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Technology vs Décor The Best Options for Hiding Technology in a Home By Jay Basen
The vast majority of projects that I worked on in my career involved the integration of smart technology into large homes. However, my very first project as an integrator was for a bar/ restaurant. The facility was going through a major redesign that included turning the bar space into a sports bar and remodeling the remainder of the restaurant. There were more than a dozen TVs planned for the bar and multiple zones of distributed audio, for music, in the restaurant, patio, and even the restrooms. The entire system was controlled with a Crestron smart home processor and a large, wall-mounted, Crestron touch panel. The owner of the restaurant wanted the touchpanel to be mounted on a wall behind the bar so the bartender could easily start the system when the restaurant opened, shut it down when it closed, and select which TV’s audio would be heard in the bar based on crowd interest in the sporting events being shown. The day after we worked with the restaurant’s owner to mount the touchpanel exactly where he wanted it, the interior designer on the project came by for a visit. She walked into the bar, took one look at the touchpanel on the wall, and screamed “Who the f*&k put that on MY wall!?!” That was my less-than-subtle introduction to the conflict between technology and décor. Larger smart home integration projects, in many cases, coincide with the remodeling of a home. When TVs and distributed audio are added to a home, traditionally you need to run lots of additional wiring. And, if you are going to tear up the drywall to run new wires, it makes sense to do some additional remodeling. In addition, the larger or more expensive the home, the more likely it is that an interior designer will be involved with the project.
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Residential Tech Today | Vol. 4 / Issue 1
A single-button keypad can replace a whole wall of light switches.
While I’ve never met another interior designer that had the temper of the one involved in my first project, the challenges of integrating technology into an interior designer’s vision for the décor of a home can be challenging and cause conflicts. Fortunately, there are companies making products today that allow technology to be hidden in a space rather than it being the dominant characteristic of it.
Smart Lighting The realization of how important lighting is in a home, and the involvement of lighting designers in projects, has led to an increase in the number of lighting loads in a room. Task lights, accent lights, lights to illuminate artwork, lighting for wall wash effects, and more, are now becoming much more common in homes. In a room with a large number of lighting loads, the light switch stack can look like “wall acne.”
