Homes that work - Part One
Thursday, August 19, 2010 at 05:09PM A Quality Gap in Mid-Sized Projects
At the low-end the systems are simplistic enough that the workings of various systems are straightforward, understandable and supportable. I also think that the purchasers of low-end systems for homes - whether Pulte or Home Depot - provide some influence that helps also.
On large commercial projects, there is, sometimes, enough engineering effort spread over enough square footage or replicated units to make true testing and engineering viable.
In the middle, I see a lot of pain.
This is caused by several things:
- General Contractors are incentivized to get it done before getting it right. Done is measurable, right is a function of time + money.
- Architects do not have the standing to drive projects forward past permitting.
- Clients are overly optimistic that things will work as designed/advertised.
- Typically there is little to no architecture work on the systems side.
Weak Systems in Mid-Sized Projects
- Access control + locking - large residences are too small for really nice access control systems and don't have staff to manage access usually but are too big for simple keying schemes without logging.
- HVAC - Too much variation in sun exposure, room size, air flow, need for quiet, varying heat loads - it's just a ridiculously hard problem.
- Lighting - Generally straightforward but the desire for good dimming + low power is not quite worked out.
- Distributed Audio - Getting pretty easy compared to 10 years ago. Same with Distributed Video.
- Energy costs too high. Homes start adding convenience features but without scale or just planning to keep energy costs contained.
This pain is caused by a lack of systems expertise with a whole generation of subcontractors along with the immaturity of various systems.
I haven't ever been in a 10K-30K multi-purpose building with really effective HVAC. They are always too hot or too cool, too tight or too loose.
The Constraints of Integrated Systems
Sometimes without deep integration, there is nothing. Your car breaks are part of an integrated system and are less than useful by themselves. But other things in our life are very loosely coupled and it works fine. One can purchase meat or chicken and cook it on a Viking or GE stove without one iota of extra work to modify it to your stove.
I spoke with someone yesterday unfamiliar with our field who talked about the future of "Smart Homes" - a picture out of the Jetsons and Popular Mechanics (turn off your lights from your phone!). I would assert that the biggest challenge to electronic system contractors is not to integrate multiple systems but to help make subsystems work at all.
Integrated systems often move system designers and certainly users towards a use paradigm that is born from tradition - not from the innovation of a the sub-system vendor. We've seen this widely in the thermostat systems for residences - turning systems on and off without real regard to the upcoming weather changes, compressor cycling or energy costs. In many instances, the existing use paradigms for integration constrain the market and strangle innovation.
Next week...a new beginning - a framework for the next generation of systems