New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 34/01C | Page 88

increases employee productivity by 10%, and
gives landlords the ability to charge 5% more for
premium property rentals of these innovative new
buildings.
To provide a more accurate ROI analysis on
Buildings of the Future, a three-dimensional
approach is needed – one which presents the ele-
ments of design as interconnected pieces of a living
and dynamic puzzle.
Buildings of the Future must be designed to meet
future expectations, while avoiding wasted space,
inefficient designs and inflexible storeys.
Long-term thinking
That ROI model needs to reflect the importance
of designing buildings for the long term and look at
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both the financial and non-financial benefits of intel-
ligent buildings, while maintaining design flexibility to
plan for a rapidly changing future.
Long-term thinking can help companies avoid
potential disruption. The importance of designing for
the longer term and for changing space require-
ments was never better illustrated than when
architect Norman Foster admitted he had got it
wrong with Apple’s Campus 2 – its massive under-
ground carpark for 11,000 cars doesn’t allow for
retrofitting into habitable spaces if garages become
less important and transportation patterns evolve.
Legislation can also present significant disrup-
tion for those who don’t invest in the right tools and
methodologies from the outset.
For example, the European Commission has
Below:As workspaces become
more flexible, ideas around
optimal use of space and
facilities need to be redefined
and communicated. To facilitate
this, sensors throughout the
8-storey Aurecon Centre in
Melbourne collect data that
can be used to recommend
modifications to the building.
Right:At the Transport Accident
Commission headquarters,
Aurecon aimed to keep reducing
energy consumption with
continuous building tuning –
leading to a 50% reduction in the
building’s carbon footprint.