Highbury

       A truly striking property, Highbury is the epitome of the modern smart home with beautifully designed technology both inside and out. As a family home designed around maximising the available natural light, shading and lighting provision was a crucial element of the build. Clean lines and a sleek, contemporary interior design are complemented by understated user interfaces built into the walls. The basement, meanwhile, hosts a veritable treasure trove of technology, which provides the perfect environment for the whole family to relax in.

Our scope of this project was to incorporate the following:

– Design and consultancy
– Project management
– Supply, installation and commissioning of:
Multi-room audio and video distribution, both indoors and outside
0-10v lighting control system with customised flush keypad solution and bespoke speaker construction
Automated blinds and curtains
Secure, reliable networking, Wi-Fi and VPN solutions
HVAC integration
Home security system
Bespoke entry system
iPad- and touchscreen-based control for all sub-systems
Home cinema room with custom speaker solution
Professional acoustic treatment
CCTV, enterprise-grade WiFi, mobile signal boosting solution

       With floor-to-ceiling windows used throughout, motorised drapery is one of the property’s most immediately noticeable technological features. A number of remarkable shading solutions have been employed, including three large independently-controlled Lutron skylight blinds providing coverage in the open-plan kitchen/dining area and a 5.8m long multi-level Lutron blind that screens both of the upper landings.

Multi-room audio runs through the whole house, with Amina plaster-in ceiling speakers used in several rooms, custom-built speakers in the pool/spa area and robust Bowers & Wilkins waterproof speakers in the garden for superb sound quality inside and out.

Distributed video is provisioned for in several rooms, from the media snug on the ground floor to the main bedrooms and a recessed screen hidden in the joinery in the family room, each offering access to all the property’s media outputs from any part of the home.

The pièce de résistance is the stunning home cinema room – complete with 106” fixed screen, 4K projection system and a custom set of cinema-grade speaker arrays installed behind acoustically transparent material. This bespoke 3D configuration was designed, built and acoustically treated by Andrew Lucas’ in-house acoustician, and includes 62 tweeter and 62 midrange units, as well as 32 separate subwoofer drivers under a false platform.

Outside, a DoorBird entry system allows occupants to see and speak to guests outside via a touchscreen or mobile app and also remotely operate the front gate. Several IP66-rated cameras have been installed around the home’s perimeter, allowing the homeowners to check the property remotely for intruders.

The whole house can be controlled using Crestron touchscreen panels located in the main living spaces, or using engraved Lutron keypads that were flush-mounted using Andrew Lucas’ proprietary solution and configured to make managing different lighting scenes or systems as effortless as possible.

       The occupants already owned a pair of premium Meridian DSP8000 loudspeakers and wanted the ability to play their extensive record collection through them. Andrew Lucas provided a high-end acrylic hi-fi turntable for the perfect lossless listening experience. Similarly, the homeowners were keen to retain as much of their existing Sonos set-up as possible; this was accommodated into the design and the system integrated with the rest of the smart home. Audio provision even extends to the gym and spa area, where a weatherproof B&W speaker and an Amina in-ceiling speaker allow occupants to listen to music while using the sauna and steam room respectively.

The homeowners desired flush-mounted keypad control for each room but were concerned that a uniform design would disrupt the look and feel of certain parts of the house. To resolve this, our design team selected several different faceplate colours, finishes and configurations so that the interfaces would match or complement the surface they reside on. The same consideration was made with regards to the Crestron touchscreens, with both black and white touchscreens employed to blend in with the panelling behind.

With the home cinema, only the best quality cinematic experience would suffice. By taking all design and installation completely in-house, Andrew Lucas benefited from the work of acoustician Andreas Brusberg, renowned for building the audio system at the Fryderyk Chopin Institution, who devised and created a custom speaker layout, including a central speaker array behind the cinema screen and 32 sub-woofer drivers situated beneath the second row of seating.

As many rooms required technology to be built into custom-made joinery, Andrew Lucas worked closely alongside high-end construction company New Wave London to ensure that TVs, speakers and other elements would fit exactly into the carpentry once completed.