In Madrid, a building that answers to a single word.

In the heart of Madrid, six homes have learned to live at the pace of the people inside them. A button, a gesture, a word, and the house responds.

The place and the project

Central Madrid. In a neighborhood where every facade has a story, a building of six contemporary homes chose to write the next chapter. Nice led the project with HINFORCOM, INDOMOTIV and Verdaguer Arquitectos. The ambition: to create one of the most complete smart home buildings in the Spanish capital.

Each apartment was designed to be smart, accessible, safe, sustainable and comfortable, inside and out. And the partners say it themselves: this is only the first step of a long-term project.

The concept: design meets technology

In Madrid, the idea was for technology to fade into the background. No screens everywhere, no walls drilled in every direction. Just a home that understands what you expect of it.

Everything runs through a single conductor, the FIBARO Home Center 3 gateway. It brings together lighting, appliances, air conditioning, shutters and access. A button, a gesture or a word is enough for the whole apartment to respond.

What it changes for residents

Light and energy, in full clarity. Every home can switch lights, appliances and outlets on and off remotely. Above all, each resident sees exactly what the home consumes. Decisions are informed, and nothing is wasted.

Bathrooms that look after themselves. In the bathrooms, a sensor detects the slightest leak. The home flags it right away, and you no longer have to think about it.

Always the right climate. Air conditioning, thermostat and air quality are all part of the same system. The apartment keeps the right temperature and pleasant air, without adjusting each device.

Terraces that follow the light. On windows and terraces, roller shutters, venetian blinds and awnings are motorized and run by the same system. The afternoon sun stays outside, and the morning light floods in.

Coming home, effortlessly. The garage door, motorized by Nice, is part of the whole. You get home without even leaving the car.

A home for everyone

The word “accessible” was not chosen by chance. When a gesture or a voice command replaces switches and cranks, the home becomes simpler for everyone: children, parents, grandparents, people with limited mobility. Everyone lives in the apartment their own way, effortlessly.

The home in your pocket

Behind this building is FIBARO, part of the Nice group since 2018. Today this world is called Yubii: Yubii is FIBARO and Nice together. The Yubii Home gateway connects Nice, FIBARO and elero technologies, including those already installed.

One app for everything: lighting, air conditioning, shutters, security and access. From the living room, the office or the other side of the world, the apartment stays within reach.

The line that sums it up

In Madrid, you no longer walk around your house. You talk to it.

AND HERE AT HOME?

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

1. The afternoon sun. Blinds come down at the right moment, and the house keeps its cool.
2. Terrace living. Here, life happens outside. Awnings follow the light, from lunch to sunset.
3. Cool on arrival. The air conditioning gets ready before you, and you walk into a home already at the right temperature.
4. Travel light. A trip, a season away, a second home: everything closes with one gesture, and everything is in view at a glance.

One evening, the sun sinks into the sea. You say one word. The blinds glide down, the terrace glows softly, and the house closes around the cool air. All that remains is the golden light and the sound of the waves.

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

Source: niceforyou.com, “Residential Building in Madrid”.

On the Raven, the home followed the family out to sea.

They live aboard with their dog, and their dream fits in one sentence: to sail around the world. Today, even far offshore, the home watches over them as if it were waiting for them at the dock.

Photo: © Nice

The place and the project

Somewhere on the water, between two anchorages. The Raven is a sailboat, and it is where Martijn Maas lives with his wife and their dog. They left the Netherlands with a simple idea: to sail around the world. To make the boat a real home, and to make the family feel at ease on it, Martijn equipped it with Nice smart home solutions.

Aboard, everything is thought through for daily life: heating, light, freshness, safety. The boat has learned to respond, exactly like a house.

The concept: a home, wherever it is

A home is not a dot on a map. It is what watches over the people we love, in the evening, when night falls and the coast is far away.

What it changes on board

It is warm before the cold sets in. When the air cools, the home takes care of it. The heater and the bed’s electric blanket come on, with no one having to get up in the dark.

