Think about a smart home. What comes to mind? A sleek TV that blends in to your living room decor, seamlessly hidden control panels, outlets and speakers throughout your living spaces - maybe a security monitoring system or two by exterior doors. But you probably didn’t think about a smart bathroom.
When you consider your setup at home, there’s a good chance you’ve designed a room or two around the technology in it. We’re willing to bet that everything in your living room, for instance, is centered around your television or entertainment center. But is your technology integrated into the design, or are you living with clunky pieces, mismatched finishes or a mess of wires?
You had the perfect system designed. The projector will elegantly drop from the ceiling on a scissor-lift, positioned exactly to occupy the space of an acoustic ceiling tile. Once installed, it will display engaging content at the optimal scale to meet the viewing requirements of the room’s occupants. The equipment has been ordered and the trades are all scheduled. There’s just one problem; a request has been made to change the light fixture and consequently, its location, placing it directly in front of the projector. Although it may seem like a simple change, repositioning the projector may require a specialized projector lens be added or a custom scissor-lift be created, along with having the electrical drop relocated and moving any other affected ceiling features. Audio visual systems are an integral part of room design and changes to the room’s ceiling, flooring, walls or furnishings may cause a ripple effect resulting in costly change orders.
Technologies for today’s homes and offices are sleek, contemporary and elegant. Some elements, such as touch panels, custom-framed LED displays and speakers that look as incredible as they sound, are meant to be seen. But then there’s the behind-the-scenes components; the receivers, amplifiers, switchers…all the things with the blinking lights and shiny knobs that you may choose to either showcase or hide away. Either way, they all live somewhere and that somewhere has specific requirements.
