by Shane Henson — October 3, 2011—Siemens Industry Inc., supplier of production, transportation and building technology solutions, has announced the winners of the 2011 Smartest Building in America Challenge.
This year two hospitals will share $40,000 in Siemens products and services. Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Washington and Jackson South Community Hospital in Miami elevated themselves above the other entries to claim grand and runner-up prizes, respectively. Facilities personnel working within Providence St. Peter Hospital and Jackson South Community Hospital played a crucial role in helping their hospitals become recognized as having the smartest buildings in America.
According to Siemens officials, five industry experts judged the 2011 contestants based on criteria including how innovatively the facilities managers use their building automation systems to achieve business, efficiency and sustainability goals and how the Siemens systems have contributed to making their buildings more efficient. Submissions were evaluated for creativity and artistic merit and how well the videos that were submitted articulated the innovations, features and capabilities orchestrated by the building owner, facilities manager or consulting-specifying engineer to make the buildings “smart.”
According to Siemens’ judges, providence St. Peter Hospital earned the contest’s $25,000 grand prize and the title of Smartest Building in America in part because the hospital staff did a great job of portraying how it uses its APOGEE building automation system to provide a comfortable environment for its patients, physicians, staff and visitors.
Jackson South Community Hospital is the runner up and winner of the $15,000 prize. Siemens’ judges were impressed how the Jackson facility’s team highlighted how its building automation system achieved greater efficiencies and cost despite a $102 million expansion project that doubled the building’s size. The hospital’s TALON system incorporates innovations such as Wi-Fi and the use of actual mechanical floor plans to help the hospital’s maintenance team respond to emergencies more quickly. In addition, the system’s ability to capture and utilize building data allowed the team to decide to run the hospital on one chiller plant instead of two.
