The 11,000 square-foot EWoffice Business Center in Costa del Este, Panama City, Panama houses dozens of local businesses with over forty offices, shared boardrooms, kitchens, lounges, and more.
The Tech Decision
After the building’s owner and operating administrator experienced the benefits of ELAN control in a nearby shopping center, they called on local technology integration firm Domotic Design to conceptualize and install a comprehensive automation system of their own.
The original scope of the project was to use an automation system to reduce electricity consumption generated by lighting and HVAC, and lower the costs of building operation. Once Domotic Design began building out the design, they recommended the customer take advantage of the other sub-systems ELAN can automate and control, like audio, video, security, access control, intercom, motorized shades, and more.
The end-result satisfied the customer’s initial request, and provides tenants with one more reason to rent space at the EWoffices Business Center opposed to other Panama City shared workspaces.
The Solution
Domotic Design installed an ELAN gSC2 controller and ELAN g1 controller to anchor the entire building’s system, along with two ELAN gTP7 and gTP4 touch panels for one-touch audio and video control in central shared boardrooms. Remote access is enabled by the ELAN App, installed on the building owner and manager’s smartphone devices.
The building’s owner wanted to facilitate control of the lighting depending on the day and time, and based on the occupation of the offices. Domotic Design integrated 16 loads of Lutron RadioRA2 lighting in the common areas into the ELAN system to effectively manage when they powered on and off.
Since the occupying businesses and the building’s managers use the ELAN system for completely different reasons, Domotic Design configured the ELAN touch panels with custom pages that only allow tenants to control the audio and videoOther involved systems throughout the entire building, like lighting, HVAC, and security, are only accessible to the owners locally and remotely.
Domotic Design installed a Niles Auriel multi-room audio system, enabling occupying businesses to stream audio and video instantly whenever desired. As Auriel is based on the ELAN Control Platform, it was particularly easy to integrate. The system is divided into four independent zones, including the building’s reception area, the coffee lounge, and two board rooms — both of which have an integrated AppleTV and ELAN video matrix for presentations. Different businesses can play their own music in designated areas thanks to the multiple Auriel zones.
The Impact
ELAN automation significantly streamlines management of the building for the owner and the operating administrator. Since the EWoffice Business Center’s HVAC is entirely dependent on an adjacent cooling tower’s pumping system, the corresponding cold water pumps do not function 24 hours a day and thus need to be closely managed so as to not rev-up energy costs.
With ELAN, Domotic Design configured an automated HVAC system that turns on and off on a strict schedule without any action needed on the manager’s part. Every day at 7:00 AM, the system enters ‘Home Mode,’ which manages the complex HVAC system, as well as lighting and security. ‘Away Mode’ goes into full effect at 8:00 PM, which safely powers down all systems.
The ELAN system also has enormous benefits for tenants occupying the space.
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