Course Reflection

The title of this class is “Intelligent Buildings” and that is exactly what we focused in throughout the term.  From the beginning of the term, we explored what Intelligent Buildings entails and how they are becoming popular in the construction world.  We looked into what components make up an Intelligent Building, the technological capabilities that are now available to us, how Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an up and coming process and its performance in the building industry, how databases serve as a great advantage to companies for providing accurate representations of systems, and finally we observed the capabilities of sensors and their role in Intelligent Buildings.  By going through tutorials in Revit and Microsoft Access, we were introduced to the concept of BIM and databases.  Even though we did a short introduction of these, I believe it was enough to grasp the main concepts.  Overall, this class gave us a look into the future and how our careers in the construction world will use and incorporate these technologies.  In addition, as we investigated and learned about these technologies in class, we also took a glimpse at its effect in other careers, such as computer science, programming, architecture, electrical engineering, and more. Like my classmate Kayleigh said, this was a great way to prepare for future changes in our field of study and also be knowledgeable with the current and future methods utilized. 

Considering that the company that I will be working for after I graduate is very involved in green construction and Intelligent Buildings, I found this class to be very helpful.  It gave me a good background to the new technologies that are emerging and now I feel more knowledgeable and informed to go into a company that works closely with sensors, robotics and databases.

One of the best aspects about this class was the guest speakers.  I was always so interested to hear what they had to say about their experience in their field and then relate it back to Intelligent Buildings and how they use technological advances in their profession.  Every single guest speaker was very well chosen because they were all able contribute with their insight at a topic we were covering.  This class was very insightful and a great choice as a professional elective.