Smart lighting is a system in which lights and light sources are connected to smart technology, such as sensors, smartphones, or the internet. It allows for precise and flexible control of lighting, using various techniques and applications. Smart lighting enhances comfort, energy efficiency, and safety, and provides new opportunities for managing and customizing lighting.
In most of our projects, we use Casambi, a wireless lighting control system. Casambi is a Finnish innovation that utilizes Bluetooth Mesh technology, making smart lighting easily accessible to everyone.
One of Casambi’s strengths is the ability to create and manage different lighting scenes. These scenes allow you to adjust the lighting exactly as you want, whether you’re at home, in the office, or in a public space.
Examples of combining Otherwise tunable white lights with Casambi:
Installing a Casambi-based smart lighting system is simple and cost-effective compared to many traditional lighting solutions. One significant reason for this is its wireless nature. Casambi uses Bluetooth Mesh technology, which does not require complex wiring or centralized control units. This makes installation significantly faster and reduces the need for electricians, who traditionally handle wiring and connections.
Traditional lighting systems often require extensive wiring and connections, increasing installation time and costs. In the Casambi system, each light operates independently and can be part of a Bluetooth Mesh network, so there’s no need to install physical connections between lights and controllers. This greatly simplifies the installation process, as only the power supply to the lights is necessary for the system to function.
A Casambi-based system can lead to substantial savings in construction projects:
Like all technology, smart lighting is constantly evolving, and in the future, it will integrate more closely with other smart home solutions. New innovations, such as advanced sensors and artificial intelligence, may bring even smarter and more user-friendly lighting solutions.
Smart lighting offers many benefits that enhance quality of life and support sustainable development. It is a key part of modern living and working environments, with virtually limitless possibilities for its use.
Bluetooth Mesh technology enables communication between lighting devices without the need for central routers or control units. Each light equipped with a Bluetooth Mesh module acts as both a receiver and a transmitter, forming a network where messages can travel through multiple routes.
This networking ensures that lighting control is highly reliable and flexible. For instance, if one light is temporarily out of service, the network can route around it, ensuring that the signal still reaches all necessary lights. This makes the system highly scalable and suitable for both small and large installations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the most common questions about smart lighting systems, Casambi scenes, Bluetooth Mesh technology, cost savings during construction, and where smart lighting works best.
Smart lighting is a system where light fixtures are connected to intelligent technology — sensors, smartphones or the internet — allowing precise, flexible, and automated control instead of simple on/off switching.
In traditional lighting, each switch controls a hard-wired group of lights at a fixed brightness. In smart lighting, every fixture can be individually addressed and adjusted — brightness, colour temperature, schedules, and scenes are software-configured. The result: better comfort, energy efficiency, and safety, plus the ability to redesign the lighting experience without rewiring. In most Otherwise projects we use Casambi — a Finnish-developed wireless system based on Bluetooth Mesh.
Casambi lets you save unlimited lighting scenes and activate them with one tap, one switch press, or automatically based on time or motion.
Typical scenes we set up with tunable-white Otherwise fixtures: Mood (soft, warm, relaxed evenings), Work (bright, cool, focused task light), Movie (dimmed ambient background), Wake-up (gradual sunrise simulation from warm to daylight), Dinner (intimate warm focus on the dining area), Exit (all lights off with one press when leaving), and Automation (motion-triggered lights that dim when the room empties). All scenes are edited from the free app.
Because Casambi is wireless, there are no dedicated control cables, no central controllers, and no complex wiring — dramatically cutting labour, materials, and project time.
Concrete savings: lower installation labour (only power to fixtures is needed, no signal cabling), faster project timeline, compatibility with existing fixtures where Casambi-ready drivers can be retrofitted, and reduced maintenance because updates and troubleshooting are software-based. Automatic dimming and occupancy-based control also cut electricity consumption over the life of the building.
Bluetooth Mesh lets every fixture act as both receiver and transmitter, forming a self-healing network with no central router. The system stays reliable even if individual devices fail.
In a traditional wired system, one failed controller can take down an entire zone. In Bluetooth Mesh, messages can travel through multiple routes: if one fixture is temporarily offline, the network automatically routes around it. This makes the system highly scalable — the same architecture works for a single apartment or a hotel with hundreds of fixtures — and highly reliable, since there’s no single point of failure.
Yes — smart lighting works equally well in residential, office, retail, hospitality and public spaces. The scalability of Bluetooth Mesh means the same platform serves all sizes.
In homes, smart lighting brings scenes, wake-up automation, and energy savings. In offices, it enables task-focused work light + circadian tunable-white cycles for wellbeing. In retail and hospitality, saved scenes let staff switch entire venues from day mode to evening mode in one tap. In public buildings, motion-based automation ensures no light is on longer than necessary. One platform, endless applications.
Otherwise designs Casambi-based smart lighting systems for homes, offices and public spaces — unlimited scenes, wireless installation, and full integration with our custom LED fixtures.
