Lake View House
A 12,500 sq ft home overlooking a lake in Cheshire.
What began as a straightforward fit-out and grew into a full structural renovation with an intelligent control system running through every room. The family wanted one system capable of handling their media, security and everyday living, without compromising the interior design. Crestron became the backbone; Ultamation brought it together.
The primary lounge is the heart of the home.
Rather than let a screen dominate the room, we worked with Future Automation and a bespoke canvas maker to build a mechanism that opens two 2.5m square canvasses to reveal an 85” 4K TV. The canvasses carry a specially commissioned diptych painting; split either side of the screen, or joined as a single landscape piece when the TV is off, the room reads as a gallery first and a cinema second.
Viewing options extend to Sky Q, 4K Apple TVs and a Kaleidescape server; an Autonomic MMS-5e handles the family’s CD library alongside streaming and AirPlay. An 18m SkyFrame sliding door, controlled through Lutron, opens the main living space onto the gardens at the touch of a button. Lighting scenes run through the common rooms, with blinds and curtains controlled across the living spaces, hallways, gym, pool and master bedroom.
Solution Highlight
A well designed home automation system is so much more than an All-in-One remote control. Your system can react to events to protect your home from the elements, closing skylights when rain is forecast or temporarily shutdown power-hungry systems when you want to conserve energy. But you shouldn’t need to feel like a passenger in this – solutions like Ultamation’s Notice Tile (for Crestron Home) keep you in the loop, wherever you are in the world. Whether that’s a critical event like a security breach or something less urgent, when the concierge takes a parcel for you, Ultamation’s solutions add an extra dimension to your smart spaces.
Control is available wherever the family need it: handheld remotes in key rooms, a single interface across their mobile devices, and Crestron touch panels in the open-plan living areas, gym and pool; every panel reaches every system. Heating, air conditioning, CCTV and the intruder alarm all sit within the same platform, with PIR sensors adding automated touches such as switching off a room’s lighting after a period with no movement.
As the family settle in, further automation is being introduced gradually. Several rooms now run a morning routine tied to the Crestron wake-up alarm; blinds rise twenty minutes ahead of the alarm, followed by a gentle lighting fade timed to the wake-up itself, so the day starts gently rather than all at once.
The project went on to win CEDIA’s Best Integrated Home (Level 2) in 2019.
