Products offer design, efficiency and fixture enhancement
Experiential Elevator Car
KONE offers the Digital Experience Car for high-rise elevator installations, as well as installations in other buildings. Customizable options include the Immersive Sound System to incorporate studio-quality sound such as music; Aurora, which imparts a “360-degree color experience” in which the user can create distinctive and holistic designs; and Mirror Display, which provides “multisensory experiences powered by advanced technology” using lighting and mirror displays. In announcing its international Red Dot design award for the Digital Car Experience (ELEVATOR WORLD, July 2021), KONE invited users to “enter a whole new world of multisensory experiences, from dynamic sound to vivid colors and engrossing themes.”
The Red Dot jury stated:
“This lift interior offers digitally produced, intuitive, expressive and multisensory experiences. Adjustable colors, smart light and sound control, as well as a completely customizable media wall, make it possible to constantly transform the ambience and adapt it to the user. The digital system can be updated at any time and communicates tailored personal and building-specific content. The concept’s mechanics are light in weight and consist of modular composite panels. Although the appearance of the finishes is highly aesthetic, it is durable and pleasant to the touch.”
Japanese-Inspired Lift Car Design
Italy’s IGV Group has unveiled the latest in its Ad Hoc lift car line, inspired by the Japanese cherry blossom and the “poetry of Japanese atmospheres”: Tatami. Designed by Studio Mamo under the creative direction of IGV Art Director Giulio Cappellini, Tatami illustrates what IGV describes as an important company value: environmental sustainability. Materials used in Tatami are all natural, part of a design with refined lines, shimmery metals and warm, golden lights. Lorena D’Ilio of Studio Mamo states:
“Tatami Lift combines the functionality of the lift with an emotional experience. Starting from the theme of female beauty, I created a color palette inspired by the makeup world. The flowers are handmade with a few tissues of paper soaked in blush tint and sewn onto a surface. A simple gesture gave rise to the idea of a new Orientalism inspired by Japan, which has always aroused in me a sense of inner peace and relaxation.”
Energy-Efficient Car Lift
Germany-based Lödige Industries, a leading supplier of lift solutions, has developed VERTICAR, a new, compact, energy-efficient car lift with a flexible cabin size. VERTICAR is based on proven scissor lift technology and can transport up to 3 mT. Because of VERTICAR’s ability to function in tight spaces, new possibilities have been opened for developing parking space at different floor levels. The first VERTICAR project has been completed at a private residence in Mouscron, Belgium, with the installation completed within one week. VERTICAR was specifically designed to make the most efficient use of limited space and, thanks to its compact shaft geometry, can be easily integrated into a wide variety of building structures, suitable for both residential and office buildings requiring up to 15 parking spaces. VERTICAR requires only a small machine room, a low shaft head height and a very low shaft pit for installation. The easy-to-operate lift can also be individually adapted to the existing appearance of the building. By using automatic sectional doors from Hörmann, flexible integration into the building façade is possible, resulting in a high-quality appearance.
Enhanced Fixtures
Otis has released its new Ambiance hall fixtures. These fixtures replace small call buttons with large tiles across the entire surface, making it easier to push the buttons with an elbow, forearm or wrist and thus enhancing the fixture’s accessibility. Test audiences noted the new fixtures were more comfortable, understandable and user-friendly.
“We understand that elevators are an important part of the experience in any building,” said Gilles Pradel, director of engineering for Otis in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“That’s why we design our elevators and fixtures to delight passengers and complement the modern designs of architects and interior designers.”
Ambiance fixtures were designed by Otis teams in Madrid and Gien, France. In addition to their intuitive design, the fixtures also reduce energy consumption compared with conventional fixtures and exceed new European accessibility standards.
Otis’ Ambiance fixtures won the Red Dot Award for Production Design in 2021. They come in four metal frame colors and are currently available with Gen2® elevators for commercial and residential buildings in Europe.
Lift Designed to Fit
At one time, it seems, the expense of a personal residential lift put vertical transportation (VT) out of reach for most people who were otherwise enjoying multi-story homes. Such houses were built without much thought at all to VT, a fact that’s obvious. During planning of these older homes, no space was set aside for a hoistway or a pit, an idea of which homebuyers at the time likely gave little thought. That was then, and this is now: today’s homeowners desire the luxury and convenience that only a lift can offer. A lift creates style, accessibility and ease of travel between the home’s levels, even for those who have trouble climbing stairs. But, how do you get a lift into a residence that was never designed to house one?
Al Maaz Elevators & Electric Co. of Beirut, Lebanon, answers this question with Alift, an environmentally friendly lift that can quickly be installed in homes that offer minimal space. Using a “screw-lift” jack combined with an indirect hydraulic system, Alift has shown to be a versatile lift easily retrofitted into just about any home, regardless of size or age. To demonstrate the usefulness of this design, Al Maaz not long ago installed a working Alift inside the CNR Expo Center in Istanbul, Turkey, for the Eurasia Asansor elevator show. The fully functional lift, mounted within a freestanding two-stop shaft, took advantage of the screw-jack motor and indirect hydraulic system to reveal Alift’s capabilities, such as:
- 300 kg lifting power
- Room for a wheelchair
- Low-noise ride exhibiting comfort during acceleration, deceleration and stop
Al Maaz says expo guests also noticed that Alift is counterweight-less and offers a 30% reduction in typical space requirements. In addition, it is designed to operate on single-phase, 220-V power, thanks to its 2.2-kW, high-efficiency, hollow-type permanent magnet synchronous motor. High efficiency isn’t the only strong point for this lift: It doesn’t need oil and is almost maintenance-free. Finally, the company says, installation for a three-stop Alift typically takes no more than two days.
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