Transdisciplinary Research—Buildings as Service-Oriented Product-Service Systems

This paper proposes a transdisciplinary research for the conceptual definition of a building. It is based on the concept of Service-oriented Product-Service System (PSS) applied to buildings. Existing kinds of PSS are about service(s) integration whereas Service-Oriented PSS is about product(s) integration. The product definition and design aims to be well-aligned with the services the customer wants to provide to his community and the chosen means to deliver them. The main focus is on the services and how the building could support it or contribute to its improvement. As a consequence, the building as well as the services becomes parts of a “building system” to be defined with the customer. This enlarged way of seeing a building required the use of a transdisciplinary research. It provides new perspectives of innovation in its definition and a better integration/alignment between all of its components during the design phase. It calls for more accuracy and methodology in the service definition in order to ensure this alignment.