Why a property needs to become a Turing machine

Hardware, software and operating systems

Turing's theoretical approach was then continued after the Bletchley Park 'bombs' with the development of the mainframe - the then CEO Thomas J. Watson of IBM famously said: "I think there's a market for maybe five computers worldwide."

Then came the PC and finally the cell phone and pad - with ever-increasing performance. So from Watson's five predicted computers to over five billion smartphones.

What the technical implementations have in common is that there is a piece of hardware with broadband components:

• Internal control of the computing unit and storage media

• Input devices such as keyboard, mouse, touchpad, glasses or watch

• Output devices such as screens, VR glasses or sound systems

• Other types of interfaces such as connected sensors - whether 'wired' or wireless (e.g. Bluetooth Low Energy)

These units are controlled by programs to implement functions relevant to the user.

It quickly became clear that even if the hardware becomes outdated over time and has to be replaced, user requirements and therefore software change much faster.

What's more, the part of the software that is common to all programs and perhaps also follows slightly longer version cycles was quickly outsourced to a special program: the operating system. This not only provides the software basis for controlling the hardware and basic services such as user management and security, but often also comes with some frequently used utilities such as word processing, spreadsheets and even image and video editing programs, which may be licensed separately.

The Turing property - the building as a computer

The true convergence of all digitalization aspects of a building has only been made possible by the technologies of recent years: software-as-a-service, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, mobile and cloud technologies.

Today, the building is actually connected with heterogeneous hardware components, the user has sufficient input devices - the mobile end device and the central functions can easily be operated in cloud environments.

And there is certainly a greater need than ever to implement new functions quickly and flexibly - in cycles that are far shorter than those for structural changes or conversions in traditional building technology.

The analogy to the computer and thus also to the Turing machine is therefore obvious. So what are the 'programs' that are needed for the property? And is there also an operating system?

New programs for the building - Coffice, Hoffice and Poffice

Co-working and activity-based work

Even if the fixed workplace is still just as firmly anchored in many people's minds, flexible teams across company locations are still the norm, activity-based work or 'virtual company locations' via co-working have long been established approaches.

The prerequisites for this can be created in digitized buildings: Workplace, meeting room and office bookings, access control, operation of audio and video systems can be set up in such a way that they can also be operated easily and without complex onboarding processes by new, temporary or guest users at the location.

From the operator's point of view, these are by no means models that are only reserved for WeWork and the like; even the venerable savings banks are thinking about renting out space at the weekend or in the evening.

For the Turing property, this would be the 'COffice - Co-working Office' program.

Home office and hospitality

Whether before, with or after COVID: a mix of home office and on-site presence in the office will be our future. Futurologist Matthias Horx has here explained the mechanisms and drivers.

Temporary work at different locations - at your own company or at the customer's - also requires overnight accommodation. This can be solved in the traditional way by hotels, in a more modern way by AirBnB and the like, and finally also by serviced apartments that are available in or near the respective location. Are these already integrated into the system (Who can book? How is this paid for and to whom? How can the operation be organized based on usage?)

And while we're at it: In the urban property of the future, we won't necessarily be living at a great distance from the office. Perhaps both places will be part of the same urban quarter - perhaps one that is growing in height. This mix is actually a feature of most current urban quarter projects, e.g. the Quartier Heidestraße - Mix it like Berlin. In addition to the necessary structural aspects, these mix-ins must be supported digitally.

For the Turing property, this would be the 'HOffice - HomeOffice, but also: Hospitality and Office' program.

COVID prevention

COVID measures in the working environment get to the heart of the matter: the pandemic is far from over. Despite working from home, the need to work from home or at partner and customer sites and the associated risk of infection is manifest. It must be possible to roll out any measures quickly and then operate them easily and sustainably.

2-meter office, tracing via bookings, presence or booking-driven disinfection measures, aerosol control via CO2 measurements are direct mechanisms that can be implemented at a reasonable cost in terms of time and budget.

For the Turing property, this would be the 'POffice - Preventive Office' program.

Programming, installation and commissioning

COffice, HOffice and POffice - and whatever else may come along (quickly) - must be able to be installed, put into operation and changed quickly. And perhaps frequently.

From a real estate perspective, these are days to weeks and not months to years. However, we know that even with agile software development, the cycles for completely new software development still tend to be months to years. Especially if, in our image of the Turing property, the operating system has to or would have to be rebuilt.

And you certainly don't want to implement these 'programs' in a classic computer programming language such as C++ or Java, but rather orient them to the concepts of the problem environment and the skills of the specialist personnel. So you want to configure instead of program. Turing could easily do this - he would have simply called the configuration options for the building the input alphabet Σ ...

The digitalization platform - the building's operating system

Even if you only use the direct functions of a computer operating system

• Central login and user management

• Simple, standardized access to any additional hardware purchased

• Standardized user interface and operating models

• Adaptation of new, fundamental requirements

• Security and data protection

it becomes clear: I need the same in the building. And when it comes to hardware connectivity, the full range from integration of building technology, access control and transport elements to anything and everything to do with IoT sensors and actuators.

However, the IoT platforms often mentioned in the analogy only make it to the device driver level at best. And what I get from the big cloud providers in terms of big data, AI and stream processing is more likely to be computer hardware in our view.

The actual operating system of the Turing property is a digitalization platform such as Thing-it. This delivers

• the broadest base set of 'device drivers' in the industry with connectivity not only to modern wireless protocols such as EnOcean, but also connectors to access control, elevator systems

• BIM data management

• Management of technical assets

• Navigation and positioning

• User, roles and rights management

• Booking functions for any areas and assets

• Payment and store management