projects | Residential

The brief was to produce a high-quality cinema that could double as an area where his extended family and guests could play party games – charades and X-factor parodies. The installation was to take place in a dilapidated, yet listed, old garage. It needed to be isolated from the main dwelling adjacent to it, and completed in a few weeks.

The building and surroundings are beautiful, and everyone felt we should try and keep the feel of the space, which meant that we had a difficult geometrical challenge siting a projector. We modelled the building quickly in 3D, showing a new bulkhead fixed to the existing brick arch. This wouldn’t be ‘read’ as one entered the room, or indeed from the viewing position, but would enable us to have a very wide screen with the shortest throw possible. Client feedback was obtained which allowed us to proceed with this design.

This arrangement allowed us to raise the screen above a dais-type stage, and put the screen at the right viewing position for the audience, who we placed on tiered seating. This all added a bit of drama, and taking advantage of the height allowed us to ensure everyone got a great experience. We left an area in front of the dais, specifying easily-moveable leather bean-bags, which is used for game play and younger viewers.

Providing the very large screen meant that we wouldn't be able to house traditional AV racks in the space (in fact the areas either side of the screen can be used to store costumes etc.), so two separate equipment compartments were designed – one specially constructed location under the stage with forced ventilation out through the building’s side walls, and a second client-accessible location for disc players, games consoles etc. A small compartment in the integrated side table by the main seats allows storage of games controllers, chargers, connection of PC and iPod, and 3D glasses."

The client's existing cottage is beautiful, isolated.They wanted to create a further building in their grounds, with pool, cinema, and guest facilities, to be hand-crafted using traditional methods and materials sympathetic to their existing home, but with integrated entertainment and security systems.

We were asked to provide simple, useable multi-room audio, lighting control and a dedicated home cinema in addition to the basic TV, telecoms and data infrastructure.

Since the pool house is separate from the main house, we were asked to provide a sophisticated security and CCTV system, integrated with other systems, including the addition of cameras to their existing home

The client wanted to incorporate some discreet home technology to relect the changes in their family as their children were becoming teeagers.

One request was for a cinema within the traditional living room for use by the adults, and another for their three children to use. The ability to listen to their iPod and CDs throughout their home was also seen as important.

Lighting within the home, both natural and artificial, also had an important role in the scheme. We programmed the Phillips pronto remote for simplicity. On press and the lights dim, the Lutron blinds silently lower themselves, the projection screen drops from the ceiling and the Sim2 projector fires up. A custom-built Future Automation mechanism was commissioned to silently lift a panel of the joinery and reveal the projector. The cinema projects either DVD or Sky HD, processed by a Cineversum scaler, onto a Da-lite screen.

Equally as important was that their children had a place to ‘hang out’ or entertain their friends. We achieved this by surrounding a Pioneer plasma with Triad in wall loudspeakers powered by a Denon AVR. The children then choose via a Pronto to watch either Sky HD or BluRay movies and games from their PS3. Lutron lighting control and Lutron blinds help to really set the scene. This room was designed as a multi-function, discreet and useable space that the children could call their own but that would complement the rest of the home.

The lighting design demanded a completely flexible lighting control system incorporating both the control of natural and artificial light. There are large glazed areas necessitating that the blinds drop in unison to cut glare. Blinds also enhance the cinema room, dropping with the screen to cut the ambient light. The clients are even able to control the garden lighting from the shed. We specified an 8 series Lutron System which allowed us to provide simple control of both lighting and blinds from a single keypad location.

Within each room we were able to gang an additional keypad to this to control the Audio system. Happily, the results were fantastic, the blinds are simple to control, integrate with the lighting scenes, and maintain perfect hem alignment. They look great from the outside too.

The client was developing their family home to improve both its resale value and to minimise its length of time on the market. They wanted a solution that included a high level of security, an audio system to enhance the ambience while the property was being marketed that then worked for the purchasing family and a TV system that incorporated a media room.

All the systems needed to add value to the property and offer the purchaser a level flexibility when they moved in. Each system needed to be able “tell a story” for the selling agent.

The client was keen that the systems were easy to demonstrate but felt homely and not like a show home. They also wanted an integrated solution for the video entry, HVAC and lighting control. It was important to the client that we could provide on-going service to them and their purchaser and support them with their marketing efforts.

The client is a creative family and wanted a home that worked well for all, including their teenage children and frequent guests.

The emphasis had to be on practical, simple, technology that could be used easily by the family and guests whilst being terrific fun and in keeping with the contemporary design of the house.

An avid music fan and audiophile, the father wanted particular rooms of the house to have fantastic quality sound whilst in other areas the key objective was concealment of both speakers and source equipment. All of the family, including the children, are keen movie and music makers and are pretty savvy when it comes to editing. They wanted somewhere to enjoy these video and audio files with their friends.

