Design & Build
The Game-Changing Potential of Game Engines for Building Design
May 23rd, 2024Smarter Buildings Demand Smart Construction Procurement
April 30th, 2024
Net Zero Buildings Explored: Cambridge University’s Civil Engineering Building
The University of Cambridge, in the UK, is known as one of the leading academic institutions in the world and maintaining that reputation in modern times demands progressive strategies such as net zero buildings development. Completed in 2019, the university’s Civil Engineering building has become a beacon of sustainable intentions within a major redevelopment of […]
Breaking the Shackles: Overcoming Resistance to Change in Smart Buildings
The commercial building industry has been notoriously slow in its adoption of new smart buildings technologies, struggling with a deep-seated inertia that has seen innovation lag other market verticals. Bound by the shackles of long-established practices and the burden of decades-old infrastructure and systems, it remains highly resistant to disruption. Complex supply chains, entrenched ecosystems, […]
#Podcast 19: Why has an Architectural Firm Acquired a Smart Building Integrator?
In our Podcast series “Sh*t You Wish Your Building Did!”, Memoori explores the intersection between technology and commercial real estate through interesting conversations. Last month, architectural and interior design services company Aukett Swanke Group (ASG) confirmed the acquisition of smart building integrator company Torpedo Factory Group (TFG), in a deal that hints at a new potential […]
Bridging the Design-Operate Divide in Commercial Buildings
This week, architectural and interior design services company Aukett Swanke Group (ASG) has confirmed the acquisition of smart building technology company Torpedo Factory Group (TFG), in a deal that hints at a new potential trend in the commercial buildings sector. While architects have used M&A to broaden their technological capabilities in the past, few deals […]
Discovering Where BIM Ends & Digital Twins Begin
Building Information Modelling (BIM) and digital twins are two important technological concepts that can, at times, be considered quite separate or be used interchangeably in the buildings sector. Both concepts could be defined as “a digital representation of assets, processes and systems in a physical space,” yet they tend to be used by very different […]
“Do It Once, But Do It Properly”: Overcoming Tech Obsolescence in Smart Buildings
Technology evolves quickly but buildings live a long time. That is the fundamental issue the smart building sector needs to address today. If we are to turn our bricks-and-mortar structures into digital environments, then we must develop a futureproof approach to upgrading technology at minimal cost and disruption, and within the long lifespan of a […]
It Wouldn’t Be the First Time that Disease Reshaped our Built Environment
Are the open-plan office, co-working, and hotdesking all dead? Is remote working the new normal? Will our commercial real estate ever be the same again? These are the questions swirling around the buildings industry as we look ahead to the mysterious post-COVID landscape. “We are, at this moment, probably prone to overthinking a pandemic’s influence […]
Taking the Next Step in Standardized Construction for an “Office 1.0” Target
“The model the [construction] industry has defaulted to is based around design and build, where responsibility to complete the building design is passed down the supply chain. It has been driven by a desire to protect investment returns and transfer risk. But it has become a barrier to innovation,” says Neil Pennell, head of design […]