It is a project by Fenwick & Iribarren Arquitectos in collaboration with the Serrano Suñer studio, which combines a 36-storey, 160 m high building with natural architecture in an open, longitudinal space of 20,000 m².

ts design, the materials used and its finishes, among which it is worth highlighting the automation systems for air conditioning and lighting control, have earned the tower the LEED GOLD international environmental certification. LEED certification, awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council, assesses the efficiency and sustainability of a building based on factors such as design, construction, operation and maintenance. Energy efficiency is one of the fundamental pillars of the project and a decisive criterion for the choice of materials and systems such as lighting and air conditioning/ventilation.

More than 12,000 dimmable DALI luminaires have been installed in the Caleido tower. The DALI protocol is the most widely used lighting standard internationally, allowing luminaires to be grouped and managed quickly and easily. In order to integrate the DALI lighting system into the overall building management system, B.E.G. has incorporated digital DA64-230/KNX REG gateways that ensure communication between the DALI bus of the luminaires and the KNX bus of the control part. The gateway also provides all relevant information about the luminaires (status, level...) channelling it to the central management system.

Nothing is more exciting than fashion? It is an expression of zeitgeist, social status and personality. The Belgian city of Hasselt dedicates its own museum to the history of fashion and contemporary designers. Alongside illustrious international names such as Chanel, Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent and Versace, the works of Belgian designers Martin Margiela and Raf Simons are immortalised here. Visitors can catch a glimpse of a selection of the more than 18,000 pieces in the main collection. The permanent exhibition is complemented every six months by interesting special exhibitions.

Lighting in a fashion museum deserves special attention. Exclusive one-off pieces and the finest materials need special protection. How is it ensured that appropriate lighting sets the scene for valuable haute couture, occasion wear and prêt-à-porter and highlights the beauty of the exhibits? When exhibitions are regularly rearranged, how can a simple reprogramming or adaptation of the lighting conditions be ensured?

The city of Hasselt, as the museum operator, was interested in a modern, flexible and energy-efficient lighting control system that could be implemented with as little renovation effort as possible. For this purpose, they turned to the lighting control specialist B.E.G. Brück Electronic GmbH. The Belgian B.E.G. team equipped exhibition rooms and corridors of the Fashion Museum with B.E.G. DALI-LINK sensors. To increase modularity, the detectors and push-button modules (PB BLE) were partly mounted on rails. Administration, sanitary, storage and basement rooms were equipped with low-cost switching detectors.

The Hans-Sachs-Haus in Gelsenkirchen, built in the 1920s, is now the new town hall after many years of refurbishment. The interior of the town hall is an administration building of modern design, in which there are around 280 offices alongside the Citizens’ Forum, Council Chamber, meeting rooms and the Mayor’s office.

The offices were fitted with B.E.G. PD9 mini occupancy detectors. The PD9 occupancy detectors switch on and regulate the light automatically, depending on movement in the room. They register even the smallest movements, such as working at a desk. Using daylight-dependent control, in poor daylight, only enough artificial light is added in to achieve the pre-programmed light level for the room. Thus no energy is wasted and the workstations are always perfectly illuminated. The PD9 occupancy detectors were unobtrusively built in to the light fittings.

The biggest construction project in central Switzerland: The four new buildings at Allmend in Lucerne swallowed up 260 million Francs. Beside the 17,000-capacity football stadium, the home of FC Luzern, two residential blocks and a sports complex were built – all the buildings are fitted with motion and occupancy detectors from B.E.G.

The contractor’s demands for lighting control were extremely onerous for this prestige project. The focus was on functionality and demand-driven lighting control. In addition, the design of the occupancy detectors had to fit in with the modern architecture of the complex. In total, around 600 motion and occupancy detectors of various types were installed: from the PD4, with its broad detection area suitable for wide spaces, large offices and halls, to the Indoor-180 wall-mounted detector, perfect for monitoring hallways and toilets, to the diminutive PD9, discreetly placed in the expanded metal ceiling. The project planners settled on KNX and conventional 230V detectors. One special benefit of the B.E.G. detectors was that they are available in the same design for both KNX and 230V versions, and therefore there is no difference visually between the two systems.

