Experience Centre- The space was a basement of about 2200 sq. feet area and (was uneven and not a rectangle). We needed to create a show area for the customers to come in and experience Automation, as they would in their own home. At the same time, we needed our own office to function from the same location. So we divided the space in to a “Show “area and a “Office “Area. The “show “Area comprised of a Living Room, a Dining Room, A Home Theater and a “Show Wall”. Each of these areas has a design that gives either has a contemporary look or a “old elegance” theme designed by architect.
Lobby/Living Area:
The area has about 15 circuits of Lighting. Coves are all 1-10 volts dimming and the chandeliers and wall washers are phase dimming. The double height area has sunlight coming in and therefore has both Sheers and Blackouts. When the show is on, the reception desk is also covered with a Drapery track giving the feel of a modern day living room. The end user has the option of having either wall mounted Keypad, a 10 inch Touch panel or an Ipad to control various devices.
To make it easy for the home owner, in addition to having fixed scenes that can be activated from any of the devices, the actual picture of the Living Room with various lights, shades TV and the AC are on the customer GUI. All he/she has to do is to touch the device in the picture and the device and the control buttons for that device pop up, making it easy to control any device in the area.
The recurring theme in the Experience Center is that technology should be at the back end and the front end has to be “ease of use” and convenience. In keeping with this theme, the 55 inch TV is hidden inside the cabinet, and only comes out with a motorized lift when “movie” scene is pressed. The living room has a 5.1 Audio System with a customized sound bar for the TV and a in wall subwoofer. Placing the surrounds was a challenge and finally with the designers help it was agreed to find space on the pillar and the staircase. In addition we have a high end Omni directional speaker hanging from a stand, which looks more like a piece of art than a speaker.
Dining Area
The dining area has cove lighting, chandelier and wall washers along with four different types of shades (Rollers, Roman, Drapery and a Sillhouitte). For back ground music, we have two “invisible” speakers in the walls. We also have a hidden TV behind the picture, which lifts up when “TV” scene is pressed, revealing the TV behind. We also have a hanging Omni directional speaker looking like a showpiece. A fixed keypad on the wall activates various scenes such as the “dining” or “TV” or Welcome scene. A table top mounted Ipad allows additional point of control.
Home Theater
The Home Theater has a seating for seven people spread over two rows. The speakers are all hidden behind acoustically transparent cloth and projection screen. The configuration is for Dolby Atmos and a 7.4.2 speaker system with four ceiling speakers and two subwoofers completes the Audio configuration. The projector is ceiling mounted and has native 4K resolution. The occupancy Sensors ensure that the system is shut in the absence of anybody in the area.
Show Wall
The show wall basically shows all the keypad selections that the customer can choose from for his home. All the keypads are “working” keypads and either control lights or shades or the skylight shade above the reception. The customers can get a feel by pressing and touching the various keypads. The Show wall also has a mirror TV to offer mirror TV choices for a residence.
Office Area
The office area comprises of the open seating for 18 people and has a cabin for the director and a Conference Room. The Lighting is Linear LEDs with DALI drivers. So each area lighting can be adjusted depending upon personal preference and also occupancy. The Hanging speakers provide options for back ground music in the office space. The conference room has seating for about 8 people along with a venetian blind and a wall mounted preset Lighting control system.
Technology
All the Control systems are located at the central rack.
a) Lighting controls: There are 52 lighting circuits controlled by Lutron Homeworks QS system with Palladium keypads and I seetouch keypads spread throughout the show room.
b) Motorized shades: There are 17 different shades comprising of Lutron Sivoia QS system.
c) Control System: Crestron CP3, Touch Screen 10 inch TPS
d) Audio System
- Living Room has a 5.1 system from Leon USA with Leon sound bar on TV and In wall subs and surrounds.
- Dining room has a 5.1 Sonance system with Sound bar and in ceiling Surrounds.
- Dining room also has Sonance Invisible speakers in a 2. 1 configuration.
- Office Area: Has 4 sound tube hanging speakers.
- Bath rooms and conference room has Leon In ceiling Speakers controlled via the Lutron Keypad that also does Source selection and Lighting Scene control.
- Director Cabin has a single Stereo Revel Speaker.
- Home Theater Has Triad Silver and Bronze speakers.
- Speciality Speakers. The Living Room has a Nac Sound “Omni “ Pendant Speaker. The Dining Area has a NAC Sound “Zemi” Pendant speaker. The Conference room has Concrete Audio’s wall mounted F1 Speakers. The shat Area has Sonance Rock Speakers.
e) Racks and Lifts
- The TV in the lobby comes out of the cabinet with a Nexus 21 TV Lift.
- The Rack at the back end is from Middle Atlantic.
f) Matrix Switcher
- All the 7 displays are fed from a centralized 4k Matrix Switcher from Atlona USA.
g) TV/Video
- The Lobby has a 55 inch UHD Loewe ART TV, hidden in the floor cabinet.
- The show Area has a Agath Mirror TV.
This construction took approximately 10 month and the cost of interiors and the equipment exceeded $200k. But the investment was worth it- both in terms of what the end user can see in the interiors and the over all objective of a residential client being able to identify with the interiors and visualize automation for his own space.
