2020 KNX Award Peoples Choice Winner: Al-Masa Smart Hotel

Al-Masa Hotel is the hub of New Alamein City, built for a population of around 2 million people. It is the largest hospitality hotel in Egypt and one of the largest 7-star hotels on the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt is undergoing a huge urban development programme, and New Alamein City is at the top of the Egyptian state's priorities by being the first smart city in Egypt. This project is the winner of the 2020 KNX Awards category for People's Choice.

The brief

As the client, the Egyptian Armed Forces commissioned leading KNX specialist SMART to provide an energy-efficient system with full guest room management system and integration with KNX IoT devices throughout the development. This includes the commercial, entertainment and parking areas, as well as the streetlights and residential towers.

Solution

The requests of the owner and the consultant were many and complicated due to the enormity of the integration required between the different systems in the project. We therefore created a design that allows us to connect KNX with the rest of the systems and also to accommodate potential future expansion.

We chose KNX because it is an open protocol system that allows us to communicate with others systems in several languages, namely BACnet, Modbus, IP network and the KNX bus natively through a single twisted pair cable.

Installation

The project consists of six interconnected towers that contain a total of 1500 guest rooms, residential rooms and meeting rooms. First, we used the data for each room/area to determine the suitable devices/solution for that area. Then, we made drawings and wiring diagrams for the KNX panels in coordination with the main contractor.

15,000 KNX devices were used, with a huge IP network consisting of 820 IP gateways as the backbone of the project. In addition, the EBO (EcoStruxure Building Operation) system from Schneider Electric is used as the BMS (Building Management System) interface.

The system installation took about 18 months of hard work in designing, installing, programming and integrating the KNX system with up to eight other systems.

Benefits of using KNX

With this large number of systems that aims to service around two million people, energy-saving plays a big role, and that is exactly what we offer with the KNX system. Thanks to KNX, we have kept energy consumption low and reduced CO2 emissions.

We also offer easy integration with all other systems including the central operation centre of the city for monitoring and remotely-controlling all IoT devices. KNX also offers the flexibility to upgrade or modify operational scenarios and settings at any time.

Products and technologies used

Touchscreen wall stations.Card access door interface.Dimming.Time management.BMS interface.EBO automation servers.Different power supply devices to match different current ratings.Room applications such as lighting, HVAC and shutter control.IPTV and CCTV interface.Videlio software interface.

Project: AL-Masa Downtown New Alamein City

A project by: Egyptian for Intelligent Buildings(Smart)

Contact: Ahmed Mohamed