1. 20 Years of Intelligent Building: From "Low-Voltage Era" to "Data Era"
If the past 20 years have been the "system integration era" for China's smart construction industry, then the present is at a critical juncture accelerating towards the "data intelligence era".
At the end of the last century, with the introduction of the "Standard for Intelligent Building Design", the construction of intelligent buildings was first officially included in the urban construction system. During that period, "intelligent buildings" were more of an engineering technology practice centered on weak electrical integration. System integrators played the main role in promoting the construction of intelligent buildings. They built the initial "prototype of smart space" by integrating sub-systems such as lighting, air conditioning, security, fire protection, and access control.
However, this "dumb building" dominated by device integration is still essentially at the level of "passive intelligence". The lack of data coordination between systems means that buildings cannot truly "understand" their own operation status, let alone actively optimize for people, environment, and energy consumption. Although IBMS (Intelligent Building Management System) has achieved "centralized monitoring" technologically, its closed structure, fragmented interfaces, and inconsistent standards have kept intelligent buildings in the "function stacking" stage for a long time.
A real turning point appeared in the stage of comprehensive integration of cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence. The transition from static "equipment combination" to dynamic "data life", from "low-voltage system" to "digital system", marks the arrival of"Digital Intelligent Building" (DIB) era.
II. The Essence of Smart Buildings: From Technological堆叠 to Cognitive Intelligence
Compared with traditional IBMS, the core of smart buildings is no longer "device interconnection", but "data intelligence". A building is no longer merely a physical space, but a "digital organism" with the capabilities of perception, cognition, decision-making, and evolution. This transformation is not only reflected in the change of system architecture, but also in the reshaping of the operation logic of buildings.
In traditional IBMS systems, the system relies on preset rules to operate, lacking the ability to learn and optimize. In contrast, in the DIB system, the building perceives the environment through IoT devices, consolidates information through cloud data centers, and achieves predictive control and adaptive regulation with the help of AI algorithms. For example, the air conditioning system can self-learn and optimize energy efficiency based on historical energy consumption and real-time occupancy rates; the lighting system can automatically adjust brightness based on changes in natural light; and the security system can combine AI video recognition to achieve behavior-level risk warning. The building thus has the embryonic form of "cognitive intelligence".
Behind the DIB architecture is a deep restructuring of the building technology system. Edge computing brings sensing closer to the source, cloud-native enables systems to have continuous iteration capabilities, and AI models endow the building with a "nerve center" for dynamic learning. In this system, buildings are no longer static objects but become "nodes" in the urban digital ecology, capable of actively responding to human, environmental, and social needs.
Three, Driving Forces: The Triple Synergy of AI, Cloud-Native, and the Dual Carbon Strategy
The "digital-to-intelligent" transformation in construction is not an isolated event, but an inevitable outcome of the interplay of multiple technological and policy forces.
Firstly, the deep integration of AI reshapes the "second sense" of architecture.The intelligence of traditional architecture relies more on hardware logic, such as the mechanical response of temperature controllers, sensors, etc.; while the introduction of AI endows architecture with the ability to understand and reason. Through the embedding of algorithmic models, architecture can identify patterns, predict trends, and make decisions. For example, AI can predict peak energy consumption through historical data and adjust operation strategies in advance; it can also understand user needs through semantic recognition, achieving natural interaction between humans and machines. Architecture evolves from a "control system" to a "cognitive system".
Secondly, cloud-native architecture becomes the digital hub of the building.In the traditional model, the computing and storage of building intelligence systems are limited to the local data center, resulting in high operation and maintenance costs and poor scalability. However, cloud-native architecture distributes the computing power of the building in the cloud and at the edge, enabling data to flow freely between different levels and realizing a closed loop of "sensing-transmitting-calculating-decision-making-execution". The intelligence of the building is no longer limited to a single entity but becomes a digital platform that can be upgraded and evolved at any time.
Finally, the proposal of the dual carbon strategy has injected new policy momentum into the intelligentization of buildings.Buildings are an important source of carbon emissions in China, and energy conservation and carbon reduction have become a compulsory question for intelligent construction. Technologies such as smart energy management, carbon asset visualization, source-grid-load-storage coordination, and building energy efficiency simulation are being widely used. The goal of building intelligentization is shifting from "improving management efficiency" to "driving green operation", evolving from "smart buildings" to "zero-carbon buildings" and "carbon-aware buildings". Driven by AI and energy dual promotion, buildings are transforming from "energy consumers" to "energy management entities".
