2007-04-10 -
ABB’s smart home system has taken luxury living to new heights in the award-winning Le Rêve Tower, one of the most exclusive addresses in Dubai and the first smart home built in the Middle East.
ABB’s smart home system has taken luxury living to new heights in the award-winning Le Rêve Tower, one of the most exclusive addresses in Dubai and the first smart home built in the Middle East.
Overlooking the Dubai Marina with breathtaking views of the Gulf shoreline and the engineering marvel of the palm-shaped island of Palm Jumeirah, Le Rêve Tower deservedly claims to be one of the most prestigious apartment buildings in Dubai.
Earlier this year, Le Rêve (which is French for ‘The Dream’) won two gold awards and one silver from Homes Overseas magazine, the UK’s leading real estate periodical.
Competing against entries from all over the world, Le Rêve was singled out as the Best Luxury Development for “no expense spared”, Best Interior Design for “ingenuity and the ‘wow’ factor”, and Best Use of Technology for “creating the home of the future, now”.
A contributing factor to the success of Le Rêve, whose apartments were all sold in advance of completion, is ABB’s EIB/KNX smart home system that brings ambience and sophistication to each of the building’s 82 penthouse-class homes.
Comfort and convenience
The ABB smart home solution enables residents to control all the functions of their homes, including lighting, temperature and curtains, from any room and create touch-screen mood settings for all areas of the apartment.
Each apartment is equipped with the touch panel designed by Bang & Olufsen that controls and monitors lighting, dimming, air conditioning, curtains and water heaters, as well as providing the option to control and monitor door access, security and the audio and video systems.
Wireless touch screens enable the functions to be operated from anywhere in the apartment. Remote access is also possible by Internet, PDA or mobile phone for those who want it. Audio and video devices such as TVs, radios, CD and DVD players, and home entertainment systems are controlled via wall units or remote control pads.
One of the distinguishing features of the solution is its flexibility. Residents can customise the settings for each room and create modes for a wide variety of activities such as dining, reading and entertaining, to obtain the required ambience with a single touch of the control panel.
Differentiation
Developers Al Bassam of Kuwait and Functional Solutions of Dubai selected the ABB EIB/KNX smart home system to help differentiate Le Rêve from other luxury high-rise buildings in Dubai. ABB was awarded the contract after a trial installation in four apartments, in the face of stiff competition from other global and regional suppliers of smart home systems.
ABB’s EIB/KNX is an open protocol technology that allows products from other manufacturers to be integrated into the system. It is the only installation system to comply with both the EIB (European Installation Bus), and the KNX (Konnex Association) standards.
The system can be integrated with building management systems and all data made available for facility management. Its ability to control energy-intensive functions such as air conditioning and lighting in each room reduces power consumption and CO² emissions, and makes it one of the most energy-efficient building automation systems on the market.
ABB’s smart home system is one of the most widely used intelligent installation systems in the world, and the leading smart building system in the Middle East and Africa. Other well-known buildings in the region using the system include the seven-star Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi, the seven-star Hilton Qasr Al Sharq hotel in Jeddah, the Nile City complex in Cairo, and the Four Seasons Hotel in Alexandria.