PROJECT DETAILS
AMSTEIN + WALTHERT AG
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
Installed Products
Smart light for customised office areas
Digitalisation, home office and new work models: the office of the future is facing major challenges today. Many companies are asking themselves questions such as: Do we still really need so much space? Can we optimise power consumption in our property? And what conditions do employees need to not only be able to concentrate on their work but also to enjoy a feeling of general well-being? Zumtobel has teamed up with Amstein + Walthert, one of Switzerland’s largest engineering and consulting firms, in order to provide some answers. Together the partners have set up a smart building environment at the Andreasturm in Zurich in which to test the digital office applications of the future – using the lighting infrastructure as a basis.
The showcase rooms created by Amstein + Walthert bring together the expertise of both companies along the value creation chain of an office building, including the surveying of an existing building, the project design and implementation of the technical and lighting infrastructure, and the continuous analysis and improvement of operating processes. "We wanted to learn more about the opportunities offered by the Internet of Things (IoT) for office management", says Ian Abegglen, Sales Consultant End User Digital/IoT & Finance Services at Zumtobel in Switzerland. "The aim is to integrate the right infrastructure into an existing lighting system, cost-effectively and quickly – for the benefit of building owners, tenants and operators."
To this end, Zumtobel provided 19 high-quality EPURIA free-standing LED luminaires – all equipped with an integrated presence and brightness sensor and wirelessly controlled via Bluetooth Wireless IoT Mesh. In addition, 6 air quality sensors and a gateway were installed and integrated into the IoT network. With the help of the gateway, the luminaire and sensor data is transmitted to a cloud-based monitoring and analysis dashboard. 3 asset tags also enable physical goods such as flip charts or printers to be identified and located.
From user requirement to research question
In order to identify relevant use cases for practice, Amstein + Walthert first analysed customers’ most frequent needs. Two concrete use cases quickly emerged:
Issue #1: Improving the quality of indoor spaces
Air quality in the office has been extremely important since long before the pandemic. Optimising this also makes sense from an employer’s point of view: in well-ventilated rooms, employees both feel well and perform at their best. With the help of Zumtobel air quality sensors, Amstein + Walthert can now measure CO2 content, air humidity and temperature as well as VOC values. These reflect the amount of volatile organic compounds in the air, which may be emitted by cleaning products, paints or adhesives, for example. The system sends an alert when certain limits are exceeded or not reached, and action is required.
Issue #2: Getting the best use out of workplaces
As a result of home office regulations, employees are no longer all in the office at all times by default. The EPURIA luminaires from Zumtobel serve as sensors and data points. They automatically detect presence and ambient light – and dynamically adapt their light output accordingly. This not only saves energy, but also provides Amstein + Walthert with information about which areas are most frequented – a database that can be used to reliably estimate future space requirements and increase the profitability of spaces.
"Demand is coming particularly from companies who need a lot of space for their employees", says Ian Abegglen from Zumtobel. "The current rule of thumb is that 0.8 desks are needed per employee. Due to increased digitalisation and established home office concepts, this has changed significantly. Now companies need to find out how much space they actually need in the light of these new work models. Our surveys help them decided whether and how they will use their office areas in the future."
Control centre for light, environment & power consumption
To be able to evaluate and analyse the acquired building data quickly, Zumtobel sends it to a dashboard. This system visualises and analyses light and environmental data using a cloud-based IoT platform from Axonize, which Zumtobel calls the Smart Building Platform.
'Demand is coming particularly from companies who need a lot of space for their employees. The current rule of thumb is that 0.8 desks are needed per employee. Due to increased digitalisation and established home office concepts, this has changed significantly. Now companies need to find out how much space they actually need in the light of these new work models. Our surveys help them decided whether and how they will use their office areas in the future.' — Ian Abegglen, Sales Consultant Enduser Digital/IoT- & Financeservices at Zumtobel
Starting point for further applications
In addition to these specific use case scenarios, many further applications are possible: for example, using the smart building infrastructure, a continuous energy monitoring system can be created or a reservation system for workplaces and meeting rooms established. Presence data can also be used to set up a smart cleaning system, in which only the workplaces or areas that have actually been used are cleaned. And with the help of the asset tracking function, office equipment such as flip charts or projectors can always be located. It is also possible to set up an indoor navigation system that allows people to find their way quickly and easily in an unfamiliar environment.
Facilitating data transfer between platforms
According to Ralph Schmid (Senior Project Manager Consulting Real Estate/Facility Management at Amstein + Walthert), the important question for Amstein + Walthert was whether the information from the building infrastructure could also be easily transferred to downstream platforms, such as booking systems. "Our customers want to remain in possession of their data – and be able to use it whatever the platform. We have been able to achieve this thanks to Zumtobel’s infrastructure", says Ralph Schmid.
From digital twin to real benefit
In order to integrate the showcase as seamlessly as possible into the ongoing office operations in the Andreasturm, Amstein + Walthert kept its employees fully updated at all times. "Communicating well was very important to us in helping to keep our colleagues on board", says Senior Project Manager Ralph Schmid. After the installation, operations continued smoothly: "It felt as if that’s the way it had always been."
