A good security concept works quietly in the background — and is wide awake before anyone is inside the house. We plan to proven VdS logic and integrate the system into your KNX smart home.
Envelope monitoring with magnetic contacts on windows and doors reports the attempt before anyone is inside the house. Motion detectors indoors form the second layer, well-considered arming zones the third — at night, for instance, only the envelope, so that you can move about freely. This logic follows proven VdS principles and works more reliably than any retrofit kit.
Linked into KNX, the alarm system becomes part of the house: on an alarm the shading goes up, the lighting goes to full inside and out, the camera image appears on your phone. While you are away, the house simulates occupancy with realistic lighting and shading patterns. And the window contacts do double duty — they report open windows to the heating as well.
A system that goes off for no reason gets switched off — and then protects nobody. So we put planning time into the operating logic: arming by fingerprint or code, automatic disarming on authorised entry, clear acknowledgement. Good sensors and careful configuration keep the false alarm rate low. The aim: a system you trust and therefore use consistently.
Contacts disappear into the window frame at the factory, cables run where they should, the control unit has its place in the technical room.
A sound concept comes about without shell construction too: wired where routes exist — good wireless technology where cabling would be out of proportion.
Most systems fail not because of the burglar but because of themselves: after the third false alarm at three in the morning the system stays permanently disarmed, and from then on it is decoration. So we plan intruder alarm systems from everyday life outwards — which areas, which detectors, which form of arming suit people who come home late, keep dogs and like to leave the terrace door open. And we mesh them with lighting, shading, cameras and access control instead of putting yet another island into the house.
We monitor the shell first: every window, every door, roof windows, light wells, side entrances. Interior monitoring comes on top as the second layer. The advantage is that it works in daily life — you live in the house and still arm the system, because the alarm sits at the façade and not in the living room.
Magnetic contacts report the open window, bolt contacts additionally report that it is actually locked. On lift-and-slide units and slim frame profiles we settle the contact position and the cable route early with the window manufacturer. Nothing gets routed out of a four-metre sliding door once it is installed.
Floor-to-ceiling fixed glazing cannot be opened, so it needs monitoring of its own. Structure-borne sound detectors on the pane pick up the break directly, acoustic detectors pick up the frequency pattern in the room. The build-up of the pane, laminated safety glass and the bonding surface decide the type of detector, its position and the area it covers.
Dual detectors combining infrared and microwave, curtain lenses along the glazed fronts, a defined mounting height and detection direction. Dog and cat stay below the trigger threshold. An open fire, underfloor heating and moving curtains we deliberately plan out of the detection field, rather than taping over lenses later.
Cover and removal contacts on every device, monitored lines with an end-of-line resistor, and with wireless, encrypted transmission with link supervision and jamming detection. On top of that, battery back-up with a defined standby time and charge monitoring. Router, switch and recorder run off the uninterruptible supply as well, otherwise the signalling path dies with the incoming supply.
Full set, part set and night zone are three states with their own detector allocation, planned to proven VdS logic. The mandatory interlock, using a blocking element and a bolt contact, prevents arming with a cellar window open and prevents anyone walking into an armed area by accident. Operation is by transponder, code, fingerprint or a switch in the hall.
An internal sounder to drive an intruder out, an external sounder and strobe so the house can be located, a push message with camera image to the phone, a silent alarm where nobody is meant to be warned. Who is reached in which order, what happens if nobody acknowledges, which path is left if the internet fails? We prepare the technical side for a connection to an alarm receiving centre.
False alarms almost always arise at interfaces: external venetian blinds moving in front of an interior detector, cleaners in an armed area, the position of the sun on the conservatory detector. We link detector zones with presence, shading and scenes, give outside staff their own sub-areas and verify critical activations against the camera image.
Smoke alarms, water detectors in the technical room and the utility room, leak protection with a motorised shut-off valve, temperature and frost monitoring in the wine cellar: the same control unit, the same alarm chain, the same app. Water damage in an empty house regularly does more damage than the break-in.
On an alarm the panic lighting goes to full brightness inside and out, external venetian blinds move to a defined escape position, video entry and cameras supply the picture. In the period building in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel this runs with Occhio lighting, DoorBird and shading through one shared interface.
Instead of a rigid time switch we record the real switching patterns and play them back with a random offset and an astronomical clock: light moves through the rooms, the shading runs in the evening, music plays briefly. A house in which the same thing has happened at 19:30 for four days running looks empty.
