I’ve written in AutomatedBuildings about the PAE Living Building before. Even as one of the most advanced buildings in the country, a gap emerged after occupancy.

Even PAE, the building’s engineers, and occupants, could not easily see how the systems connected as a whole.

During design and construction, thousands of decisions shaped how energy flows and systems interact. After handover, much of that logic flattened into files. The building operated as designed, but its relationships weren’t visible in one place.

The problem wasn’t performance. It was handover.

That reality led to a conversation a year ago at AHR in Orlando, where we first met PAE during a Coalition for Smarter Buildings (C4SB) session.

The goal was straightforward: share the real PAE building and reduce handover time from months, sometimes years, to minutes by getting systems to connect at occupancy, and document the process so others could replicate it.

One year later, at AHR / ASHRAE in Las Vegas, the engineers, standards leaders, and platform developers stood together to demonstrate that progress was live.

I worked with PAE and the C4SB group to preserve those relationships so systems could connect immediately, not months later.

That’s where open standards entered the story.

1. The Building: Smart, But Isolated

PAE’s technical ambition wasn’t the issue. What mattered was their decision to examine what happened after handover.

As construction closed out, teams exported the Revit model to PDFs, managed schedules in spreadsheets, and relied on dashboards that didn’t connect. The building functioned, but the rationale for system interactions was scattered across tools.

No system failed. But the logic behind thousands of decisions was scattered across tools. That pattern is common across the industry. What’s less common is addressing it directly.

PAE chose to surface the friction, file exchanges, manual reconciliation, and the effort required to answer system-level questions, and work through it openly. That decision made the rest possible.

2. From BIM to Knowledge Graph

PAE’s openness led to collaboration. Through the Coalition for Smarter Buildings (C4SB), engineers and researchers focused on interoperability joined the effort.

One of the early steps was using the open-source BIM2RDF tool to translate Revit model data into a machine-readable knowledge graph aligned with ASHRAE 223P.

We didn’t replace systems. We worked with what already existed, the BIM, control systems, sensor data, and operator dashboards, and converted that information into an open structure that systems could share.
Identifiers were aligned so equipment, spaces, and sensors referenced the same assets, carrying forward IFC GUIDs and model IDs for traceability. Instead of relying on drawings to imply relationships, we defined them directly in data.

The goal wasn’t to create a new platform. It was to let existing systems understand each other.

3. CloudBIM: Early Context

To make systems interact in real time, we needed a cloud-based operational layer built for change. 

Design BIM captures intent, but operations evolve.

I loaded the PAE model into a cloud-based BIM environment to establish operational context. Geometry and space definitions allowed us to assign persistent identifiers and link live systems through APIs.

Working with the team, I helped align that structure with ASHRAE 223P using a semantic bridge approach so different applications could reference the same assets and topology.

This doesn’t require a perfect model. It can begin with a full BIM, partial data, sensor feeds, or even a floor plan, as long as the relationships are clearly defined.

4. ASHRAE 223P: The Shared Standard

Embed video: Parastoo’s 223P

We aligned the semantic layer with ASHRAE 223P. This open standard defines how building systems relate to one another, what connects to what, and how equipment interacts across space and systems.

Instead of each vendor modeling systems differently, 223P provides a common reference. BACnet data, control logic, simulation tools, and graph models can reference the same system relationships.

When relationships are explicit, analytics and AI work against a defined model instead of inferring connections from scattered points.

5. SkyCentrics: From Months to Moments

Early in the PAE effort, endpoint mapping required manual tracing across systems. Without a shared topology, teams connected equipment and control points one by one, a process that took months.

After aligning the model with ASHRAE 223P and grounding it in the cloud, SkyCentrics introduced a “Discover” function that automatically identifies endpoints and associates them with the shared structure.

What previously required months now completes in minutes, and PAE can run it independently.

Conclusion: Building Together, Not Alone

The most important takeaway wasn’t a tool. It was people choosing to solve the problem together.

We proved the approach in a real building, live, in front of the industry. I was part of the year-long process, from early virtual meetings to standing on the conference floor a year later, and seeing that progress firsthand matters.

The workflows and tools are being shared openly on GitHub so others can extend them. With the foundation in place, progress can move much faster.

AI is advancing quickly. But without domain knowledge and disciplined modeling, speed alone doesn’t solve the problem.

Building owners are in a unique position. Through procurement, contracting, and performance requirements, they can demand connected systems, shared identifiers, and open alignment from the start.

Through C4SB, we’re inviting owners to lead, and asking the AEC community, vendors, and standards bodies to meet that expectation.Who’s ready to build shared infrastructureinstead of continuing to fight and lose the platform wars?

Comments or questions can be posted here.

The work is underway. The value is tangible. It will not wait. This ecosystem will continue to evolve. The only question is who chooses to evolve with it.

AHR Series: Four Conversations, One Direction

At AHR in Las Vegas, the conversation moved from theory to execution. These four pieces trace that shift, from platform tension to real-world proof to a coalition building the bridges at scale.

Part 1-When Platforms Stop Fighting and Start Connecting
From platform wars to platform peace, why interoperability requires alignment, not dominance.
Read here.

Part 2-From Models to Meaning: Bridging the PAE Living Building
The PAE Living Building as proof that BIM, semantics, and operations can stay connected.
Read here.

Part 3-A Coalition in Motion: Building the Bridges at Machine Speed
Standards, code, and leadership converging at machine speed.
Read here.

Part 4 – The Proof is in the Ice Cream
From live sensor data to operational action in days, proving complexity is a choice, not a constraint.
Read here.