Our client is a gaming industry executive who is well versed in the atmosphere of 24 hour operations. Since the main purpose of a casino and gaming is to entertain, he knows the importance of A/V, Automation and Lighting control as a necessity for his home as well and they too need to run like clockwork. Familiar with casino operations, Crestron is a well known and respected solution. Our project scope covered the basics like A/V distribution, Lighting, Shade, Pool, Security and Climate control but with detailed programming the home now saves energy and greets the homeowners return differently based on time of day making the home truly feel alive. These solutions solve the needs of both ours and the clients and are further supported with remote monitoring and user control. As we know clocks don’t run forever, with that said future proofing the home via efficiently placed conduit networks run throughout the skeleton of the home. Now the home can be upgraded in the future with minimal to no retro-fitting, software can be updated remotely and every aspect of the home can be controlled from his home away from home… the casino.

A few unique aspects of this home were the 10ft x 10ft 1100lb center pivoting glass front door. The door is secured with dual magnetic locks that are controlled from the Crestron PAC2 lighting control processor and are unlocked from the engraved Crestron lighting keypad located at the entry. By unifying all of the subsystems in the home, we can utilize a button on the light switch to control other things like the front door and garage doors. For instance in the garage there is a 4 button keypad that controls the garage lights and garage door all from the same keypad as well. It doesn’t get any more simple then that. From the Exterior, access into the home is granted from a Stainless Steel Holovision intercom with integrated camera and glass keypad. The keypads codes can be changed by the homeowner from a Crestron TPMC-8L located near the kitchen once you have logged into the security page. The camera located inside the intercom comes into play while you are watching TV in any room in the home. If a guest rings the doorbell while you are watching TV, the current source will pause and the video will switch to the front door camera. By the time you get back from answering the door, the TV will have switched back to the current program waiting for you to resume watching the program.

One of the great opportunities we had with this project was to rid all of the closets with doors in the home of traditional light switches. Using the Crestron PAC2 we installed sensors in the doors and a combination of both door and motion sensors in walk-in closets. With programming for instance, the coat closet will always greet you with light when you open the door to place a jacket and turn off when closed. If the door stays open, it will time out after a predetermined about of time. The walk-in closets stay on if someone is inside with the door closed. To us this is the main goal of automation, make life easier and so integrated that you don’t even notice the lights turn on when you walk into a room. With Ideabox the home is finally alive.

HOME SIZE | 11,000 square feet
BUILD TIME | 1 year
BUILDER | Graves Development
ARCHITECT | John Wald
LIGHTING CONTROL | Vantage
HOME CONTROL | Crestron

The equipment rack was featured in the January 2010 issue of CEPro as one of the 10 Greatest Racks Of 2009

As an Architect, John has extensive foresight and an eagle eye for design and aesthetics. His mark has been left on numerous casinos here in Las Vegas as well as buildings across the country. So when John came to Ideabox with his own personal home, they naturally had their hands full. Up to the daunting challenge of matching John’s creative works with only a deadline of one year, Ideabox designed and installed a full automation and lighting control system that is an extension of John’s own personal vision.

As you walk up to the home, you notice the monolithic stainless steel courtyard door framed with ruby red glass. To compliment this, both the courtyard and front door feature matching stainless eHolovision call boxes. These call boxes are used to control and secure the dual front doors and electronic locks that tie seamlessly into the alarm system. Through the courtyard you are greeted with a flowing water feature that welcomes you to the front door. Upon ringing the doorbell, the water feature will “pause” so the falling water doesn’t drowned out the conversation through the intercom. When the session has ended and front door is triggered to open by way of the phone system, the waterfall will resume operation.