You close your eyes with a quiet mind. A discreet watch keeps an eye on smoke and gas, in the living area where you spend your days and in the cabin where you sleep.

The light follows your steps. Getting up at night on a boat means finding your bearings. Here, a soft light comes on along the way before you even move your foot.

That instinct of a home lighting up at the right moment, our article on [the night that falls at 6 pm](/?p=1733) tells it for a villa.

The home in your pocket

Everything answers to a single gesture. A small key fob in your hand, or the phone: you give an order, and the boat responds. Some scenes also trigger on their own, depending on the time or the situation.

The line that sums it up

The Raven has no street, no number. Its address is the family living inside.

AND HERE AT HOME?

From the British Virgin Islands to Antigua, from Anguilla to St. Lucia, our homes also live with their feet in the water.

1. Facing the sea. Like the Raven, our homes breathe salt air and bright sun. A home that watches over us, here, is built to last through the spray.
2. Night falls early. In the tropics, evening comes around 6 pm. A home that turns on the right light at the right moment is a pleasure you never give up.
3. We often go away. Between islands, a trip, a holiday: we like to keep an eye on what matters. The home stays within reach, even from far away.
4. The heat does not stop at sunset. An interior always at the right temperature is the comfort of tropical evenings.

The evening waits for you

Whether you are at the dock or thousands of miles away, there comes a moment when you come home. The light comes on before you, the air is already soft, and the home asks for nothing. The evening waits for you, instead of asking where you are.

Source: niceforyou.com, “Raven Sailing Boat”.

In Punta Cana, 1,600 rooms open with a single gesture.

The guest holds the card up to the lock, and the door opens. Later, at the spa, the same gesture opens a locker with a waterproof wristband. In one of the largest hotels in the Caribbean, every door answers to the same system.

The place and the project

Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, a few hours’ flight from our islands. On the seafront, on a beach ranked among the best in the world, the Barceló Bávaro Palace Deluxe has more than 1,600 rooms and suites. Four pools, a spa, a golf course, a theater, eleven specialty restaurants: it is one of the largest hotels in the country.

To secure all its rooms and control access to its back-of-house doors around the clock, the hotel chose SALTO, the Spanish specialist in electronic locks. It wanted the latest technology, with as little wiring as possible.

The concept: one key for the whole hotel

Every guest room door has a SALTO XS4 electronic lock. Guests no longer swipe a magnetic card through a slot: they hold up an encrypted contactless card, and the door opens.

The locks run on batteries, with no cabling to the rooms. A few wall readers, placed in the right spots, update the cards each time they are used. This is the SALTO Virtual Network: the cards themselves carry the access rights and bring the record of every opening back to the hotel’s management software.

What it changes

For guests, a key that does not let them down. A magnetic card can demagnetize, sometimes just from sitting next to a phone, and sends the guest back to reception. A contactless card keeps opening the door, from the first day of the stay to the last.

For the team, everything from one screen. From a single computer, staff can cancel a card, change access rights and see who went through which door. Without walking around 1,600 doors.

At the spa, the same technology on the wrist. The hotel later equipped the spa lockers: guests wear a waterproof plastic wristband that works with the same technology as their room key.

A project delivered on time. Installation, through final commissioning, was completed on schedule.

What the hotel says

“The XS4 lock is strong, well-protected and it opens and closes perfectly,” says Vicente Soler, project manager. For him, the system provides “absolute control over access rights throughout the property.”

Carmen Caminero, accommodation manager, goes further: what she values most about SALTO is “a combination of factors, including quality, service, and operation.”

The line that sums it up

1,600 doors, one logic: the guest holds up a card, and the hotel knows exactly who goes where.

AND HERE AT HOME?

From Antigua to St. Lucia, from Sint Maarten to the British Virgin Islands:

1. Tourist residences. Eighteen rooms or two hundred: the same wire-free locks adapt to properties of every size.
2. Salt air and the beach. No card slots to clean, and waterproof wristbands for the pool or the spa: access designed for life by the water.
3. Small teams. A lost card is cancelled in one click at reception, without changing the lock.
4. Villas and boutique hotels. Knowing who came in, when and through which door is real peace of mind for managers and owners alike.