A large private residence set over five floors. The client loves his music and technology and wanted to create a family home suitable for partying at the highest level of entertaining, as well as a safe and secure environment for his family and friends.

Music from multiple sources was to be played throughout the house and the garden and be capable of considerable volume. This required audio and video distribution to over 50 rooms. All of which were to play individually or be linked together to create different party zones. High definition TV's with surround sound was required throughout, in addition to two dedicated cinema rooms with projection systems.

The highest level of security system was required to protect the house and grounds as well as access control to certain rooms within the property. All the systems in the house including, audio, video, lighting, HVAC, security and access control are controlled via touch screens.

When we first met with the clients it was clear they knew what they wanted for their family: robust, functional technology, ready for the future wiring, with everything completely hidden. Their architect had designed a contemporary refurbishment to their existing Notting Hill home, so discreet installation was very important.

They're big music fans with a huge collection of CDs and a well stocked iTunes library. Our client has an old interest in hi–fi which he was keen to re-engage with. They didn't want anything 'crazy' or over-complicated, but they wanted an expert to do the basics – TV, BT, Data, Audio – really well. Our client is also a very keen Mac user, for photos and music as well as work, so needed a robust network with large backup facilities.
They were keen to enjoy their movies more, and wanted a discreet media room in their Living Room, something subtle which wouldn't stand out in day-to-day living. Feeling safe in this new home was of course important, so they needed a security system, as well as a video entry access control system.

The client was looking for audio, video, lighting control, video entry, intruder alarm, CCTV, data and telephony to complement and integrate into their new modern home.

It was very important that these systems were all robust, reliable and offered room for future upgrade. They had a requirement for a media room that was also connected to a side study as one of the family members could screen their productions. All the technology within the home needed to integrate with the modern clean architecture.

The client was refurbishing their London pied-à-terre, a three bedroom apartment, and wanted to incorporate their technological requirements discreetly and in harmony with the interior design.

They wanted a distributed television system for viewing Sky and HotBird satellite with local DVD players, a music system for their CDs and iPods and needed data throughout the apartment. The client was heavily involved and interested in the product selection process and procured their own televisions.

The project is a new build 3 bed house, located behind some existing terraced housing on a quiet street .

The design of the house was to be a modern, single storey dwelling with a relaxing Japanese feel and with a garden to the back. The main living space is a large open plan kitchen/dining/living room for the family, with lots of natural light.

When we were brought onto the project, the foundations for the house were in place, and the client was looking to ensure that his home would be as future ready as possible. He was completely open to our suggestions for the design and for what systems to include, although this had to work with the architects existing minimalist design.

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A home within a cemetery. Highgate cemetery is one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. It is listed by English Heritage as a site of outstanding historical and architectural interest and the landscape has been developed such that it is now listed as a Grade II* Park. The cemetery opened in 1839 and over 850 notable people are buried there with the most famous occupant being Karl Marx, the father of communism.

Our client has lived on the site for a number of years and his great, great grandfather is buried only a short distant from the house. It was the clients dream to create a house that reflected his character and challenged conventional ways of thinking. His vision was to build the most amazing modern structure, echoing the industrial nature of the building that stood there before on one of the most remarkable sites in London. This ultra modern building rose from the ground surrounded by 19th Century graves only yards away.

The client has had a long, deep passion for hi-fidelity music and has always purchased the very best systems he could afford at given time in his life. He wanted to install the finest sounding systems within a very acoustically challenging space coupled with a fully integrated home, driven from touch screen control.

A beautiful, uniquely designed home in the North West of London remarkable in its building construction and using the very best in discreet integrated technology.

The substantial 13,300 sq.ft. house was a new build to a very contemporary design from architects Munkenbeck & Marshall and answered the clients desire for a modern home with large internal spaces, that open up to the expansive external gardens. Amongst the numerous interesting features is an indoor pool which can extend outside through a sliding door. With a press of a button a glass wall and submerged barrier glide through the water to partition the pool.

A Lutron Homeworks system not only controls all the lighting through the house but also the pool door, spa jets, external water features and pool covers. In this way a huge degree of automation is achieved with simple, beautifully integrated controls within the light switch plates eliminating the need for separate wall mounted controls.

Additionally the house contains a Meridian G Series cinema and a Linn Knekt multi-room audio system delivering audio into 10 rooms. Wireless AMX touch screens provide whole house control including AV, lighting, data, and access control. There is a Panasonic KXTD-100 phone system to allow room to room dialing, paging and communications with the pedestrian and vehicle gates.

SMC also installed a NACOSS/NSI approved security and smoke/heat detection system throughout.

This exciting project, driven by the giant telecommunications company Orange, involved the complete refurbishment of a traditional family home in Hertfordshire and was used to demonstrate the very latest technologies, creating a blueprint for the way life might be in the future.

A beautiful, contemporary home in London using the very best in discreet integrated technology.