Emerging Technologies Are Bringing Buildings Back to Nature: A New Era of Sustainable Comfort

With climate challenges pressing hard on all sectors, the real estate industry is embracing a transformation where emerging technologies reconnect buildings with nature. This approach leverages outdoor conditions to drive indoor comfort, marking a new era of sustainable building design that reduces environmental impact without compromising comfort.

The Challenge: Balancing Comfort and Sustainability

As the energy transition reshapes our daily lives, we're faced with choices that directly impact our carbon footprint—cutting down on plastic, switching to electric vehicles, or turning down thermostats. For the real estate industry, "going green" is often associated with sacrificing comfort, like lowering indoor temperatures. But is it possible to reduce energy consumption without compromising the comfort we've come to expect indoors?

The answer increasingly points to smart technology: a driver of modern, sustainable living that creates synergy between the building and its natural surroundings.

The Opportunity: Utilizing Nature for Sustainable IndoorComfort

Instead of simply curbing energy use, leading research institutes such as TNO and TU Delft highlight the transformative potential of utilizing natural outdoor environments to maintain a comfortable indoor climate. By tapping into local conditions—such as sunlight, wind, and external air quality—emerging technologies enable buildings to balance comfort with energy efficiency more effectively.

Our Solution: Next Sense's Smart Building Platform

At Next Sense, we believe that building facades can become dynamic, responsive elements that bridge the indoor and outdoor environments. Through data-driven technology, we optimize how facades interact with nature, offering practical solutions that leverage natural resources to enhance comfort while reducing energy use. Here’s how our smart platform integrates nature into everyday building functions:

• Adaptive Ventilation: Our sensors measure both indoor and outdoor air quality, allowing ventilation shafts to open when external conditions are optimal, reducing the need for artificial air treatment.
• Natural Lighting Control: With predictive sunlight analysis, our platform dims or switches off artificial lighting, letting natural light take over when the sun is at the right angle.
• Smart Sun Shading: Instead of closing blinds across an entire facade, our     system pinpoints where daylight glare is occurring and adjusts only those sections, optimizing natural light without excess heat.
• Efficient Thermal Management: During colder seasons, we allow sunlight in to naturally warm indoor spaces, while shading takes over in warmer periods to keep temperatures low, reducing HVAC reliance.

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Our goal is to make buildings Paris Proof — targeting 70kWh/m² annual energy use by integrating these data-driven, nature-powered optimizations.

Proof in Action: Real Results from a Connected Façade

Consider our recent collaboration with a major urban office building in central Amsterdam. By installing localized sensor points along the building facade, rather than limiting sensors to rooftop locations, we enabled the real-time, granular data required for adaptive facade functions. This implementation resulted in an 18% reduction in artificial lighting energy use and improved indoor air quality scores by 25% on high-pollution days, all while maintaining optimal indoor comfort.

Looking Ahead: A Total Addressable Opportunity forSustainable Building Innovation

The potential to scale smart facade technology is immense.With 97% of commercial real estate currently energy-inefficient, there is a significant opportunity to revolutionize the way buildings consume and manage energy. At Next Sense, our mission is to transform buildings worldwide, helping the sector meet net-zero goals and improve occupant well-being in the process.

By transforming building facades from static barriers into dynamic, responsive systems, the real estate sector can seize the opportunity to create climate-conscious, comfortable buildings that lead the way in sustainable urban development.

Meet the Team Driving Next Sense’s Vision

At Next Sense, our team comprises experts across building engineering, data science, and environmental sustainability. Led by industry veterans from real estate technology and smart building systems, we share a commitment to creating climate-resilient, nature-integrated spaces that support the industry's shift toward net-zero. With a shared belief in the power of smart technology to reduce environmental impact, our team is dedicated to delivering a future where buildings and nature thrive together.

By integrating the forces of nature into building operations, Next Sense is not just creating a platform—it’s leading a movement to redefine sustainable comfort in the real estate industry. Together with our partners, we’re building a future where innovation meets nature, setting a new standard for the spaces we inhabit.