Intelligent Buildings

Ever since the turn of the millennium, one is hearing and reading a lot about intelligent buildings. Over the last few years, quite a few seminars have been held in various parts of India on this subject. As an architect, I have attended one or two such seminars. In the IT-BUILT Seminar at IIT Kharagpur, for instance, one kept hearing about these amazing intelligent buildings. Several eminent speakers discussed how such "super intelligent buildings" are the only possible built forms of the future, gradually replacing the "stupid" buildings that architects have created over the centuries.

During the same period, actor Russell Crowe was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for "his depiction of a maths professor whose brilliant mind succumbs to schizophrenia". He had earlier won a Golden Globe Best Actor's award for the same role. The movie, "A Beautiful Mind", is based on the life of Professor John Nash and explores the fine line between genius and insanity.

Adolf Hitler once wanted to eradicate all sub-intelligent human species from the face of the earth, leaving just the "super-intelligent pure" humans to rule the roost. His vision included a world inhabited only by the beautiful and intelligent supermen. We all know what happened to Hitler and his dreams.

What happens when we build only "intelligent" buildings? What do we do to all the existing "stupid" buildings all over the world? Do we send the Taj Mahal to a concentration camp? Do we gas-chamber the pyramids? It would take a long time, anyway, to round up all the idiotic architecture of the world.

Then, what happens when intelligent buildings turn insane and go berserk? Are we considering the possibility of living in a schizophrenic building? I’m sure it will be interesting, but is it safe for our children? Are we really ready for intelligent architecture?

Some answers, please, and soon. These thoughts are driving me intelligent.