How do smart home automation get along with a historical building? The Ratměřice castle near the Blaník mountain, which was sensitively rebuilt into a charming hotel with 21 rooms, is proof that such a connection is clearly beneficial. Hotel guests and visitors to the park, enjoying the wonderful light atmosphere of the entire castle and its surroundings, would definitely give it a try. However, the benefits only begin with light control
The Ratměřice castle, built in 1702, underwent an expensive restoration. A lot has changed since the time when members of the famous Chotek´s family lived here, but the new owner managed to maintain its late classicist style and at the same time incorporate modern technologies during the reconstruction. The originally separate classic electrical installation, i.e. lighting and sockets, was integrated by the Tecomat Foxtrot system into the integrated management of the entire building - together with measurement and regulation and low-current installations.
Today, the castle lives as a hotel with a wellness center, training facilities, a wine shop, now also a multifunctional playground and a bio pool, and last but not least, a park with rare trees and a breathtaking light installation. The building with the restaurant, the connecting colonnade and the office apartment are also included in the smart management system.
Implementation: MICROCOMP Plus s.r.o.
Almost 400 CFox peripheral modules are connected throughout the hotel!
You can win with lighting in rooms, whether you need to illuminate a specific place or create the right atmosphere.
A novel idea is the placement of RGB LED strips in the window, which creates a "light curtain" of any color towards the inside. Especially in the evening and night hours, the windows in the entire castle building play with all the colors. LED strips are controlled by LED dimmers or drivers. The windows of the restaurant and the training hall can also boast of colored light scenes.
A specialty is the dimmable mirror lighting, and of course there is the automatic switching of the heating ladder, an emergency button in case the user falls, a card holder (central on/off).
CFox system wall controllers are not only used for switching or dimming the lights, but also measure the room temperature at the same time. One controller has a display on which you can conveniently set the temperature in the room.
Heating is provided by wall-mounted heating and floor heating, both controlled by analog outputs of CFox modules.
Ventilation and air recovery are provided by separate Atrea Duplex 180 EC 4D under-ceiling units. These have their own digital regulation, which is subordinated to the integrated Tecomat Foxtrot control via the Modbus TCP interface.
The training hall is dominated by sufficiently intense, yet pleasant, indirect fluorescent lighting on the roof truss. The spot lamps above the desks are also not neglected.
A completely different impression is provided by wellness and fitness in the main building, as well as the wine cellar. Spotlights at the level of the stairs, effective spot lighting of niches with openwork masonry, colorful lighting from behind the cellar tables, lighting effects in the sauna or hot tub... all this creates an unrepeatable atmosphere and enhances the relaxation or tasting experience.
The main building's heating sources include a solar system made up of flat collectors located on the roof of the building and a pressureless storage tank, 2 solid fuel boilers with a controlled flue gas fan (50 kW) and 2 gas boilers (105 kW) are also installed. The output of the heating water is led to a distributor with 6 branches for heating, 2 branches for ventilation units and one branch for heating the hot water storage tanks. The heating circuit is also led to the next building with the restaurant via an underground distribution system.
The extensive electrical installation of the restaurant, bar, kitchen, dendrology exhibition, outdoor terrace, garage, service apartment and facade lighting is controlled by the third basic module of the Foxtrot system with the necessary peripherals – starting with lights´switching and dimming, , opening of skylights and it ends with the control of the heating system, all valves, circulation pumps including the solar system.
In the restaurant, heat is provided by wall-mounted and floor heating. Ventilation is provided by the recovery units. Air conditioning units are also controlled by the Foxtrot system.
The hotel facade, the lighting of the paths in the castle park and the lighting of the colonnade are equipped with controlled switching and dimmable lighting with ballasts with a DALI interface. The access road starts with a remote-controlled gate and is equipped with controlled lighting.
