A few weeks after the inauguration of the new Basque Culinary Centre, whose classrooms and laboratories are equipped with SALTO Systems access control technology, its first students have begun class.
The Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences and Culinary Arts of Mondragon, to give it its full name, is the only one in Spain and boats an R&D Centre that is set to become a world reference in gastronomic circles.
The opening day was a foodie's dream come. Nine of the world's most famous chefs including Spain's own Ferran Adria, Arzak, Berasategui, France's Michel Bras and Denmark's Rene Redzep, were all together in the same room to inaugurate the school's brand new campus and its four-year degree program. The first intake of students was selected from 340 applicants from around the world and, alongside the student program; the centre will also run continuing professional development courses for experienced chefs as well as a number of half-day classes for enthusiastic amateur cooks.
Located close to the Miramon Technology Park, the main building of the Basque Culinary Centre has been designed to evoke the effect created by stack of plates. In both architectural and engineering terms it has strived to incorporate the latest technological advances, including energy-saving strategies, eco-friendly, active and passive measures that seek out energy savings as well as advanced access control solutions for the security, management and operation of its facilities.
For this access control solution, the task was to ensure that the technology matched the innovation and design leadership incorporated into the new centre. The solution chosen to meet that challenge was the real time wireless technology of SALTO Systems and their data-on-card platform. This has been installed on emergency exit doors, escape routes, aluminum, wood and glass doors, lifts, parking areas, lockers and more. In particular SALTO's DIN Glass Door locks and new Locker locks have been responsible for creating a virtually ‘keyless' building that is secure yet easily accessible to everyone.
Secure, flexible, and both easy to use and install, the SALTO electronic locks in the Basque Culinary Centre provide full control over who can access what, when and where 24/7 ensuring that their laboratories, classrooms, multi-purpose rooms, offices and more are effective, robust and easy to maintain.
In the words of a school management spokesperson “In this innovative new building, which by its very use has a high number of users and disparate access profiles, the technology of our new SALTO system provides us with the flexibility, comfort and safety we need.”