Discover Germany | Special Theme | Smart Business
How smart is your home? Smart homes are on everyone’s lips, yet few have become familiar with them. Do we need all those extra apps and features around us, or will they complicate our lives even more? Gira, a leading brand for building systems technology, will help us get a better idea. TEXT: GERSCHAU.KROTH.WERBEAGENTUR GMBH | PHOTOS: © ULRICH BEUTTENMÜLLER
In our cars, we have long become used to it: doors open without a touch and the lights go on. At the touch of a button, the seat and steering wheel move into our memorised position of convenience. Doors automatically lock when we start driving. The sound system plays our favourite music, and turns off when the phone rings. In modern vehicles, many smart, networked functions are pre-programmed for extra convenience, safety and energy efficiency, and can be individually adapted to the driver. Now why should this level of convenience end in our garage? Once we enter our home, rather than us having to adapt to our technology, would it not be nice if our technology would rather adapt to us, individually, without us giving it a second thought? 62 | Issue 52 | July 2017
This has been the approach of Gira, located in Radevormwald in the Bergisches Land region. For more than 100 years, this family-owned company has been developing and manufacturing systems to provide more convenience and safety in buildings through electrical engineering. It all began with simple light switches and socket outlets – today, full control systems are able to interlink a wide variety of functions and devices in a home network. Modern design, the art of engineering, and quality ‘Made in Germany’ – this is what the brand has been representing for many decades. So, what happens when you enter a home that is equipped like that? First of all, your
home already knows that you will soon arrive. You have announced your arrival by smartphone. The heating adjusts to your desired temperature. The door opens by fingerprint, and your preferred light ambiance and music are provided for a welcome. At the touch of a button, your living room converts into a cinema. You can see on your television screen when dinner is ready, or who is ringing your doorbell. When you wish to relax in the privacy of the spa area under the massage shower, your home will keep you perfectly shielded from the world outside. Your home is secured at any time, even when you leave again the following morning, or if the children are ever alone at home. Connected Comfort and Gira eNet: space becomes an experience A vision of the future? Not at all. In a loft near Munich, several leading premium brands in building technology demonstrate how the different convenience and safety functions can be networked together.