In the 400-year-old manor house in Cologne every core drilling was a discussion with the heritage authority, so wireless it was: measured field strengths, planned battery changes, concealed mounting in reveals and in furniture, alarm and access control together with the Siedle camera. In the detached house in Brühl the same logic ran over Homematic IP Wired.
Security does not come from more detectors, but from a concept that stays armed in daily life.
For clients with a heightened need for protection we plan retreat rooms that work when it matters — technically self-sufficient, securely connected and unremarkable day to day. These projects are handled discreetly; we name neither the properties nor the clients.
Power with an uninterruptible supply and an emergency path, separate protection, lighting and ventilation independent of the rest of the house — the room stays usable even when everything outside is switched off.
Redundant paths for raising the alarm: a separately routed alarm line, mobile and IP as fallback levels, a supervised connection that reports faults — so the call still goes out when the main line fails.
The room has its own control panel: live images from every camera, the state of doors, windows and the alarm system, and a speech link to the door station. Equipment chosen for the purpose, working without internet and without a cloud.
Locking and releasing security and airlock doors, operating motorised locks and access points from inside the protected area — with a clear logic for who may trigger what, and when.
Walk-in vaults and gun rooms need supervision of their own: access logging, door-open and shock detectors, separate arming, and documentation that also stands up to an insurer.
The best protected room does not stand out. We integrate the technology into architecture and interior so that the room stays a dressing room, a study or a wine store day to day — and only the family knows its second function.
From the building envelope to the alarm chain — planned as a system, not as a device list.
Layers of protection and arming zones to proven VdS logic — set out for your building and your habits.
Magnetic contacts on windows and doors report the attempt before anyone is inside the house.
Motion detectors as the second layer of protection — armed only when it fits your day-to-day life.
Arming by fingerprint or code, automatic disarming on authorised entry, clear acknowledgement.
Alarm events drive lighting, shading and camera — window contacts report open windows to the heating as well.
Sounders, push message with camera image, and if you wish a connection to a 24/7 alarm receiving centre.
We record the building, the windows and doors, the entrances and your habits — and define what the system is meant to protect against, before anyone talks about devices.
We plan the layers of protection, the arming zones and the components — on a new build agreed with your window manufacturer, so that magnetic contacts are integrated invisibly into the frame at the factory.
Wired where cable routes exist, good wireless technology where cabling makes no sense. The work is carried out by our sister company elektrofabrik or by your own contractor, to our drawings.
Careful configuration keeps the false alarm rate low. Together we define the alarm chain — from the sounder to the optional 24/7 alarm receiving centre with a response team.
Alarm system, access control and Siedle camera in a listed building — retrofitted by wireless, without touching the historic fabric of the house.
Alarm, roller shutter automation, garage door and DoorBird with visualisation — security and comfort operated from one system.
Homematic IP Wired and DoorBird in a timber-framed house — the system chosen to suit the project, not the catalogue.
smartfabrik is a smart home planning practice based in Düsseldorf (Reisholzer Werftstr. 31A). We plan for private clients and companies in Cologne, Düsseldorf and across North Rhine-Westphalia — and, where wanted, nationwide and internationally. A selection of the places we have already planned and delivered in:
That depends on the number of windows and doors, on the building and on the level of protection – it can only be put in figures honestly after a concept phase. As a rule: planned in on a new build, envelope monitoring is considerably more economical than any retrofit. After the initial consultation you receive a transparent concept with a clear cost breakdown.
On a new build the wired system is the first choice: low-maintenance, battery-free, tamper-proof and invisibly integrated. In an existing building we usually combine the two – wired where cable routes exist, good wireless components where running cable would be out of proportion. What decides it is less the transmission method than the quality of the components and the logic of the overall concept.
Yes – that is the core of our approach. The alarm system remains a self-contained, reliable system, but exchanges information with the KNX bus: window states for the heating, alarm events for lighting and shading, occupancy status for arming. That produces a security concept that works alongside you day to day instead of merely waiting.
We define that together at the planning stage: internal and external sounder, lighting to full, shading opens, push message with camera image to your phone. If you wish, we connect the system to a 24/7 alarm receiving centre that sends a response team if it comes to it. You see within seconds what is going on – and the decision stays with you.
Mechanical protection and alarm equipment complement each other: the mechanics delay the break-in, the alarm system reports it – ideally at the attempt on the envelope. Only the combination of the two, plus lighting, occupancy simulation and video surveillance, makes a rounded concept. Matching those layers to each other is exactly our planning task.
We develop the concept first and the device list second — for new builds and existing buildings alike.
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