An intelligent building is a building that is able to monitor and control its own functionalities, according to the building structure, indoor and outdoor environment. The functionalities and their characteristics are directly related to building scope (the activities accomplished by the occupants), but usually are the same. Most of the necessary functionalities have been already determined, and they are mainly for ensuring the minimum energy consumption and the occupants' comfort. Not to forget that the occupants’ productivity is dependent on their comfort. Since a building is related to its occupants, all the functionalities of the building could be determined from the occupants’ needs and abilities. This is the reason why the idea came to view a building as a living body (e.g. human body). It is a new approach of considering an intelligent building.

The human body is full of sensors, most of them on the skin and inside different organs, and actuators which receive and execute commands, and make possible the interaction between different parts of the body. So, a building should have: a lot of sensors and actuators integrated into its structure. Since the sensors are not cheap, to diminish the total cost of the monitoring and control system, the optimum number of sensors and their location has to be determined. Even the buildings structures are different they are organized in similar ways.

The next connections could be established between a human body and a building:
- brain (the center of coordinating and monitoring all body activities) = BMS (Building Management System). A BMS monitors the existent conditions from the entire building and takes actions for ensuring the required conditions.
- see = video surveillance system and lighting;
- smell = monitoring air quality (temperature, humidity, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, ozone, particles) and reacts when the air quality is not proper for living (ventilation);
- taste = monitoring the energy quality and quantity (e.g. current, voltage, energy, power, water, gas);
- feel the inside/outside temperature = temperature sensors;
- feel the humidity = relative humidity sensors;
- feel vibrations or force = vibrations/force sensors;
- ensure body temperature (e.g. perspiration) = ensure indoor temperature (heating, air conditioning);
- protection against diseases = security systems.
All the psychic feelings represent input information, measurable by sensors. Analyzing the input information could be sent commands for ensuring the working plan of the entire building. As a human body have a working plan, same a building.

For implementing the idea, a solution based on using a wireless sensor network (WSN) is proposed (formed by coordinator, routers and end nodes). Only end nodes could have attached sensors and actuators. Such a network could be easily deployed in any building space, even if the building is already constructed. Each node’s base hardware could be easily implemented using a board as Arduino and a XBee radio communication module (at a cost of about 45$). And according to its destination the node could be completed with sensors and/or actuators.