Last January, CE Pro identified tunable lighting as one of its Top 5 Technologies to Watch for 2018, and Delos, a wellness real estate company and founder of the WELL Building Standard, is making that prediction look quite prescient.
Indeed, at CEDIA Expo 2018 Delos pressed ahead with the launch of its DARWIN (Delos Automated Residential Wellness Intelligence Network) Home Wellness Intelligence platform — an offering designed to enhance health outcomes in the home and mitigate harmful indoor environmental concerns, utilizing Delos’ proprietary wellness algorithms and sensor technologies, to create spaces that help reduce stress, improve sleep quality, increase performance and enhance overall well-being.
Delos CTO Jim Hunter presented a CEDIA Talk at the San Diego event focused on the effects of lighting. He noted that integrators and their clients are:
- 20X more likely to develop an anxiety disorder when suffering from chronic insomnia
- 5X more likely to suffer from depression due to insomnia
- 30X more likely to have coronary artery disease due to lack of sleep
“Americans have spent an estimated $41 billion on sleeping aids and remedies… a number that is expected to jump top $52 billion by 2020,” says Hunter.
“Our sleep-wake cycle is largely regulated by light. Bright, blue-rich light promotes activity and alertness. Dim, warm light signals that the body should decrease energy and prepare for rest. Devices we use regularly at night (e.g.,televisions, mobile phones, computer screens, indoor lighting) emit blue light and disrupt this sleep-wake cycle.”
The company has also partnered with the Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA) buying group, where Delos CEO and founder Paul Scialla recently keynoted the group's spring meeting.
“Despite most of human history spent outside, we now spend nearly 90 percent of our time indoors, and yet rarely focus on the impact the indoor environment can have on our health and well-being. Through extensive scientific research and real-world testing, we discovered that we can mitigate environmental triggers within our homes to enhance both physical and emotional well-being,” says Scialla.
“Delos’ DARWIN platform incorporates health and wellness features and technologies into the home to bring the benefits of natural outdoor conditions inside. We are excited to work with our global partners to introduce a new era of wellness technology into homes.”
Backed by over seven years of research, the DARWIN Home Wellness Intelligence platform focuses on four main components, all of which simulate the natural outdoor condition:
- Air filtration
- Water purification
- Circadian lighting
- Comfort-focused technologies
Delos Partners with HTSA
Powered by Delos’ cloud-based algorithms, the platform interacts with an ecosystem of Delos approved products and solutions to bring wellness intelligence into the connected home environment.
Delos says DARWIN is flexible and accessible, launching across all segments of the housing market, from mass market to luxury.
Delos is partnering with premier dealers, installers, builders and other stakeholders across the globe to integrate the DARWIN Home Wellness Intelligence platform into residences:
- HTSA Network: Delos is training professionals throughout the United States to become accredited DARWIN dealers and installers.
- Simonds Homes: Simonds, a leading volume home builder in Australia, will include DARWIN as part of its base package in all new homes in the state of Victoria beginning this month, setting a new baseline for market rate housing.
- KB Home: Delos is a title sponsor for the KB “Home of Future”, scheduled to be unveiled at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. DARWIN will be featured as the home’s wellness technology platform.
- Lateral Estate: Lateral, a preeminent Australian real estate developer, has announced DARWIN as a standard offering in all of its multi-family residences at Parc Blakehurst in Sydney.
- 1371 Summitridge Drive, 521 North Cannon Drive: As part of a broad national roll out in luxury housing, these luxury single family homes in Beverly Hills, California incorporate the comprehensive home wellness platform, making them the first luxury residences to be powered by DARWIN. DARWIN is currently being commissioned by many of the most sought after newly constructed luxury homes in the United States.
“For years, the value proposition of smart technology in the home has been elusive for the masses,” says Hunter.
“These technologies have primarily focused on security, energy, convenience and entertainment. However, it is the health and well-being of the ones we love that is most valuable. Born out of extensive research, DARWIN is the delivery platform for our wellness algorithms that helps improve the environmental conditions where we live, work, sleep and play,” adds Hunter.
Fostering Research Collaborations
Delos has fostered leading research collaborations with the Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, a board of doctors from the Columbia University Medical Center and architects, scientists and wellness thought leaders to introduce wellness standards, programs and solutions into the built environment.
Delos also established the Well Living Lab in collaboration with Mayo Clinic — a lab committed to “researching the real-world impacts of the indoor environment on human health and performance.”
The company's wellness technologies and solutions, along with the International WELL Building Institute’s WELL Building Standard, have been adopted in nearly 1,000 projects in 35 countries.
Related: Top 5 Home Tech Trends for 2018
Building upon the substantial success in the commercial sector, the launch of the DARWIN Home Wellness Intelligence platform marks the first expansion of Delos’ offerings to the residential smart-home market.
“Our home environment has a profound impact on our health, well-being and happiness.
“As the pioneer of wellness real estate and the founder of the WELL Building Standard, the introduction of the DARWIN Home Wellness Intelligence platform is a natural extension of Delos’ leading science and research and makes improved health, well-being and happiness available to all,” says Deepak Chopra, Delos advisory board member.
