BEABLE CAPITAL OFFICE
Building type
Office
Location
Madrid, Spain
Lighting Designers
Marianella Velasquez, Andrea Soler
Background
BeAble Capital is a fund focused on investing in science equity projects, with its headquarters situated on the historic Génova Street in Madrid.
The building preserves its original architecture with narrow windows and balconies. These conditions influenced both the availability of natural light in space and the limitations in the placement of luminaires due to the decorative mouldings.
The office accommodates various types of rooms where diverse activities take place. From office work in individual offices to video conferencing in meeting rooms, collaborative work areas and coffee breaks in a small kitchen.
Objectives
BeAble hired Marianella Velasquez and Andrea Soler as lighting designers to lead the effort to support the following design objectives:
They selected the luminaries of LedsC4 carefully, following the recommended characteristics for human wellness in terms of spectrum, glare and colour rendering among others.
They went with the Lutron control system for its reliability and ease.
But the key for dynamic lighting was KUMUX service, to optimise luminaire characteristics and control. KUMUX provided the most suitable, science-based, lighting characteristics for each time of the day, and the automation to implement them. With KUMUX they could provide the necessary dynamism in lighting to mimic the changing rhythm of natural light.
The Result
“The new dynamic lighting has been a relevant investment for our company.
Our employees now feel more energized and they have less eyestrain, so their performance has considerably improved within the last few months. This has been reflected in our company results.”
SatisfactionAll employees are satisfied and would recommend the KUMUX system
.
Greater Well-beingAlmost all employees have improved their overall well-being.
Reduced StressThe majority of employees feel more relaxed at work.
Reduced Visual FatigueMost employees have experienced reduced visual fatigue, even when working with screens.
Improved SleepOver half of the employees have improved their sleep quality.
Increased EnergyOver half of the employees feel more vitality at work.
The Solution
The lighting design
The main challenge lay in the limited natural light input, as only two spaces had external windows while most of them were interior.
To address this and provide users with the right amount of light at the right time, the lighting design team selected the LedsC4 luminaires that offered key features they could optimise for their design for well-being:
- Tunable colour temperature, ranging from warm white (2700K) to cool white (6500K)
- Deep dimming
- Low-glare UGR<19
- High CRI
- DALI Control
For the lighting layout, the lighting designers aimed to ensure visual comfort but they also set the groundwork for meeting with the WELL standard in circadian lighting.
They considered a melanopic illuminance (mEDI) of 250 lux M-EDI at eye level must be achieved for at least 4 hours, starting no later than noon.
Taking into account the light spectrum of the luminaires, they created a lighting layout that would fulfil this requirement as a starting point for KUMUX to optimise dynamic lighting settings throughout the day.
Furthermore, KUMUX suggested to the lighting designers a hybrid compliance with international circadian standards. KUMUX settings allowed fulfil the requirements of WELL and the Lighting Research Center simultaneously.
Static lighting set at 4000 K and 500 lux could only align with the Lighting Research Center guidelines for a restricted duration each day.
KUMUX allowed optimising the design to adhere to the Lighting Research Center guidelines consistently throughout the day.
The Control System
The control system in the project utilises Lutron technology. With the Athena controller, it was possible to control the luminaires in every stay manually through touch panels in each room, combined with the Lutron mobile app.
Tailored scenes could be set whenever required for specific activities such as a presentation in the meeting room, however the key element in the control system was the automation of KUMUX for dynamic lighting.
KUMUX optimization
KUMUX Cloud service integrated into the Lutron control system optimised the dynamic lighting settings throughout the day based on geolocation, building type, date and lighting fixtures spectrum.
Upon user activation of the room's lights, KUMUX adjusts both the intensity and color temperature, aligning them with the employees' need for natural light at that precise moment. This adjustment will smoothly vary throughout the day, replicating natural sunlight variations based on the corresponding season.
Standards
KUMUX optimization not only ensures a consistent light variation resembling natural light but also a hybrid alignment with several international standards for circadian lighting, such as the WELL standard and the Lighting Research Center recommendations.
Once the control system commissioning was completed, there was an assessment of the non-visual lighting parameters that measured the suitability of light for wellness.
The WELL Building Standard is based on the parameter mEDI (Melanopic Equivalent Daylight Illuminance) measured at eye level in the vertical plane.
Light in all rooms complied with the requirements (green area).
Customer's Experience
BeAble Capital employees now enjoy high-quality lighting that enhances visual comfort and adapts to their biological needs throughout the day.
The lighting system not only complies with the WELL standard in lighting, but it also fulfils the requirements of the Lighting Research Center for the well-being of users. This hybrid compliance is possible thanks to the automated lighting settings of the KUMUX algorithm.
The user experience reports an increased energy and wellness in employees and an upgraded satisfaction with their work environment. These improvements make employees perform better.
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