On the site of the Leppe waste disposal centre in the Oberberg district, the project :metabolon was developed in recent years. The waste disposal centre was expanded by leisure, information and above all educational and research opportunities.
In order to counteract the impending shortage of skilled workers in the promising "STEM" areas (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), which is in German MINT, the newly inaugurated zdi student laboratory MINT LAB is the perfect environment for pupils from the 9th grade upwards to develop an interest in studying or making a dual education in this field.

The educational and research focuses of :metabolon are in the field of the future-related topics environment, resources and energy. For this reason, the new zdi student laboratory was built with a future-proof building automation system that was flexibly implemented with KNX components from B.E.G.
Building automation in the zdi student laboratory MINT LAB :metabolon is not only a means of increasing energy efficiency and comfort, but is itself a subject of research. Based on a research cooperation between B.E.G. Brück Electronic GmbH and the Technical University of Cologne for the quantitative analysis of the so-called "winter shading" of the blinds, i.e. the use of the external sun protection as an additional insulation layer of the building envelope, the question arose as to whether further aspects of building automation could not also be scientifically investigated.
Further research points could be to what extent it makes sense to divide individual areas of a room into light zones. With the help of the B.E.G. DALI-KNX-interface, the DALI luminaires can be individually configured by software into different groups without having to be physically rewired. The B.E.G. occupancy detectors control several lighting zones simultaneously in order to precisely compensate for the different incidence of daylight in the room with artificial light. If there is more daylight on the east side in the morning, more light is regulated in the "west" of the room; if more daylight falls in the "west" of the room in the afternoon, this in turn is taken into account accordingly.

Press release :metabolon

For its Brussels office, technology giant Google was looking for an intuitive and easy to program lighting control system. B.E.G. Belgium was able to meet all requirements with the B.E.G. DALI-LINK system, which can be programmed via smartphone or tablet.

The Belgian headquarters of Google occupies four of the five floors of an office complex in the heart of Brussels. The Internet giant had clear guidelines for the lighting control system: Google wanted an intuitive lighting control system that they could easily program themselves. Google also wanted the system not to be connectable to the network to protect the system from external access. The choice fell on the innovative stand-alone system B.E.G. DALI-LINK. In total, B.E.G. Belgium installed 27 separate DALI-LINK modules.

The integrated daylight-dependent lighting control promotes the energy efficiency of the B.E.G. DALI- LINK system: the light intensity in the room should be 500 lux at all times. If a lot of sunlight shines through the windows during the day, the lighting is automatically dimmed to reach the 500 lux level. At the request of the engineering office, the system should also be equipped with a manual activation option for the occupancy detectors. That means that the various islands in the office landscapes are equipped with a button for switching the occupancy detector on and off. This ensures additional energy savings.

Press release Head office Google in Brussels

In 2015, UCIMU (National Association of Machine Tool Manufacturers), based in Cinisello Balsamo (near Milan), refurbished its headquarters, an office building constructed in the 1980s, to the latest energy efficiency standards.

The building’s energy consumption consists essentially of two areas, lighting and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning). For control of the lighting and HVAC equipment, DALI occupancy detectors were installed in the whole building. In the offices, PD2-M-DALI/DSI-HVAC occupancy detectors at each workstation measure the proportion of daylight in the room and add enough artificial light to achieve a pre-programmed lux value. The second output from the detector controls the HVAC equipment according to occupancy. In the hallways, PD4-M-DALI/DSI occupancy detectors were fitted. This detector is equipped with a night light function: when there is no-one present, the lighting is dimmed, for an adjustable period, to 10% of the full intensity. This means the user will never see a completely dark room.

With over 4500 workers, Hamburger Hochbahn AG is one of the biggest local transport operators in Germany. Since 1918, the company HQ has been located in the Old Town of Hamburg, in a former office building, the Hochbahnhaus. To modernise the building, an update to current building automation standards was desired.

There is activity in the building around the clock, as even at night, local transport does not stand still. Previously, the lights were switched on 24 hours a day. To combat this extremely high energy consumption, 128 occupancy detectors, type PD4-M-DIM, were installed in the corridors. In the underground rooms, occupancy detectors of type PD2 and PD4 were fitted, to optimise lighting control here as well. Lighting in the toilets is switched with the PD3N-1C-Micro. Thanks to the built-in microphone, if the light should switch off, this motion detector can be activated by a sound. The many individual lighting control zones in the Hochbahnhaus are coordinated with each other and enable optimum energy use. The new implementation has enabled a reduction in the number of hours the lights were on from 24 hours a day to 4-6 hours.

