Holiday Rental & Show Apartment
KNX Lighting & Control4 Integration
This Boutique Rental Apartment In The Sought After Holiday Town Of Marazion, Cornwall, Has Had The Full Smart Home Treatment Including a KNX Lighting System and Control4 Integration.
This project is an Intelligent Installations Joint Venture. It is a ‘Holiday Rental Apartment’ & ‘Show Apartment’.
The result is a fantastic holiday retreat that anyone can rent and also comes with a complete Smart Home Solution to enhance the holiday offering.
The property also doubles as a Show Apartment for Intelligent Installations to demonstrate the range of products and services we offer to current and prospective clients, if you would like to holiday here or have a personalised demonstration of any of the technology within then please Contact Us Here.
This project really showcases what can be achieved with a Smart Home, from a KNX Lighting System using switches from Ekinex, a Control4 Smart Home System, Media Room, Multi-Room Audio, CCTV, IT & WiFi Networks, with future upgrades to include Video Door Access and a Satel Security Alarm System.
There were many Technical & Aesthetic aims and objectives with this project. As this is a small one bedroom apartment, the technology had to be hidden out of sight, but where it was to be seen, it had to be beautiful and also very easy to use due to a high turn over of guests expected.
Lighting - KNX
We chose KNX as the lighting system in the property as it is simply the most capable, robust and reliable of all Smart Lighting systems available. KNX is also an ‘Open Protocol’ and also an International ‘Standard’ (ISO/IEC 14543-3), which means it has many different manufacturers creating beautiful and reliable products for it, enabling us to choose from a vast selection of Switches/ Keypads to control the lighting.
The KNX System controls many different types of light throughout the property including Hidden LED Tape in the Ceilings, Shelves and behind the TV & Oak Lintels, giving many colour options to choose from.
Lighting Keypads - Ekinex
Ekinex Brass Metal Keypads are used throughout the property, which are not only ultimately configurable with engraved switches, but are also elegant and in keeping with the Interior Design of the apartment.
Each switch has either an engraved symbol or text to describe what it does, individual lights can be turned on/ off or dimmed up/ down from the same button.
Buttons for ‘Lighting Scenes’ are engraved with words such as ‘Relax’, when pressed, many lights switch on to pre-defined levels to create the perfect mood lighting.
A good example of one of the lighting scenes is the Movie button in the Lounge, when pressed not only does the lighting change, but the TV switches on and selects the Movie Server, all effortless for the guests.
Entrance Keypad
Easy to understand Icons help guests immediately understand the Entrance Lighting Keypad.
The Home On Button not only switches on the entrance light, but also generates other actions based on the time of day, for example, if it is night time then it also switches on other passageway lights.
The Exterior Lights Button cycle through scenes to enable easy selection of different lighting moods outside.
Bedroom Keypads
A good example of one of the lighting scenes is for the bedroom.
Each guest has a ‘Moon’ symbol on a button and this lights up the pathway in a very subtle way through 4 rooms to the bathroom that is unique to each guest.
This ensures the other guests aren’t woken up by late night toilet visits, a nice touch that has gained great feedback from guests.
Safety
To add to the safety offering within the property, when the Fire Alarm is activated, the Lighting around the property is turned on to aid escape routes and some of the LED Lighting is turned Red to help as a visual aid to those that may need it.
Entertainment - Audio Visual
The Control4 Interface gives guests really easy access to all of the Entertainment options in the apartment.
Holiday Makers & Smart Home Clients alike, expect Audio Visual Solutions to keep them entertained. A Feature Wall was made to flush mount the 49” TV and many Audio Visual solutions were incorporated.
HD Freeview TV, Plex Media Server with Free Films to watch, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify and TuneIn DAB Radio stations are all available on the 49” Panasonic 4K HDR TV, all with extremely easy control from just one Control4 Remote.
LED RGBW Hidden Lighting surrounding the TV and under the mantlepiece automatically comes on when the Television is switched on. One of the buttons on the KNX Keypad also gives quick access to the Movie Server, pressing the ‘Movie’ button turns on the TV, Selects the Plex Movie Server and sets the LED lights to Movie Mode.
If you are thinking of upgrading your Audio Visual system or would like a complete Smart Home solution please Contact Us.
The ‘Plex’ Movie Server gives one touch access to a list of free films from the owners collection.
Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, TuneIn Radio are all available to guests with easy control from the Control4 SR260 Remote.
One Remote Control
There is only one remote control, a dedicated Control4 Remote Control to use, which makes using the Lounge/ Media Room very easy.
Hidden Equipment
All of the Audio Visual, IT and CCTV Equipment for the property are housed in a small cupboard out of the way, really helping achieve a clean look in the property.
IT Networking & WiFi
To make sure all of the Smart Devices work reliably we installed a robust Wired and Wireless IT infrastructure in the property. Fibre Broadband and excellent WiFi coverage ensures the guests are kept happy at all times.
A Pakedge RK-1 Router and a SX-8P Gigabit Ethernet Switch were used to create a secure and high bandwidth wired network. Pakedge WiFi Access points were positioned well to mitigate issues with thick granite walls, along with a Guest Network for Holiday Makers which helps ensures security is maintained while allowing guest access to the Internet.
All images by @Danny.armstrong2
