Noon on the beach: the restaurant’s awnings followed the sun.

The sun climbs, the terrace fills up. Before the first guest even looks for shade, the restaurant’s awnings have rolled out, just as far as needed. The team never had to leave the floor.

Photo: Luise and Nic / Unsplash

Picture it: 11:45 am, on the terrace

A restaurant with its feet in the sand. The tables are set, the catch of the day is on the board, the first guests are coming up from the beach. The midday sun beats down on the terrace.

It used to mean a waiter putting down a tray to roll out the awnings one by one, then coming back an hour later to adjust them once the sun had moved. Today, the terrace takes care of itself.

The concept: awnings that read the sky

Nice controls awnings, blinds and shutters according to outdoor conditions: sunlight intensity, temperature, time of day.

Nice’s BiDi-Awning interface connects to awnings that are already motorized and links them to the Yubii world, which brings Nice and FIBARO together. When a sensor detects that the sun has passed the chosen threshold, the awning opens. Domì sensors go further: they watch the sun, the wind and even the rain, and retract the awnings when the wind picks up.

For Nice, outdoor blinds turn outdoor spaces into true living spaces. And the Yubii world is designed for homes as well as small professional spaces: offices, shops, clinics, and restaurants.

What it changes for the restaurant

The team stays with the guests. Nobody has to run and roll out awnings between orders. Waiters stay with the guests, where they matter.

Guests always in the shade. The awning follows the sun. The table in full sun at noon is in the shade at one o’clock, without anyone thinking about it.

A cooler dining room. According to the US Department of Energy, quoted by Nice, solar shading such as awnings can reduce heat gain from the sun by up to 65% on south-facing windows and up to 77% on west-facing ones. Nice adds that BiDi-Awning helps reduce reliance on air conditioning.

A schedule for every moment. You program the awnings: out for lunch, up for sunset, closed at closing time. The restaurant changes its look through the day.

The restaurant in your pocket

Is the manager off today? From the Yubii Home app, they see where every awning is and adjust it from anywhere, one by one, by group or in a single gesture. Scenes adapt to each service: “Lunch”, “Sunset”, “Closing”.

And in the evening, a single scene raises the awnings, turns off the terrace lights and closes the restaurant for the night.

The line that sums it up

The sun moves, the awnings follow, and the team takes care of what matters: the guests.

AND HERE AT HOME?

From Sint Maarten to St. Kitts, from Anguilla to Antigua:

1. Waterfront terraces. Here, lunch is outdoors all year round. The right shade at the right moment makes all the difference.
2. A sun that moves fast. South at noon, west in the afternoon: the awnings follow without anyone thinking about it.
3. The trade winds. When the wind picks up, the awnings tuck themselves away, and lunch carries on calmly.
4. Sunsets. The awnings rise for the aperitif, and the view takes centre stage again.

To equip your home, a certified [ART]IST installer studies your project with you. For any question, write to mail@nice-carib.com.

Six o’clock. The sun touches the horizon, and the awnings fold away gently. On the terrace, glasses clink and the sea catches fire. The restaurant has followed the sun all day, and now it lets the sun take the spotlight.

The cinema is in the living room, the music by the pool.

The film starts with a single gesture, the lights soften, the blinds come down. Outside, by the water, the same music is waiting for you, rising from rocks that are not really rocks.

Photo: Ahmet Yüksek / Unsplash

9 pm, showtime

Dinner is over, and the children are asking for a film. It used to take three remotes, a lamp to switch off at the far end of the room, curtains to draw by hand. Tonight, one gesture is enough: the screen comes on, the lights dim gently, the blinds close, and the sound fills the room.

That is the promise of ELAN, Nice’s premium home system. Nice presents it as its premium operating system for controlling a whole home, and even a whole building.

The concept: one conductor for the whole house

ELAN brings together everything that sets the mood of a home: lighting, blinds, climate, audio and video, security, cameras, access and voice. Everything answers to the same system.

You control it however you like: with touch panels that share the same interface in every room, with the HR40 remote and its touchscreen, with the mobile app from anywhere, or simply by voice, thanks to Nice’s built-in voice assistant. The HR40 remote even received a CES Innovation Award in 2024.

What it changes at home

The cinema, without the remotes. One gesture starts the film and sets the room: lights, blinds, sound. Nice even offers speakers designed for private cinemas and whole-home music.

Music that follows the family. A playlist in the living room, an album in the kitchen, the radio in the children’s room: each room can have its own music, or the whole house can share the same.

Everything from one screen. From the touch panel, you start the music, adjust lights, temperature and blinds, and see who is ringing at the gate.