The recipe for over 20 years of success at Ingenieurbüro Sulzer in Vogt, Germany, has been state-of-the-art planning of technical building projects. The family company with over 40 staff became established in technical engineering services such as planning, consultancy and construction management. For their own new building, the engineers were aiming high: a zero-energy building was planned, which demonstrably had to consume no more energy than it produced.

All the building technology was connected up with a KNX system. A particular focus in optimising energy consumption was on intelligent mixed light regulation, as lighting alone can make up a large proportion of total energy consumption. The PD11-KNX occupancy detector looks after demand-driven lighting control in the offices. Depending on sunlight levels, it adds in only the artificial light that is required at that moment. For illumination of open plan offices, PD2-KNX occupancy detectors were installed. In the hallways, PD4-KNX occupancy detectors were fitted, which cover large spaces with their wide detection area. In rooms that are not permanently occupied, such as equipment rooms and stores, motion detectors with no KNX connection were installed. The entrance area and the exterior facilities were covered by four RC-plus next exterior motion detectors.

In the centre of the spa town of Bad Harzburg, on the northern edge of the Harz mountains in Germany, is the Werner von Siemens High School, built in 1928. Founded in 1869 as the Harzburg Private School, this educational establishment can look back on almost 150 years of vibrant history. Today, there are approx. 550 students from years 5-12 at the school, as well as about 55 teaching staff.

So that the individual rooms in the school could be controlled independently of each other, 150 ceiling-mounted PD2-KNX detectors were used in its new KNX system. In classrooms with a high level of daylight, the savings potential of daylight-dependent lighting control was used. Artificial light is used here as a top-up for daylight, i.e. only sufficient artificial light is added as needed at the time. Another advantage is that the detector switches off the light once no more movement is detected. Therefore it is impossible for the lighting to remain switched on during breaks or after the school closes.

The occupancy signal of the ceiling detectors is used additionally for control of individual room temperatures. Outside of normal teaching hours, a room is only kept at a comfortable temperature if it is in use. In this way, the best solution is achieved for both convenience and energy saving in lighting and heating.

After two years of construction works, the students of the Blautopf School could move into the new building in time for the 2017/18 school year. Blaubeuren’s new comprehensive school was built in a central position in the park between a swimming pool and a high school. The Braunschweig architecture practice, “Dohle+Lohse” won the contract for the well-arranged and simple new build.  Part of the package was the flexible, powerful but economical DALISYS lighting control system from B.E.G.

The central teaching unit of the school building is the “Lernbüro”, or learning centre, at over 400m². Desks, chairs and shelving can be rearranged at will, and all students can use this learning centre individually. To emphasise the unity of the learning centre over and above the various individual and group work areas, the entire learning centre is controlled as one lighting group. This resulted in a technical problem, in that over 64 lights had to be controlled, which is not possible with standard DALI. This was a deciding factor for DALISYS. The DALISYS lighting control system from B.E.G. is scalable – everything is possible, from fitting out single rooms to lighting control for a complete building complex. The components are addressable and work on the principle of distributed intelligence. The floors of the school are controlled with the “Guided Light” option of the DALISYS system. With “Guided Light”, the respective section and the adjacent sections can be regulated to full brightness. More distant sections remain dimmed to orientation light level. As a result, it is not necessary to illuminate the whole floor.

Press release Blautopf School Blaubeuren

Gymnasium Bürgerwiese is one of the biggest schools in Dresden, with 950 students and 54 teaching staff. Its central location and modern spaces with large windows and a lot of light make the school particularly attractive. Its new 26.5 million euro building at Lennéplatz was inaugurated in 2014. Around 360 occupancy and motion detectors contribute to energy efficiency.

All the classrooms at Gymnasium Bürgerwiese have the PD4-M-TRIO-DIM in service. This occupancy detector was specially developed for use in classrooms. It has two light sensors, one of which is directed at the desks by the window and the other at the desks by the wall. Two lighting zones can therefore be defined. Another key argument in favour of the classroom detectors is the additional relay, which can provide switching of the blackboard lighting.