Inside at the heart of this home resides a dedicated control room that was featured in the January 2010 issue of CEPro as one of the 10 Greatest Racks Of 2009. The robust Crestron system powers 8 zones of video and 11 zones of audio that include 2 surround sound media zones. This distribution system allows for any of the media sources in the system to be accessed at one, or all locations in the home at the same time. John can start watching a show he recorded in the kitchen, and finish it later on in the den, or a single AppleTV can play music and scroll a personal photo slideshow on every display in the system while entertaining guests. In the kitchen John wanted the ability to watch TV but didn’t want the distractions that are associated with a typical install. To address this, Ideabox went with a 26in LCD from Samsung that lowers from the ceiling by an Auton drop down TV lift. When a video source is selected the display automatically lowers from the ceiling within a matter of seconds and will disappear in a flash with the kitchen zone is turned off.

For environment control 12 HVAC zones are programmed for occupancy so that the thermostats will automatically adjust if the home is empty to conserve energy. Upon entering the home the thermostats will seamlessly resume their previous schedule, climatizing the home to a comfortable temperature. The Lutron Sevoia shades are also programmed to track the sun, lowering and raising throughout the day to provide controlled lighting and to regulate the suns energy. These few steps keep the home cooler during the summer months while conserving energy at the same time. And to the home owner it goes unnoticed until the electrical bill shows up.

Out back, the pool, spa and misting system are also integrated and can be controlled by any touch-panel in or outside the home.  The video is provided by a weatherproof SunBright HDTV since it was in a location that had no overhead coverage. To keep the system secure, both the outdoor and kids touch-panels upstairs feature password protection with auto timed lockout. The security system combines 9 commercial grade PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) cameras with video verification service for rapid response time. The cameras are programmed to preset coverage spots ensuring if they are moved by the user, after 60 seconds of inactivity they move back to their correct preset location. All cameras are viewable on any TV in the home and can be moved or zoomed with a few button presses of any remote in the system as well as any computer on the internet.

To display all the homes information, 5 Crestron TPS-6L in-wall touch-panels are strategically located throughout. At the garage entry, the touch-panel takes the place of the alarm keypad. When you arrive home and walk in from a night out on the town, the hallway entry lights will ramp up and the touch-panel will display the alarms control page. Depending on the user code entered to disarm the alarm factored in with the time of day, we can have the thermostats adjust the temp, a lighting scene light up the home, have the music server que up your favorite playlist, kick on the family room fireplace and have the spa ready before you step another foot inside. This is what truly makes a house into a home.

In the master bathroom, a custom Seura mirror TV is masked with the same aluminum frame that the homes windows are set in. This ensured that the TV is totally hidden and out of mind when the system is off. When you walk into the room nothing stands out, just like it should. To further the theme of understated, custom programmed RTI hand held remotes are located in every room & Italian designed Vantage Axolute keypads were installed to match the decor throughout the home. (In the bathroom photo located in the slideshow, notice the glass tile on the wall and also the glass tile of the keypad.)

Another out of the box feature we provide is that every closet with a light doesn’t utilize a “typical” light switch. The coat closet for example is controlled by the door itself. When you open the door the lights ramp up so you can hang a jacket or pull out the vacuum.  When the door shuts the lights turn off. If the door is left open lights will turn off as well after a preset amount of time. It’s as easy as that! To overcome bedroom closets where people like to change or might spend extended amounts of time in, we use a combination of door and motion sensors. As long as there is movement in the closet, the lights stay on. Now that’s Automation!

The AV room was a different challenge in itself. The dimensions of the room are 13×10 while only 4 feet wide. Because of code requirements we brought in all the cables from the ceiling and mounted the equipment rack in the middle of the room. This gave us clearance from the lighting and electrical enclosures in the front of the rack. In the rear there is only 32 inches of clearance between the back of the rack and the two 50 inch structured wire cans installed in the back wall. With a riser added onto the base of the Middle Atlantic VRK-54, the gap was closed between the rack and ceiling giving it that monolithic stature we strived for. We then added a custom water jetted logo that was cut at Saber Cutting Solutions to the base and had it powder coated to match the racks factory finish. To hold the pieces of the logo together, frosted plexiglass was then installed behind the logo with blue neon to make it really stand out. Neon was also incorporated into the rails of the structure wiring cans on the back wall and inside the low voltage section of the Vantage lighting cans as well. To automate the entrance of the AV room and trigger the “awe” factor. We used the same technique mentioned before to control the closet lights. When the door is opened into the room, the neon lights up for 15 seconds washing the room in a deep blue hue. Just after the “awe” factor sets in, the neon turns off and the room lights ramp up so you can load that Blue-ray movie.