The basis for Zumtobel’s installation was a 3D scan of the premises: using a 3D scanner, Amstein + Walthert scanned the entire floor and produced a three-dimensional digital model of the building (BIM model). The model then served as a starting point for Zumtobel’s project design, helping them find the best positions for the sensors and luminaires.
Do the brightness ratios comply with all the norms? Have labour law requirements been complied with? – Before the new building infrastructure was approved for use in August 2021, the lighting designers from Reflexion AG inspected the project design in the model.
Employee health takes priority
A real-life practical example shows that smart building monitoring pays off, particularly when it comes to employee health: "After a large-scale clean of the building, the VOC values were too high – and we were able to search for the cause together with the cleaning service provider", reports Ralph Schmid. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds and refers to volatile gaseous or vaporous substances in the air. Thanks to the documented increase in the system, it was possible to ventilate quickly and remove the unwanted vapours. In short: "Smart building monitoring also allows us to identify environmental factors that you can’t see, smell or perceive directly", according to Ralph Schmid.
'Communicating well was very important to us in helping to keep our colleagues on board. It felt as if that’s the way it had always been.' — Ralph Schmid, Senior Projektleiter at Amstein + Walthert
One system, numerous advantages
The use cases show only one small aspect of the overall benefit of a smart building infrastructure. "Our concept pays off at all levels", says Ian Abegglen from Zumtobel. "Employees benefit from an optimal work environment and convenient digital applications such as workplace reservation via app. Building owners and managers can operate with increased energy efficiency and cost savings. In light of the EU Green Deal – the EU-wide aim of becoming climate neutral by 2050 – this is becoming increasingly important." There are also benefits for real estate service providers: remote monitoring enables technical maintenance work or building cleaning to be planned and invoiced as required.
Leveraging potential with smart building infrastructure
"Our collaboration shows that the state-of-the-art lighting solutions of today are digital and IoT-ready", sums up Ian Abegglen from Zumtobel. "They make lighting and the building environment measurable and qualifiable, offering enormous potential for improvements." Now that the test phase has been completed, Amstein + Walthert and Zumtobel are making their combined expertise available to interested companies. After all, there is still some potential to be tapped with the help of digital applications throughout the building life cycle.
'Our collaboration shows that the state-of-the-art lighting solutions of today are digital and IoT-ready. They make lighting and the building environment measurable and qualifiable, offering enormous potential for improvements.' — Ian Abegglen, Sales Consultant Enduser Digital/IoT- & Financeservices at Zumtobel
Partner: Amstein + Walthert AG, Zurich (CH)
Lighting Designer: Reflexion AG, Zurich (CH)
Project year: 2021
Digitalisation, home office and new work models: the office of the future is facing major challenges today. Many companies are asking themselves questions such as: Do we still really need so much space? Can we optimise power consumption in our property? And what conditions do employees need to not only be able to concentrate on their work but also to enjoy a feeling of general well-being? Zumtobel has teamed up with Amstein + Walthert, one of Switzerland’s largest engineering and consulting firms, in order to provide some answers. Together the partners have set up a smart building environment at the Andreasturm in Zurich in which to test the digital office applications of the future – using the lighting infrastructure as a basis.
The showcase rooms created by Amstein + Walthert bring together the expertise of both companies along the value creation chain of an office building, including the surveying of an existing building, the project design and implementation of the technical and lighting infrastructure, and the continuous analysis and improvement of operating processes. "We wanted to learn more about the opportunities offered by the Internet of Things (IoT) for office management", says Ian Abegglen, Sales Consultant End User Digital/IoT & Finance Services at Zumtobel in Switzerland. "The aim is to integrate the right infrastructure into an existing lighting system, cost-effectively and quickly – for the benefit of building owners, tenants and operators."
To this end, Zumtobel provided 19 high-quality EPURIA free-standing LED luminaires – all equipped with an integrated presence and brightness sensor and wirelessly controlled via Bluetooth Wireless IoT Mesh. In addition, 6 air quality sensors and a gateway were installed and integrated into the IoT network. With the help of the gateway, the luminaire and sensor data is transmitted to a cloud-based monitoring and analysis dashboard. 3 asset tags also enable physical goods such as flip charts or printers to be identified and located.
From user requirement to research question
In order to identify relevant use cases for practice, Amstein + Walthert first analysed customers’ most frequent needs. Two concrete use cases quickly emerged:
Issue #1: Improving the quality of indoor spaces
Air quality in the office has been extremely important since long before the pandemic. Optimising this also makes sense from an employer’s point of view: in well-ventilated rooms, employees both feel well and perform at their best. With the help of Zumtobel air quality sensors, Amstein + Walthert can now measure CO2 content, air humidity and temperature as well as VOC values. These reflect the amount of volatile organic compounds in the air, which may be emitted by cleaning products, paints or adhesives, for example. The system sends an alert when certain limits are exceeded or not reached, and action is required.
Issue #2: Getting the best use out of workplaces
As a result of home office regulations, employees are no longer all in the office at all times by default. The EPURIA luminaires from Zumtobel serve as sensors and data points. They automatically detect presence and ambient light – and dynamically adapt their light output accordingly. This not only saves energy, but also provides Amstein + Walthert with information about which areas are most frequented – a database that can be used to reliably estimate future space requirements and increase the profitability of spaces.
