BuildIQ

BuildIQ integrates IoT monitoring and sustainability insights to optimize energy consumption, enhance occupant well-being, and streamline operational efficiency into a building.

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Inspiration

Buildings today are responsible for a significant portion of global energy consumption and directly impact the health and productivity of the people inside them. However, most facilities still operate on static, "dumb" systems with zero real-time visibility. I was inspired to build BuildIQ because I wanted to bridge the gap between physical structures and data-driven intelligence.

What it does

BuildIQ is my comprehensive Smart Building Intelligence Platform.

It allows an operator to:

Manage a Digital Twin: Visualize and configure floors, zones, and rooms in real-time. Customize its Dashboard: Use a fully dynamic, drag-and-drop interface to create tailored views of my building's operations. Track Health & Wellness: Monitor CO2, temperature, humidity, and noise to calculate a live "Wellness Score." Analyze Sustainability: Track energy consumption, power distribution, and carbon footprint (kg CO2/day). Secure Operations: Access real-time security logs and automated maintenance tracking to ensure nothing breaks down.

How I built it

Frontend: I built the UI with Next.js 14 and TypeScript. I used Tailwind CSS and Framer Motion to achieve a premium enterprise aesthetic, and Recharts for all the data visualizations.

Backend: I developed a high-performance FastAPI server in Python to handle all the heavy data processing and business logic.

Real-Time Data: I implemented WebSockets to push live telemetry from my custom-built IoT Sensor Simulator directly to my dashboard.

Challenges I ran into

One of my biggest hurdles was real-time state synchronization. I had to ensure that any change I made in the "Manage Building" tab (like adding a new floor or renaming a room) reflected instantly across the entire dashboard without requiring a refresh. I also spent significant time navigating tricky React hydration errors caused by the mismatch between server-side rendering and my dynamic grid layouts. Finally, I had to solve a "ghost dragging" bug where duplicate room names caused multiple elements to move at once; I solved this by implementing a UUID-based identification system.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I am incredibly proud of successfully integrating all hackathon themes into a single, coherent platform. It was a major goal for me to create a "prosumer" UI that feels like a high-end enterprise tool rather than a basic prototype. Additionally, my custom IoT simulator works pretty well I think, at least enough that the platform feels truly "alive,".

What I learned

I gained deep experience in building scalable real-time architectures and learned how critical "Digital Twin" integrity is for a system like this. I also refined my ability to balance aesthetic design with data density, learning how to make an application looks good while keeping it a usable tool for a facility manager.

What's next for BuildIQ

Hardware Integration: Adding support for industry-standard protocols to connect my software to real-world sensors. Predictive Maintenance: Implementing advanced LSTM neural networks to predict equipment failure before it happens. Mobile Suite: Building a dedicated app for on-the-ground technicians so they can receive my alerts and manage logs on the go. Green Benchmarking: Developing built-in reporting tools for LEED and BREEAM sustainability certifications.

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