The winner of the CIB Sebestyén Future Leaders award 2023 has been announced as Politecnico di Milano student chapter, with a proposal for a summer school/ workshop on “Integrating Artificial Intelligence in the Building Sector”.
Winning team
The winning team is led by Ania Khodabakhshian and includes Alice Pome and Andrea Mainini. Click on their images to read their profiles.
Proposal
Politecnico di Milano has a long-term plan to develop an advanced-level course for professionals and early Career Researchers in the building sector, titled “AI in Building Sector: Framework for Integration.” This course aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the latest artificial intelligence (AI) developments and their applications in the building sector.
The course is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate AI into the building sector, including building design, construction, operation, and maintenance, with the purpose of creating a link between academia and industry for further collaborations and industrial research projects.
As a first phase of developing this comprehensive course, Politecnico’s CIB student chapter, in collaboration with the CIB W078 commission, want to propose an introductory summer school/workshop focused on one of the course’s syllabi, “Machine learning for building performance analysis“. Whilst AI’s application in the built environment sector has been the theme for many seminars, events, conferences, and research projects, a systematic framework and standardized coursework, which can integrate a wide variety of AI techniques in a fully practical manner, has been lacking.
The proposal aims to benefit from the already existing cumulative knowledge and expertise of the CIB network, specifically the W078 commission, to educate others and create a more intelligent and sustainable construction industry and built environment.
The W078 has a joint summer school with European Council on Computing in Construction (EC3) this July, it’s proposed the workshop can either be a part of the summer school or as an online version run in parallel with the “Computing in construction summer school” for online participants. In this way, it may be possible to increase the target audience, and the covered topics could become more comprehensive, from which both the W078 commission and Politenico’s student chapter would benefit. Moreover, a productive collaboration network would be shaped between the commission and student chapter for current and future projects.
On completing the course
After completing the course, the students will be able to:
- Understand the fundamental concepts of AI and its applications in the building sector
- Analyse real-world case studies of AI in the building sector
- Develop and implement AI-powered solutions for building design, construction, operation, and maintenance
- Understand ethical and legal considerations in AI and the building sector
- Prepare for the future of AI in the building sector and its impact on society and economy
Significance and Impact of the winning proposal
- The proposal addresses a growing need to integrate AI and digital technologies in the built environment sector in order to enhance productivity and efficiency, and the workshop can add a competitive advantage to professionals and researchers who can effectively leverage these technologies in their work.
- The use of AI in the building sector can lead to improved outcomes, such as reduced project timelines, better quality control, and increased cost savings. Professionals who are trained in AI for the AECO sector can help to ensure that these benefits are realized.
- The workshop can promote global collaboration between professionals’ networks of CIB and early career researchers and students of Politecnico di Milano, all of whom may have novel ideas and perspectives that would add value to the proposed coursework.