A hotel or residence project? Tell us about your property: [mail@nice-carib.com](mailto:mail@nice-carib.com).

Late afternoon in Punta Cana. The guest comes up from the beach, wristband still damp. He holds up his card, the door opens, the room is cool. He has not thought about a key once during his whole stay.

Source: saltosystems.com, “Barceló Bávaro Palace Deluxe Hotel”.

In Beaupréau, a retirement home where the room answers to your voice.

It is 7 p.m. at La Roseraie. A resident walks into her room, says a word, and the shutters come down, the light turns soft. Her room follows along, without her having to get up.

Photo: © Jérôme Pouponnot

The place: 82 rooms in Beaupréau-en-Mauges

Head to western France, to Beaupréau-en-Mauges. This is where La Roseraie stands, a retirement home of 82 rooms. A.I.D.S 85, a company specializing in smart home installation, chose Nice as its partner to equip it.

The renovation happens in stages: 42 rooms were fully equipped in 2022, and another 40, now under construction, will follow. The goal comes down to one line: improve residents’ safety and well-being, ease the work of caregivers, and keep energy costs under control.

The idea: technology that steps aside

A retirement home is not a hospital. Here, nothing should weigh on anyone. Good technology is not seen: it makes the room simpler, softer, freer.

Every room is now run by the Yubii Home hub, at the heart of the Nice and FIBARO world. The resident manages their own space alone, with a word or a button, and keeps a hand on their own corner.

What it changes

Everyone at home, at their own pace. Lighting and shutters answer to the voice or to connected buttons, to each person’s taste, without effort.

Fewer movements. No need to get up, to reach out, to move across the room for the smallest thing. The room avoids tiring or risky movements and leaves room for what matters: feeling well.

A call that does not wait. Each room has a voice assistant and push buttons. With one word, the resident alerts the care staff, and care arrives sooner.

Warmth, well set. More than a hundred smart thermostats manage room temperatures in real time, by zone and by time of day. Only what is needed gets heated, when it is needed.

A building that keeps watch. Smart plugs even monitor the home’s IT network and send an alert as soon as something goes down.

That watchful eye of family from afar, our article [Family caregiver, the house keeps watch while you’re far away](/?p=1645) tells it for the home.

The room in your pocket

At home, the same Yubii Home hub can also be controlled from a phone. For an older parent living in their own house, it means family can follow the home from afar, adjust a setting, and feel reassured.

Franck Pichereau, President of Nice France, puts it simply: Nice is “the ideal partner for implementing appropriate, efficient and easy-to-use solutions.”

The line that sums it up

A room that understands without you having to get up is a little freedom that stays.

AND HERE AT HOME?

From Antigua to Barbados, from Sint Maarten to St. Lucia, our elders often stay in their own homes, surrounded by family. Here is what that idea changes for us:

1. Staying at home longer. Here, we hold on to the family house. A home that lightens the small daily gestures means more years of living at home, in peace.
2. Night that falls at 6 p.m. When daylight goes all at once, lights that come on gently and shutters that close on their own save a great many steps in the dark.
3. Heat and sun. Shutters, blinds, air conditioning: the house takes to the shade and the cool at the right moment, on its own, at the height of the day.
4. Family watching from afar. A son in London, a daughter in New York: at your fingertips, you follow your parents’ home and you are told if anything changes.

Here, family is close, homes stay wide open, and we like to know our own are well surrounded. Technology never replaces a hand held out. But when it steps aside, it leaves more room for all the rest.

And when night falls at 6 p.m., the house can light the way on its own too: our article [the light that goes before you](/?p=1733) covers it.

It is evening. The light turns soft, the shutters come down without a sound, and the home keeps a quiet watch. Here, the evening waits for you, instead of asking something of you.

Source: niceforyou.com, “La Roseraie retirement home”.

