entire DDC network and access each controller’s displays, operation and program editing functions. With support of this technology, access to graphics, DDC data points, and DDC programs. Alarms and trends are available.
In the same time, unified workstation screen was created for the operator to tell which software package is used at any one time. When system or database maintenance is performed, it is necessary to bypass the specific I/O or data server that is assigned to a particular automation system and access the hardware components directly. It is possible to quickly go to any piece of equipment using a Windows Explorer-like data tree display. User authorization is implemented with the input of a user name and password. As it was mentioned in context, the integration of digital technologies in Allianz Kai building is based on an IPv4 network. It seems that, for each vendor to promote its uniqueness and retain its customers, it may choose to implement proprietary mechanisms, but that does not help a lot in promoting net-enabled building appliances.
IPv6, well known by its huge Address Space (from 4.3×109 in IPv4 to 3.4×1038 in IPv6) and Network Security (standard module IP sector adaptation & Secured end-to-end communication), brought a opportunity of regeneration for Building Management Systems. Other benefits from IPv6 such as Plug & Play, QoS and Real Time Communication, Multicast (1 to N Communication), Mobile IPv6 could also improved entire system with flexibility and efficiency. In an IPv6-based BMS, every facility in the building could have a unique IP address which is accessible all over the world. Remote Maintenance, Remote Control, Remote Monitoring, and Data Communication could finally achieve through on the ground of IPv6 standard. Those achievements will level the ground for a “third generation” intelligent building.
Conclusion
In resent 20 years, Intelligent Buildings based on computer technology coordinated and developed together with significant developments such as the introduction to building control systems of embedded processors, dedicated networks and intelligent agent approaches. The development and application of net-based digital technologies came to be the basic factor behind those efforts, which greatly increased the ease of operation of facility management. Meanwhile, supported by proven and readily available standard solutions, design process of building system could be packed into smaller sub-projects, so that a collaborative work between teams could be well operated.
Reference
Barnes, M., H. Edwards, D. Rose, P. Garner (1998) Lifestyle Monitoring- Technology for Supported Independence, IEE Computing & Control Engineering Journal, August, 12:14
Brand, S. (1994) How Buildings Learn, New York, Viking
Bushby, T. (1996) Testing conformance and interoperability of BACnet building automation products, CIBSE/ASHRAE Joint National Conference
Comer, D. (1988) Internetworking with TCP/IP: Principles, Protocols and Architecture, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Fountoukidis, P. (2004) Adaptive Management Of Emerging Battlefield Network, MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, March
Fujiwara, N. (2005) IPv6 and Facility Management, Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. 02/24
Howe, A. (1997) Internet-Based Remote Facility Management, Kajima Corporation
Krikke, J. (2005) T-Engine: Japan's Ubiquitous Computing Architecture Is Ready for Prime Time, IEEE Pervasive Computing, 4: 2, 4-9
Leber, K. (2002) BACnet’s Success In Germany, ASHRAE, October
Newman, N. (1996) Integrating Building Automation and Control Products Using the BACnet Protocol, ASHRAE Journal, Nov: 36-42
Sakamura, K., R. Sprague, (1989) The TRON Project, Byte, 14: 4, p292-301
Sharples, S., V. Callaghan, G. Clarke (1999) A Multi-Agent Architecture For Intelligent Building Sensing and Control, International Sensor Review Journal, May
[①] ASHRAE: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
[②] DIN: German national standards organization. DIN-graphics: graphics using DIN standard symbols for system components
小结：“数码建筑”这个概念不仅仅停留在设计&设备环节的数码化；可以说，这里的“建筑”已经被延伸，甚至被掉了包，变成了“系统工程（system Architecture）”；虽然建筑设计师不承认，其实在新型建筑的智能化数字化进程中，软件/系统工程师逐渐成为主导。
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