The Vices York
This beautiful luxury hotel comprising of three suites, occupies what was once a Victorian Police Station in York and opened early 2022.
The clients had a clear vision for what they wanted to achieve in terms of the functionality and aesthetics and wanted automation to integrate seamlessly with the Italian-influenced design and the original features of the property.
Unlike in a domestic property, our challenge here was to create automation which could be easily understood and used by a wide demographic of guests without the need for a handover or them having previous experience of intelligent living. To achieve this, we created each suite as a separate ‘eco-system’ with access control, heating, lighting, shading and entertainment which can be controlled by the guest using the iPad provided.
Communal areas such as the guest lounge, bar, reception, dining room and Wine Library also feature intelligent lighting, heating, shading and audio. With these taken care of by Loxone, this allows the clients more time to focus on their guests and delivers a sense of effortless luxury throughout.
Lighting
The client’s lighting plan features incredible fixtures from Italian designer Davide Groppi, which we integrated with Loxone to allow guests to customise their experience throughout their stay. The first thing a guest will notice upon entering their suite is that the lights come on without the need to touch a switch. This follows through into the private wet room/bathroom and lounge. Light levels automatically adjust for time of day and guests can set lighting scenes to suit activity or schedule, for example to come on at low level after 9pm.
In communal areas it was important that lighting was triggered by presence to avoid rooms and corridors being lit unnecessarily when not in use, reducing energy costs. In areas such as the Wine Library and dining room, lighting scenes are set to get automatically activated at specific times to suit the event or time of day.
Loxone also effortlessly manages external lighting ensuring the property looks as stunning at night as in daytime without the clients having to do a thing.
Heating
Heating throughout the property is taken care of by Loxone, ensuring that rooms and communal areas are at the perfect temperature when needed and not heated unnecessarily when unoccupied.
Within each suite, guests can easily customise the heating levels and schedule to meet their own requirements.
Loxone switches have heat and humidity sensors installed by default, and we utilised temperature sensors in those areas without switches to ensure heating sources, whether underfloor or wall-mounted, work together perfectly to deliver optimum comfort for guests.
Access
With Loxone, creating a system to allow guests to access the property and their suite without the need for fobs, keys or swipe cards was simple and effective. NFC Code Touch on the main entrance and door to each suite allows the clients to easily generate each a unique access code which can be time-restricted for their guests’ stay. Unique codes can be generated for the staff, with the clients being able to easily check who accessed and when.
Entertainment
The clients wanted music throughout the property and guest suites.
Whether in communal areas such as Lounge or dining room or in their own suite, guests can enjoy soothing sounds played through ceiling and wall speakers.
Audio triggered by presence detection creates the perfect backdrop for a relaxing bath in exquisite glass bathtub or high-tech wet room shower when entering the bathroom.
Volume, start/stop audio and track selection are easily controlled through switches and the Loxone App.