IV. Reshaping the Industrial Landscape: From System Integration to Ecological Synergy
Over the past two decades, the competitive core of China's smart building industry has been "system integration capability"; while in the next decade, the focus of competition will shift to "data ecosystem capability". This not only means the upgrading of the technical system, but also the reconstruction of the industrial logic.
In the new pattern, traditional equipment manufacturers are accelerating their digital transformation . Companies like Johnson Controls, Schneider, Midea, and Haier are no longer satisfied with providing single equipment, but are extending to "building operating systems" and "life cycle services", building a service ecosystem with data as the core.
The entry of ICT giants has further blurred the industry boundaries. With the advantages of cloud computing, AI and the Internet of Things platform, Huawei, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud and others have become the infrastructure providers of the construction digitalization. They not only provide computing power and data services, but also dominate the underlying logic and standard direction of the construction intelligence.
And real estate and design agencies have become the key forces of "applied innovation". More and more developers are building digital twin platforms in their own parks, verifying application scenarios and gradually outputting to the external market. Design research institutes, universities and other scientific research institutions in various places are also promoting the introduction of intelligent logic in the architectural design stage, to achieve the design concept of "AI native architecture".
The intersection of this multi-dimensional ecology has shifted the intelligentization of architecture from "project-oriented" to "platform-oriented", from "delivery logic" to "operation logic". The future competition is no longer about who can integrate more systems, but about who can master more data, build a more open algorithmic ecology and service network.
5. The Future Five Years: The Leap from Smart to Cognitive Buildings
If the past architecture is "passive response", the future architecture will be "active sensing". With the popularization of AI models and the enhancement of edge computing power, architecture will evolve from wisdom to cognition, from part to whole, from device intelligence to group intelligence.
The development of intelligent buildings in the next five years will present several significant trends:
First, AI-native architecture will become the new standard in the design phase. Architecture is no longer retrofitted with smart systems, but algorithmic logic is embedded in the planning phase, achieving intelligence throughout the entire life cycle from design to operation.
Secondly,the digital twin will become the "digital mirror" of building management. All equipment, energy, personnel flow, and environmental data will be mapped to the virtual space, providing real-time visualization basis for decision-making.
Third,the intelligent hub of cloud-edge collaboration will become widespread. Building intelligent systems will form a complete decision-making chain from terminal devices to cloud platforms, achieving a balance between "autonomy and collaboration".
Fourth,Carbon management and energy intelligence will become core competitiveness. Intelligent building enterprises will achieve energy conservation, carbon asset trading, and green finance linkage through data-driven carbon emission visualization management.
Fourth,the transition from spatial intelligence to experiential intelligencewill determine the value-added points of architecture. The "intelligent" of architecture is no longer driven by technical indicators, but centered on human experience and health, promoting the evolution of architecture towards "lifespaces".
6. Conclusion: The Chinese Path of Digital Evolution
From "dumb buildings" to "smart buildings," the underlying logic of this technological revolution is not only an iteration of informatization but also a leap in the way we perceive and interact with architecture. Buildings are evolving from passive containers to active collaborators; from collections of hardware to digital entities with self-learning capabilities. At the intersection of AI, cloud computing, and the dual carbon strategy, China's smart building industry has ushered in an unprecedented opportunity window.
Future buildings, with the capabilities of perception, thinking, and evolution, will become important nodes in the urban data ecology and key drivers for promoting high-quality urban development in China. As the term "Smart Building" reveals: the wisdom of architecture no longer stops at functionality, but extends to the levels of cognition and symbiosis.
Standing at the historical intersection of "Low Voltage - Data - Intelligence", China's building intelligentization industry is entering a brand new digital evolution stage. To gain insights into the core pulse of this transformation, to explore the path of building innovation under the integration of AI and the dual carbon strategy,The 26th China International Building Intelligentization Summit (Shanghai Station) will be held onNovember 20, 2025 at the Shanghai CunDa Marriot Hotel with great solemnity.
As an annual event in the field of intelligent architecture in China, this summit, with the theme of "Carbon Fiber New Opportunities·Building AI Future", is organized by Qianjia Zhike, co-organized by Shanghai Intelligent Building Construction Association Digital Building Branch and Shanghai Green Smart Industry Alliance, gathering senior experts and enterprises from the fields of architectural design, intelligent systems, AI algorithms, cloud-edge computing, energy management and ESG, jointly painting a "new picture of AI-driven architecture".
Honourable invitation to industry experts and practitioners from the fields of architecture, design, real estate, operation and maintenance, ICT, energy and AI to jointly witnessThe digital leap of intelligent construction in China and the opening of a new era of AI reconstruction.