In the long hallways, special PD4-M-2C-C corridor occupancy detectors were installed. Small intermediate areas and corners were covered by the PD2-M-2C. The school toilets with many individual cubicles are detected with the Indoor 180R-Micro. As well as an optical system, this also has acoustic detection. In this way, the follow-up time is automatically extended if the occupancy detector registers a sound. The PD4-M-2C was installed in the new sports hall. This occupancy detector is specially designed for tall ceilings, and covers an area of max. 447 sq m.

The IWT TETRA project, “Analysis of energy savings of three daylight control systems in a school building” by the Catholic University of Leuven (Ghent Technology Campus), is a monitoring project in which long-term practical measurement of energy consumption in ten classrooms was carried out.

B.E.G. is one of twenty partners in the research project. In order to research daylight and occupancy control, B.E.G. products were installed in two areas:

• Heilig-Hart & College, Halle: PD2-KNX occupancy detectors connected with the building control system via the KNX bus. Room usage registered by the occupancy detectors can also be used for other building functions, e.g. control of heating.

• Don Bosco, Haacht: As people often forget to turn off the light in shared rooms, the PD4-M-TRIO-DALI/DSI occupancy detector was installed in one classroom. This detector can control three channels, of which two are dimmable. For classrooms, which generally have a window side and a wall side, this is ideal. The side of the room furthest from the window can thus be regulated to have more artificial light than the window side.

The study showed that intelligent lighting control can save 18-46% of energy use.

John Keats Primary Free School opened to reception pupils in September 2018 and occupies the first two floors of a new residential development in South Bermondsey, London. It will eventually cater for 420 pupils up to year six. B.E.G. was selected to supply the presence and motion sensors for the school as the products offer the dual benefits of complete lighting flexibility to ensure that the building is fully energy efficient, while helping to create an excellent learning environment.

The lighting needed to be automated and adjustable, with different areas requiring different lighting levels and timings, and the additional need that areas were only lit when occupied, to save energy and reduce costs. To meet all these requirements, B.E.G. supplied two different types of presence and motion sensors from their range of KNX products. The sensors selected from B.E.G. were the PD11-KNX FLAT FC and the PD4 KNX C FC. The super-flat PD11 sensor was selected for the classrooms and other rooms, including the headmaster’s office, as it is less than 1mm thick, making it one of the flushest and most discreet sensors on the market. For the corridor areas of the school, which run nearly the entire length of the two floors, the PD4 KNX C FC was selected. The product is specifically designed to cover long corridors and so fewer devices were required to get full coverage, resulting in a reduction in time and further cost savings for the school.

Press release John Keats Primary Free School

The Lindenschule in Lübtheen, approx. 40km from the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state capital of Schwerin, is the first school in Germany to be neutral in terms of both heating costs and CO2. Its rebuild and refurbishment has transformed the former prefabricated building into an intelligent passive building. A great deal of effort was also put into energy-efficient lighting.

Dimming occupancy detectors were installed in all areas of the school. In 28 classrooms, PD4-M-TRIO-DIM detectors control the lights according to the amount of daylight falling. But teachers always have the option of accessing the automation. In this way the light can be manually switched off, for example for presentations using a projector. In the hallways and larger ancillary rooms, a total of 68 PD4-M occupancy detectors were fitted. These make sure that the lighting is switched off in the hallways if they are not being used, e.g. during lessons. Smaller ancillary rooms such as the copier room, stationery store or furniture store are monitored and operated by 31 compact PD2-M detectors with a detection range of 10 metres. The school’s toilets are fitted with Indoor 180-R wall-mounted detectors. These detectors can fit into standard switch boxes and also have a built-in microphone, so that the detectors operate not only when movement is detected, but also if there are sounds.

Southampton Freight Services Ltd (SFS) was founded in 1998 as a family-run freight and logistics company. After 17 years in business, the company was experiencing strong growth and needed new and bigger premises. With energy efficiency in mind, the emphasis was placed on factors such as the installation of energy-saving LED lights and lighting control.

In the large and open office and conference areas, PD2 occupancy detectors were installed, which measure the daylight falling on the rooms and adjust the lighting accordingly. When daylight levels are low, the dimmable lights are turned up, but with a lot of daylight, the lights are dimmed or completely switched off. In areas where constant daylight measurement is unnecessary, PD3 motion detectors were installed. These register movement and switch the light on/off depending on ambient light levels. In the main store and racking areas, detectors from the PD4 family were used. These sensors have a large detection area. In addition, the high-bay detectors in the PD4 family have a special lens, which can detect movement from as high as 14 metres.