Connected lighting creates comfort and conserves energy

Challenge: Occupant comfort is critical for human-centric co-working spaces, such as the 2,500 square-foot, three-floor multi-user office space known as the LOOM in Barcelona’s Torre Glòries office tower. With a 24-hour operating schedule per day, everything needs to be perfect, day and night. Especially the lighting.

Unfortunately, certain characteristics of the physical space and the nature of the way the space is used required a lighting system that could more actively engage with the environment than the typical commercial lighting system was capable of.

The Torre Glòries office tower boasts floor-to-ceiling windows. During the daytime, when ample daylight is available, coordinating the level of electric light with the presence of natural light is important to avoid overlighting the interior. This improved management of the lighting levels also enhances occupant comfort and saves energy. As the sunlight fades, electric light levels will increase automatically, ensuring the interior is always comfortably illuminated in relation to available natural light.

Due to the 24/7 schedule and variability in the use of the space, from one renter to the next, it was important the lighting system be equipped to respond to occupancy and customer preferences.

Solution: In order to achieve the daylighting, occupancy response, local control, and real-time data collection required by the space, property owner Merlin Properties selected Enlighted and its European partner LedsC4 to provide the lighting control, connectivity, and digital services.

By equipping each of the LOOM’s 150 individual luminaires with Enlighted’s wireless D4i smart sensors, each luminaire operates autonomously in response to available natural light and occupancy. The lighting levels can also be modified via remote controls to match the personal preferences of the people in the workspace.

By connecting these newly empowered luminaires to a centralized DALI D4i platform, the lighting system became an interactive, cloud-based, data-gathering grid that makes real-time information available locally and via the cloud.

Building managers were able to program lighting responses based on time of day, occupancy, and available daylight. They were also given access to real-time reporting and graphic visualizations detailing the energy savings, temperature, lighting patterns, and flow maintenance of the workspaces. The access to this information paired with the advanced control technology enables building managers to see opportunities for improvement and modify the performance of the lighting system accordingly.

The result is a flexible co-working space focused on comfort, and tenants say it has helped optimize performance and boosted creativity.

This article appeared in the May 2022 issue of Architectural SSL magazine.