Smart platform Gaia for efficient spaces
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
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Project Description
Gaia by Actiu is first platform for the smart management of healthy and efficient high-performance spaces. It is a pioneering and disruptive IoT platform that incorporates sensors into the work environment to gather data on how it is used and the conditions of the environment, positively impacting user well-being, as well as the organization’s results. Gaia by Actiu monitors space occupancy, temperature, humidity, light, sound, and controls density in open areas and meeting rooms.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
Actiu launches the first platform for the smart management of healthy and efficient high-performance spaces. Gaia by Actiu is a pioneering and disruptive IoT platform that incorporates sensors into the work environment to gather data on how it is used and the conditions of the environment, positively impacting user well-being, as well as the organization’s results.
Gaia gives quantifiable knowledge to facility managers and companies in search of more organised, sustainable and balanced environments. Furthermore, it does so through simple sensors that are incorporated into the furniture with their own communication system, guaranteeing both anonymity and security in data processing.
The platform monitors parameters such as space occupancy, temperature, humidity, light, sound, carbon dioxide levels and airborne particles, including data analysis, chart management, visualisation and information on the floor plan and monitoring thereof. It also improves people's safety by providing relevant data to ensure social distancing measures are adhered to while controlling density in open areas and meeting rooms.
As well as optimising the use of space and promoting energy efficiency by integrating them into environmental control systems, which, in turn, leads to a reduction in costs.
Key objectives for sustainability
Gaia by Actiu brings together Actiu's more than 50 years' experience designing solutions to improve people's well-being in their interaction with workspaces. It is also the result of the knowledge acquired by the company in its processes of being awarded the LEED and WELL Platinum certifications, which have enabled its headquarters in the Actiu Technology Park to become the world's first industrial building to obtain both of them, certifying it as a healthy and sustainable space that safeguards the well-being of employees and takes care of the surrounding environment.
The WELL v2 Platinum Certification, granted by the WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and audited at Actiu by CBRE, accredits, through a rating system for buildings and communities, to what extent these spaces have been built to ensure the health and well-being of its occupants, valuing aspects as specific as lighting, temperature and even people's mood.
Applying the principles of the WELL Certification at the Technology Park, Actiu has not only improved their clients’ workspaces, the company has also designed, developed and created Gaia, a system that allows companies to monitor all the parameters that guarantee a sustainable, healthy and efficient work environment. Ir gives companies the data and the knowledge to make informed decisions to boost well-being and energy efficiency.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Gaia enables looking after the users working in these spaces, ensuring their comfort at all times and thereby safeguarding their health. This aspect also strengthens engagement and facilitates talent attraction.
Gaia therefore makes it possible to make spaces more profitable, boost energy savings and safeguard worker well-being, connecting them with a safe and high-performing work environment, having been awarded the Best Innovative Solution at the City Awards as part of the international architecture and city 2020 Madrid Open House festival.
Gaia by Actiu is perfectly aligned with the brand’s commitment to people as it speaks directly to the user's experience with the environment in order to improve their well-being, an aspect that is so necessary at the moment. It is a practical and advanced tool for the smart management of spaces, as it provides valuable quantifiable data to facility managers and company management teams, to facilitate making changes that improve the usability of these spaces.
Its operability is also reflected in the design of the sensorised devices themselves, where both aesthetics and functionality are at the heart of it.
Key objectives for inclusion
From the user's point of view, Gaia has a mobile app which enables users to search, reserve, evaluate available spaces and services, report issues, as well as to receive a feed of content and manage alerts.
Just as the Gaia hypothesis itself suggests that the presence of life on Earth fosters conditions suitable to maintain the biosphere, Gaia by Actiu behaves as a self-regulating system that seeks balance by connecting people with the environment.
This smart technology project got underway in 2018 when Actiu presented the first prototype at the Orgatec show. A solution that has evolved into the current Gaia proposal that, aligned with its initial philosophy, incorporates pioneering technology to provide users with the best working environment, as well as the required knowledge to obtain a high-performance level from it.
Results in relation to category
This system has already been rolled out in the Actiu Technology Park, which has both LEED and WELL platinum certifications, making it the world's first industrial building to have been awarded both, making it a healthy and sustainable space, now parameterised, that safeguards the well-being of employees and those in the surrounding environment.
Gaia is already providing a comprehensive range of information about its working conditions. Actiu is also working with several Spanish companies in the development of the first Gaia projects. A new and innovative tool that makes the job of their facility manager easier and more efficient.
By simply installing sensors in any piece of furniture, Gaia facilitates collecting data and transmitting it to the cloud to be processed by a series of algorithms that provide extensive knowledge on how the spaces are used, with a view to correctly managing the work environment, both in the offices themselves and in third-party spaces where remote work is carried out, as well as other industries such as the education industry, among others. Furthermore, Gaia uses its own communication infrastructure, guaranteeing anonymity as well as ensuring maximum security in data processing.
The platform improves people's safety by providing information to guarantee social distancing measures and ensuring density in open areas, as well as meeting rooms, while monitoring parameters such as space occupancy, temperature, humidity, light, sound, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and airborne particles.
How Citizens benefit
Gaia brings about a change of mentality and a new era. Over the last fifty or so years, Actiu has grown and evolved along with its customers, designing, manufacturing and providing them with the products they need to equip and configure their spaces.
However, these requirements are no longer just about products and solutions; they are also about services. Gaia came about as a direct result of listening and understanding what users and spaces need to be more sustainable, efficient, collaborative and healthy; and the answer lies in technology.
Innovative character
To create Gaia, Actiu turned to a range of technology experts in AI, IoT, Analytics, Big Data and User Experience as well as in corporate well-being and health.
Gaia by Actiu offers a simple, visual and intuitive dashboard that includes functionalities such as data analysis, graphics management, visualization and information on layouts and the monitoring thereof. It also incorporates occupancy heat maps, ambient comfort ratios, alerts and incident notifications, content management and content analytics.
Overseen by Actiu's Digital Strategy and Innovation Department, the project saw collaboration from two technological partners. TSK developed the platform and designed and developed the sensors that gather the data. Furthermore, ZEUS.Vision created the Front-End functions and the iOS and Android mobile applications. Gaia is expected to continue evolving to incorporate new functions.
