Innovating the Built Environment With Digital Twins

BIM Today Article by Matthew Durdin, Director, Johnson Controls UK&I

A digital twin is a connected, virtual replica of something physical – be it as asset, product, or system. The technology helps create an interface that bridges the digital and physical worlds, for example in construction and building management. Digital twins enable architects, constructors and building managers to “predict the future” of their building – and to answer difficult questions that might otherwise hinder construction projects or reduce the lifetime of a building. 

Where building information modelling (BIM) generates and manages digital reproductions, digital twins hold BIM data alongside building automation systems and sensor networks to bring a whole building together in one place. This creates a constantly evolving, collaborative version of the physical twin.

In modelling building systems, the twin uses myriad data points to bring all its knowledge together under one digital roof: from construction data and floor plans, to data from real-time sensors in a building management system (BMS), to all the data coming out of lighting, HVAC, fire, and security systems. Brought together, a digital twin can know everything about the assets of a building and its occupants – and can predict its every move.

This article originally appeared in the May 2019 edition of BIM Today magazine