Intelligent Environments were contracted by Coll Electrical to provide the smart building solution for the control of the lighting for this exciting new dealership on Auckland’s North Shore.
The first of its kind in New Zealand, it has been built to a new style of Mercedes-Benz architecture known as MAR2020 being implemented across the globe. The intention is for customers to continue a seamless purchasing journey, via smart building solutions, from their online experience to their physical visit to the dealership, with strong integration of digital elements and technology.
This is the first of its kind in New Zealand, but retail outlets with Mercedes-Benz’s new brand identity have already paved the way in Germany, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and many other countries.
On a site of almost 10,000 sqm, the North Shore dealership building is 3,153 sqm. The ground floor area of 2,578 sqm has a 10-vehicle Mercedes-Benz showroom and a service department, housing 18 hoists. The 575 sqm mezzanine floor is a real feature and home to New Zealand’s largest AMG Performance Centre. A glass vehicle elevator in the middle of the building is a centrepiece that lifts the Mercedes-AMG vehicles to the mezzanine floor.
With customer experience being key, this requirement carried over into the lighting design. The mixture of architectural and standard lighting specified was to both complement the building’s aesthetics and enhance the customer journey.
Striking architecture and high-quality interior design create flowing transitions between the different areas within the dealership, and from inside to outside, with lighting providing both focus and ambiance.
In total, the building has over 700 luminaires, including emergency fittings, and architectural luminaires specific to the showroom. The majority of light fittings are DALI, but a few architectural pendant luminaires are controlled by relays, still via the DALI control system. The zencontrol DALI system includes 631 DALI drivers, 17 application controllers, 17 DALI power supplies, 16 DALI relays, 30 DALI sensors and 3 DALI LCPs.
The challenge in determining the appropriate smart building solution was to meet the lighting needs of the different areas of the building: the high-end showroom, service department, AMG Performance Centre, and administration areas, (including emergency lighting) and provide a seamless transition between the areas to meet the exacting brief for “Best Customer Experience”.
The MAR2020 brand design allowed for architectural lights and a combination of recessed gimbal lighting (Ergo Lighting) and recessed downlights (iGuzzini) for the showroom. The “handover rooms” are where the vehicles get the final once over and are specifically displayed for their new owners under more iGuzzini luminaires, and track lighting to focus the eye, and heighten the customer experience. Areas emphasising vehicle presentation require dedicated spotlighting, whereas unobtrusive background illumination is provided for the flexible consulting areas.
Recessed downlights were also used in the office/administration areas, along with recessed rectangular louvered downlights. Office lighting is occupancy-controlled enabling cost savings and extending the life of the luminaires.
The dimmable lighting is also programmed for scene control, enabling simple transitions for changes in the use of the area. In many cases, the level of illumination has been adjusted for user comfort.
Task lighting was required for the workshop, and this was provided by aesthetically pleasing linear-type extrusions (Marcolux). Workshop lighting is principally on/off and schedule-controlled. Lighting in the adjacent single-bay carwash is controlled by occupancy sensing.
The lighting on the exterior façade employs wall-mounted luminaires (AEC Italio) controlled by schedule. The same supplier provided the exterior pole lights which operate sunset to sunrise for security purposes.
After closing, the dealership becomes a “billboard” with high-value merchandise displayed at its best. Overnight, all internal lights turn off except for the “spotlights” on the vehicles which provide 24/7 visibility and security for these valuable cars.
The ability to address the DALI lights individually was crucial for the design elements required for client-controlled scenes to be pre-set, and was a major factor in choosing a DALI-2 system as the smart building solution.
A fully monitored emergency lighting system is incorporated. This simplified wiring requirements as all DALI devices, including emergencies, were connected to the DALI network. The monitoring system, achievable via the bi-directional flow of information from DALI devices, ensures ease of compliance for legislation and makes maintenance easy.
With lighting playing an important part in the client experience, it is essential that any issues e.g. LED failure, be identified without delay. The Planview software allows remote monitoring of the system, enabling any faults to be reported for speedy resolution.
As well as giving information on the status of each luminaire (on/off) and each lighting zone, Planview provides visibility of the fully monitored emergency lighting including battery status, and lamp life. Testing is carried out on set schedules, and reports emailed to appropriate contacts.
The highly visible location, and the commanding presence of the dealership, makes it a 24hr “billboard”. With such visibility, it is imperative that lighting be monitored and faults identified without delay, for immediate resolution.
To meet this client’s exacting requirements, a zencontrol DALI-2 system was commissioned with Planview software. This allows “alerts” for maintenance purposes if a fault is identified on the system, e.g. a DALI light can be replaced and the electrician can then activate the repair function to enable the system to re-commission the driver.
Even though the “retail experience” was prime, and certain lights are required for 24/7 spotlighting of the premium vehicles, the client also wished to ensure lighting was not left on when not required. The ability to individually address 700 luminaires, allows multiple scenes to be set, scheduled, or controlled by occupancy sensor, to ensure ultimate flexibility, seamless transitions, and energy saving where possible.