In Ireland, a home on the edge of a cliff

This is not a promise on paper. In Ireland, a couple of music lovers built a cliff-top home, rated A for its low energy use. The installer, HiTech Homes, equipped it with ELAN.

What they wanted, according to the installer: to bring together all their music sources, from vinyl to high-definition streaming, and to listen to them easily in any room. In-ceiling, bookshelf and outdoor speakers, several music zones, one remote and one app to control it all. During the project, the owners even added another zone. The installer sums it up in one line: it is “hands-down the easiest system to operate.”

By the pool, the music hides in the landscape

Outside, SpeakerCraft, the audio brand of the Nice world, takes over. Its outdoor speakers are built to withstand the weather and designed to disappear into the setting.

Some are shaped like rocks, in granite or sandstone. Others slip into a planter. The subwoofers are buried in the garden, out of sight. What you see is the pool, the palms, the terrace. What you hear is the music, everywhere.

The home in your pocket

With the Nice mobile app, an ELAN home can be controlled from anywhere: music, lighting, air conditioning, and even the video doorbell to see who is at the door. And ELAN works hand in hand with Yubii, which brings Nice and FIBARO together, to integrate the home’s wireless devices.

The line that sums it up

One gesture for the film, one gesture for the music, and the whole house follows.

AND HERE AT HOME?

From Anguilla to the British Virgin Islands, from Antigua to Barbados:

1. Life outdoors. Here, evenings happen by the pool. Music belongs there, with no speaker sticking out.
2. Luxury villas. A cinema lounge and music in every room are what the most discerning guests expect.
3. Evenings with friends. Dinner on the terrace, then a film for the children: everyone has their own mood, in the same house.
4. The garden, untouched. Rocks, planters, buried subwoofers: the tropical landscape stays the real setting.

Night falls over the pool. The garden lights come on, and soft music rises from between the rocks. Inside, the children laugh at their film. Tonight, the whole house has found its soundtrack.

To equip your home, a certified [ART]IST installer studies your project with you. For any question, write to mail@nice-carib.com.

Sources: niceforyou.com, Nice North America, speakercraft.com

Forty families, one entrance, and nobody waits at the barrier.

In the morning, the cars leave one after another. In the evening, they come back, and the barrier lifts for each of them. At the lobby door, the courier rings: you answer from your phone, even from the office.

Photo: Simone Hutsch / Unsplash

Picture it: 7:30 am, at the residence entrance

A residence of forty homes, waking up. Parents head to work, children head to school, a neighbor takes his boat out of storage. At the entrance, it used to mean hunting for the right remote, waiting for the gate to finish its run, letting the oncoming car through.

Today, the entrance moves at the pace of the people who live there. Everyone gets through, and nobody waits.

The concept: an entrance that knows its residents

A condominium is first and foremost a shared entrance. Nice designs barriers and gates to manage parking and control access, in residences as well as car parks.

Nice’s latest sliding gates open in ten seconds. Safety sensors detect an obstacle and stop the gate from closing: a stroller, a bike, a child running by, and the gate waits. A built-in light shows its status in color, green when open, red when closed.

At the lobby door, the Hikvision video intercom takes over. Hikvision designs it for apartments, villas and condominiums. Residents get in with a code, a card or recognition, even completely touch-free.

What it changes for residents

Answer the door from anywhere. With the Hik-Connect app, you talk to the visitor, take the call and unlock the door remotely. The courier rings during a meeting? You answer from your phone and tell them where to leave the parcel.

We told that gesture from a villa’s point of view: Someone rings at the gate. You answer from Paris.

Everyone has their own access. Code, card or recognition: each resident gets in their own way. A family moving in receives its access, a family moving out hands it back, with no keys to collect.

Keys still circulating in a building became an article of its own: Who still has a key to your home?

The entrance, shared with the family. Nice’s MyNice app can be shared with loved ones and sends a notification every time the gate opens and closes. Parents know when the teenagers are home.

Visitors, warmly welcomed. Friends, family, tradespeople: you let them in from home, without going downstairs and without them waiting at the gate.

What it changes for the condominium

Fewer lost remotes. Access is managed from an app, with time slots when needed. The gardener comes in on Tuesday mornings, the cleaning company on Thursdays.

An entrance you can check at a glance. The Hikvision video intercom works with the brand’s cameras. The property manager or the residents’ board can see the entrance remotely, without going there.

Even at the end of the lane. For a car park barrier far from the buildings, Nice offers solar power, with no cables and no trenches.

A barrier that depends on no cable at all is told here: The daytime sun opens the gate at night.