"Demand is coming particularly from companies who need a lot of space for their employees", says Ian Abegglen from Zumtobel. "The current rule of thumb is that 0.8 desks are needed per employee. Due to increased digitalisation and established home office concepts, this has changed significantly. Now companies need to find out how much space they actually need in the light of these new work models. Our surveys help them decided whether and how they will use their office areas in the future."
Control centre for light, environment & power consumption
To be able to evaluate and analyse the acquired building data quickly, Zumtobel sends it to a dashboard. This system visualises and analyses light and environmental data using a cloud-based IoT platform from Axonize, which Zumtobel calls the Smart Building Platform.
'Demand is coming particularly from companies who need a lot of space for their employees. The current rule of thumb is that 0.8 desks are needed per employee. Due to increased digitalisation and established home office concepts, this has changed significantly. Now companies need to find out how much space they actually need in the light of these new work models. Our surveys help them decided whether and how they will use their office areas in the future.' — Ian Abegglen, Sales Consultant Enduser Digital/IoT- & Financeservices at Zumtobel
Starting point for further applications
In addition to these specific use case scenarios, many further applications are possible: for example, using the smart building infrastructure, a continuous energy monitoring system can be created or a reservation system for workplaces and meeting rooms established. Presence data can also be used to set up a smart cleaning system, in which only the workplaces or areas that have actually been used are cleaned. And with the help of the asset tracking function, office equipment such as flip charts or projectors can always be located. It is also possible to set up an indoor navigation system that allows people to find their way quickly and easily in an unfamiliar environment.
Facilitating data transfer between platforms
According to Ralph Schmid (Senior Project Manager Consulting Real Estate/Facility Management at Amstein + Walthert), the important question for Amstein + Walthert was whether the information from the building infrastructure could also be easily transferred to downstream platforms, such as booking systems. "Our customers want to remain in possession of their data – and be able to use it whatever the platform. We have been able to achieve this thanks to Zumtobel’s infrastructure", says Ralph Schmid.
From digital twin to real benefit
In order to integrate the showcase as seamlessly as possible into the ongoing office operations in the Andreasturm, Amstein + Walthert kept its employees fully updated at all times. "Communicating well was very important to us in helping to keep our colleagues on board", says Senior Project Manager Ralph Schmid. After the installation, operations continued smoothly: "It felt as if that’s the way it had always been."
The basis for Zumtobel’s installation was a 3D scan of the premises: using a 3D scanner, Amstein + Walthert scanned the entire floor and produced a three-dimensional digital model of the building (BIM model). The model then served as a starting point for Zumtobel’s project design, helping them find the best positions for the sensors and luminaires.
Do the brightness ratios comply with all the norms? Have labour law requirements been complied with? – Before the new building infrastructure was approved for use in August 2021, the lighting designers from Reflexion AG inspected the project design in the model.
Employee health takes priority
A real-life practical example shows that smart building monitoring pays off, particularly when it comes to employee health: "After a large-scale clean of the building, the VOC values were too high – and we were able to search for the cause together with the cleaning service provider", reports Ralph Schmid. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds and refers to volatile gaseous or vaporous substances in the air. Thanks to the documented increase in the system, it was possible to ventilate quickly and remove the unwanted vapours. In short: "Smart building monitoring also allows us to identify environmental factors that you can’t see, smell or perceive directly", according to Ralph Schmid.
'Communicating well was very important to us in helping to keep our colleagues on board. It felt as if that’s the way it had always been.' — Ralph Schmid, Senior Projektleiter at Amstein + Walthert
One system, numerous advantages
The use cases show only one small aspect of the overall benefit of a smart building infrastructure. "Our concept pays off at all levels", says Ian Abegglen from Zumtobel. "Employees benefit from an optimal work environment and convenient digital applications such as workplace reservation via app. Building owners and managers can operate with increased energy efficiency and cost savings. In light of the EU Green Deal – the EU-wide aim of becoming climate neutral by 2050 – this is becoming increasingly important." There are also benefits for real estate service providers: remote monitoring enables technical maintenance work or building cleaning to be planned and invoiced as required.
Leveraging potential with smart building infrastructure
"Our collaboration shows that the state-of-the-art lighting solutions of today are digital and IoT-ready", sums up Ian Abegglen from Zumtobel. "They make lighting and the building environment measurable and qualifiable, offering enormous potential for improvements." Now that the test phase has been completed, Amstein + Walthert and Zumtobel are making their combined expertise available to interested companies. After all, there is still some potential to be tapped with the help of digital applications throughout the building life cycle.
'Our collaboration shows that the state-of-the-art lighting solutions of today are digital and IoT-ready. They make lighting and the building environment measurable and qualifiable, offering enormous potential for improvements.' — Ian Abegglen, Sales Consultant Enduser Digital/IoT- & Financeservices at Zumtobel
Partner: Amstein + Walthert AG, Zurich (CH)
Lighting Designer: Reflexion AG, Zurich (CH)
Project year: 2021
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