John came to Ideabox to design and install the automation system for his own personal home. John was pleased to see our dedication and passion that we put into his project as if it was our own. After the dust settled and all was said and done. This project was completed on time, on budget and most importantly when John and his family moved into their dream home – it worked.

]]> http://www.ideabox.co/portfolio/las_vegas_modern_crestron_automation/feed 0 http://www.ideabox.co/portfolio/home-dashboard-controls http://www.ideabox.co/portfolio/home-dashboard-controls#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 04:43:39 +0000 ideabox http://ideaboxmediagroup.com/?p=214

A touchscreen should be fun, fast, and intuitive. We understand the technologies, and we concentrate on maximizing the subtle differences that affect the user experience.

To deliver that experience, we have three criteria for each system we design. Every Ideabox creation should be…

Ideabox exists for one reason — to create the best user interface and control system experience available. Our team of user interface, graphics, programming, IT  and installation specialists collaborate seamlessly to deliver exceptional results — on budget and on time — every time.

HOME SIZE | 10,000 square feet
HOME CONTROL | Crestron
PROJECT LENGTH | 3 months

This retro-fit project turned a coat closet under the stairs into an A/V room providing 8 video zones, 2 surround zones totaling 13 areas of distributed audio. Highlights of the system include a dedicated theater powered by a JVC DLA-HD750 projector reflected by a 108in screen. To keep the wire runs down to a minimum the theaters surround processor, amplification, blue-ray and gaming sources were kept local and hidden inside an existing piece of furniture. To keep the equipment cool, two ultra-quiet intake and exhaust fans are activated when of these sources are in use. To keep synergy, the main distribution racks sources are also available in the theater just like every other video zone in the system.

In the nursery there is a discreet CCTV camera and high-resolution audio microphone system providing excellent baby monitoring that can be viewed or heard in any video or audio zone in the home or outside in the backyard.

In the family room we had a different challenge. The existing wall unit and fireplace was removed and a 10ft long custom fireplace and ceramic tiled wall took its place. Like all projects, Ideabox worked with the contractors on the project to minimize wall clutter. Flushing in the 65in TV above the fireplace and relocating the key valve and control box for the fireplace into a nook that also houses the subwoofer for the surround sound system. These products are hidden behind a flush mounted grill wrapped with color matched sonically transparent cloth, so everything is seamless to the eye. Fireplace control is adapted to the local rooms hand held remote. Just the toggle of a button turns the fireplace on or off. The idea behind all of our systems is that you see and hear everything except products that provide it! Out of sight, out of mind.

For Apple iPhone or iPod Touch users, many of our systems feature apps in the iTunes App Store that allow you to control all aspects of your system from wherever you have a data connection. Control music volume from the backyard, or adjust your climate control system before you arrive home.

Our touchpanels interface with your home’s surveillance and alarm system, allowing you to arm the alarm, see zone status or even view and control any camera on the system from the touchscreen or via the internet.

Adjust the temperature of your pool or spa before you even set foot in your backyard. You’ll also have control over the safety of your pool, such as lights and motorized pool covers, right from any touchpanel inside your home. As an added feature we have the ability to monitor the pool area with a security camera. When the pool is in secure mode, if there is any movement in the water we can trigger an alarm to alert the home owner in seconds.

Select a track to play from your music server, change satellite radio channels or choose a radio station to listen to, all right from an in-wall touchpanel. Control volume and select a room or multiple rooms to play any combination of audio sources.

Tired of the endless fiddling with programmable thermostats? It’s easy to control your home’s climate control system from an in-wall touchpanel. Plus, you’ll save energy by making it easier than ever to program your system and achieve maximum efficiency.