Stop Flattening Intelligence: The Financial Case for the Self-Describing Building
Wednesday, October 21, 2026 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM · 1 hr. (US/Eastern)
Technology
Information
We spend millions designing high-performance, Net Zero buildings—then strip their intelligence into static PDFs at handover. This “Handover Gap” turns rich design data into a digital museum, blocking deep decarbonization, grid interactivity, and real performance transparency.
The solution is continuity. When semantic relationships are preserved from design through operations, buildings support continuous measurement and verification, defensible carbon accounting, and alignment with LEED v5 performance validation. This structured data foundation enables grid-interactive buildings and real-time operational insight. To truly invest for impact, owners must stop treating BIM as a dead deliverable and start treating it as living infrastructure.
This session, featuring the team behind the PAE Living Building and ASHRAE Standard 223P, demonstrates a proven workflow to prevent intelligence loss. We show how to unify fragmented BIM, HVAC, and BAS data into a machine-readable semantic model (RDF). Through live examples, attendees will see how system relationships become explicit and queryable, allowing AI and facility teams to interact with a building like a knowledge base.
Semantically structured models unlock performance-based contracts and recurring advisory services. More importantly, they deliver measurable financial and environmental returns. Real-world results include instantly identifying a five-year battery charging error in a Living Building and eliminating major refrigeration waste in a supermarket.
Learn how to:
Formulate owner-centric BIM goals and Level of Data Information (LODi) requirements to ensure data usability throughout the building lifecycle.
Leverage ASHRAE 223P to create interoperable digital twins that support smart grid interactions and automated fault detection.
Transition from static snapshots to "semantic maintenance," ensuring building data remains a valuable, trustworthy asset post-handover.
Join us to learn how to turn data into a Self-Describing Building that is ready for AI, the Grid, and long-term impact, and position AEC firms to deliver verifiable performance, reduce lifecycle risk, and compete in an AI-driven building market.
The solution is continuity. When semantic relationships are preserved from design through operations, buildings support continuous measurement and verification, defensible carbon accounting, and alignment with LEED v5 performance validation. This structured data foundation enables grid-interactive buildings and real-time operational insight. To truly invest for impact, owners must stop treating BIM as a dead deliverable and start treating it as living infrastructure.
This session, featuring the team behind the PAE Living Building and ASHRAE Standard 223P, demonstrates a proven workflow to prevent intelligence loss. We show how to unify fragmented BIM, HVAC, and BAS data into a machine-readable semantic model (RDF). Through live examples, attendees will see how system relationships become explicit and queryable, allowing AI and facility teams to interact with a building like a knowledge base.
Semantically structured models unlock performance-based contracts and recurring advisory services. More importantly, they deliver measurable financial and environmental returns. Real-world results include instantly identifying a five-year battery charging error in a Living Building and eliminating major refrigeration waste in a supermarket.
Learn how to:
Formulate owner-centric BIM goals and Level of Data Information (LODi) requirements to ensure data usability throughout the building lifecycle.
Leverage ASHRAE 223P to create interoperable digital twins that support smart grid interactions and automated fault detection.
Transition from static snapshots to "semantic maintenance," ensuring building data remains a valuable, trustworthy asset post-handover.
Join us to learn how to turn data into a Self-Describing Building that is ready for AI, the Grid, and long-term impact, and position AEC firms to deliver verifiable performance, reduce lifecycle risk, and compete in an AI-driven building market.
Learning Level
Intermediate
Program
Track Session
Track
Technology
Learning Objective #1
Identify the differences between traditional building data and semantic models, specifically how semantic relationships make building meaning explicit and computable.
Learning Objective #2
Learn how AEC teams can structure BIM deliverable requirements to protect design intent, reduce commissioning risk, and enable measurable performance outcomes.
Learning Objective #3
Demonstrate how semantic digital twins enable continuous performance verification, carbon accountability, and compliance with emerging LEED v5 O+M performance credits. and grid-interactive building frameworks.
Learning Objective #4
Demonstrate how connecting simulation and operational data to semantic models creates a foundational digital twin block for grid-interactive buildings.