And it is nothing new. Near Verona, in Italy, Villa La Zambonina, a 17th-century villa, entrusted a Nice barrier with night-time access to the private part of the estate, reserved for residents and tenant farmers.

The residence in your pocket

Hik-Connect for the lobby door, the Nice app for the gate and the barrier: the whole residence fits in every resident’s phone. You see who is ringing, you open, you check that the gate has closed, and you get a notification at the right moment.

The line that sums it up

Forty families, forty rhythms, and one entrance that adapts to each of them.

AND HERE AT HOME?

From Sint Maarten to Antigua, from St. Kitts to Barbados:

1. Residences on a human scale. Small buildings, residences with a pool or a garden: a well-designed entrance makes the difference from the very first visit.
2. Daytime deliveries. You answer the courier from work, and the parcel waits in the right place.
3. Owners who rent out. One tenant arrives, another leaves: access follows, with no keys to hand over in person.
4. Family life. The children come home from school, a notification arrives: everyone is home.

To equip your home, a certified [ART]IST installer studies your project with you. For any question, write to mail@nice-carib.com.

Evening falls over the residence. The cars come back one by one, and the barrier lifts for each. On the third floor, a family serves dinner on the balcony, while down below, the entrance quietly looks after everyone.

Sources: niceforyou.com, hikvision.com

The daytime sun opens the gate at night.

All day long, the sun beats down on the small panel beside the gate. In the evening, when you come home, it is that stored-up light that opens the way for you.

Photo: Rosemary Media / Unsplash

A gate that fills up on sunshine

Some ideas are so simple you wonder why nobody thought of them sooner. In our latitudes, the sun shines almost every day, from morning to evening. So why not put it in charge of the gate?

That is exactly what Nice offers with Solemyo. A photovoltaic panel captures daylight, rechargeable batteries store it, and the gate, the garage door or the car park barrier run on that energy, independently of the electrical grid.

The concept: no cables, no trenches

Automating a gate usually starts with a question: how do you get electricity all the way to the end of the garden? You have to dig a trench through the lawn, cross the driveway, disturb a flower bed.

With solar energy, the question disappears. According to Nice, the system can be installed anywhere, with no connection and no digging, even in the most remote or hard-to-reach places. The gate at the end of a dirt track, the entrance at the top of the hill, the barrier far from the house: it all becomes possible.

The accessories follow suit. Safety photocells, courtesy light, flashing signal light: Nice offers 100% wireless versions, powered by their own photovoltaic cells and rechargeable battery.

What it changes, day to day

An installation that respects the garden. No trench across the lawn, no lengthy works. The garden stays intact, and the gate is automated.

A gate that runs without a cable still needs a motor that is looked after: our article The gate motor lasted three weeks explains what gets checked before everything stops.

Free energy. The sun never sends a bill. Nice sums it up in a few words: savings and respect for the environment, thanks to solar energy that is free and clean.

A gate that uses very little. The system is designed for low consumption, and its rechargeable batteries take over when the sun goes down. Evening, night, early morning: the gate always responds.

A welcoming entrance. The courtesy light comes on as the gate opens, and the flashing light signals the movement. The entrance lights up to welcome you, without a single cable.

The home in your pocket

The solar gate is part of the Nice world. With the Yubii Home app, which brings Nice and FIBARO together, you control the gate from anywhere, see whether it is open or closed, and get a notification every time it opens.

The gate can also join your scenes. The “Arrival” scene opens the gate, turns on the outdoor lights and switches off the alarm, in a single gesture. The sun powers the gate, and the app orchestrates the rest.

That same pleasure of an entrance waiting for you at night is told hour by hour in our article Guests arrive at 11pm. The gate was already waiting.

The line that sums it up

The sun works all day. In the evening, it opens the door for you.

AND HERE AT HOME?

From Sint Maarten to Anguilla, from Antigua to St. Lucia:

1. Sunshine all year round. Here, light is never in short supply. A gate that runs on sunshine is only natural in our latitudes.
2. Hillside properties. Homes on the hills, entrances at the end of a long track: no more running a cable all the way to the gate.
3. Tropical gardens. Flower beds, palm trees and well-kept lawns stay untouched: no trench to dig.
4. A greener home. Clean, free energy for a gesture you make several times a day.

To equip your villa, a certified [ART]IST installer studies your project with you. And to explore the Nice world in detail, the official niceforyou.com page is a good place to start.

Late afternoon. The sun slips behind the hill, and the panel is fully charged. You drive up the lane, the gate glides open, the light traces the way. All the sunshine of the day is there to welcome you.