À Monção, un palais de deux siècles dont le portail s’ouvre d’un geste

Tout au nord du Portugal, un palais de granit veille sur ses jardins anglais depuis deux cents ans. Aujourd’hui, son grand portail s’ouvre avant même qu’on ait à tendre le bras, sans rien retirer à ce que le lieu raconte.

Photo : © Nice

Le lieu et le projet

Monção, tout au nord du Portugal, dans la vallée du Minho, juste en face de la Galice. C’est là que se dresse le Palacio da Brejoeira, une bâtisse néoclassique élevée au début du XIXe siècle sur les plans de l’architecte Carlos Amarante.

Un long corps de granit en forme de L, trois tours, et un nom qui vient du portugais brejo, le terrain marécageux, car il y avait là une ferme avant le palais. Autour, des jardins à l’anglaise, des pièces d’eau, des camélias, des arbres venus du bout du monde, des statues de figures mythologiques, un lac et même un îlot dédié aux amoureux.

Le domaine vit depuis toujours de sa terre, de la vigne et des vergers, avec ses vins blancs et son eau de vie. Depuis 2010, le palais est un musée d’intérêt national, ouvert à la visite. Pour équiper son grand portail d’entrée, le domaine a fait appel à Nice, avec l’installateur SmartClick Portas Automáticas.

Le concept : la modernité au service de ce qui dure

Un lieu chargé d’histoire n’a rien à craindre d’un geste nouveau. La bonne technologie ne se voit pas : elle se met au service du lieu, et elle laisse le patrimoine intact.

Ce que ça change

On ne descend plus de voiture. Avant, il fallait sortir, pousser les deux lourds vantaux, remonter. Maintenant le portail s’écarte tout seul, et il le fait jusqu’à trois fois plus vite qu’un portail équipé d’un moteur classique.

L’accueil reste un accueil. Les groupes qui viennent visiter entrent sans faire la queue devant une grille, et personne ne se sent bloqué à l’entrée.

Le geste est fluide, donc invisible. On arrive, on passe, et on ne remarque même pas ce qui vient de se passer. C’est exactement ce qu’on demande à un beau portail.

Et pour la lumière qui vous accueille au retour, notre article sur la nuit qui tombe à 18 h en parle côté villa.

La maison dans la poche

Une télécommande, gardée dans la voiture ou sur le trousseau, et c’est réglé. Du bout des doigts, à distance. Le portail reçoit l’ordre, confirme, et s’ouvre. Rien à installer dans la maison, rien à apprendre.

La phrase qui résume

Deux siècles de granit, et un portail qui s’ouvre comme s’il vous reconnaissait.

Et si vous voulez aller plus loin, notre article Et si votre maison s’occupait aussi de votre extérieur ? parle de la terrasse, du jardin et de la piscine.

ET CHEZ NOUS ?

De Saint-Martin à la Guadeloupe, de la Martinique à Saint-Barth, nos maisons aussi commencent à leur portail.

1. Tout commence au portail. Sous nos latitudes, la première chose que l’on touche en rentrant, c’est la grille. Qu’elle s’écarte avant même qu’on s’arrête, et c’est déjà la maison qui vous dit bonjour.
2. La nuit tombe vers 18 h. On rentre souvent après la tombée du jour. Un portail qui s’ouvre sur un chemin déjà éclairé, cela change la fin de la journée.
3. Le sel et le grand soleil. Sur une île, une grille vit dehors, entre les embruns et la chaleur. Un mécanisme simple et bien posé, c’est ce qui traverse les années.
4. Quand on loue sa maison. Un portail qui répond d’un geste, c’est un accueil facile pour les voyageurs, et une chose de moins à gérer quand on est ailleurs.

Le soir vous attend

Le soir, on ne s’arrête plus devant chez soi, on entre. La grille s’ouvre sur votre passage, la lumière est déjà là, et la maison n’a rien demandé. Le soir vous reconnaît avant même que vous ayez ralenti.

Source : niceforyou.com, Palacio da Brejoeira.