With home automation booming, architects must guide clients through a maze of high-tech decisions.
By telephoning the control “brain” from his car, architect Brad Hollenbeck’s client can regulate the thermostat in his house, set the mood with music, and illuminate a pathway from the front door to the kitchen of his expansive Houston home. In Palo Alto, Calif., a client of architect Steve Borlik’s shares video, graphics, and voice files between several residences in different parts of the world that are networked together.
The future has arrived, and with it, the electronic high life. If the 1990s brought widespread consumer acceptance of wireless communications, home PCs, and high-speed Internet access, the new decade makes possible more complex technologies, including the integration of everything in the house. “We’re seeing information systems in private residences that we wouldn’t have seen in an office setting 10 years ago,” says Jon Jackson, AIA, of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson’s Pittsburgh office.
Some 7.5 million American homes about 7 percent are equipped with a degree of computer networking that automates security, entertainment, lighting, mechanical systems, and climate control, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, Arlington, Va. Since 1995, the number has nearly quadrupled.
The future may have arrived, but have we? Architects of high-end homes find themselves playing continuous catch-up on systems that are constantly being updated. They’re dealing with a new subset of vendors such as lighting and audio/video designers, many of which are riding the learning curve themselves. And where once clients were focused on aesthetic issues, now they may be obsessed with optimizing the performance of surround-sound speakers in a major living space. What’s more, today’s well-funded clients can “out-buy” their ability to deploy the devices; many need to be educated about the implications of smart technology, so they can make choices that are easy to live with. Sounding Board
“A big role the architect has in all this is to listen to what people say they want to do, translate the implications, and slice it up so you can bring in the specialists,” Jackson says.
Indeed, every client’s comfort level is different. Those who work in high-tech professions may want a system that gives them a lot of control. Others just want to come home and push a button. But it’s never that simple, either. Tom Kundig, AIA, of Olson/Sundberg/Kundig/Allen Architects, Seattle, recalls a former client, “a very sharp mathematician and software designer,” whose automation system was 100 percent smart. But he was so frustrated with its logic that he considered taking it all out.
“A lot of this is just plain fun, like a top-of-the-line Ferrari,” says Peter Duxbury, AIA, Duxbury Architects, Los Altos, Calif. “But it’s hard to choose the right level to go in at. We spend a lot of time with that.” And, as with a project’s architectural design program, the smart-house discussion must involve both partners. “How often have I heard: ‘This is my husband’s thing, but he’s gone all the time. I’m just going to go into a room with my kerosene lamp and forget about it,’ ” Duxbury says.
Rather than spearheading the technology discussion themselves, many architects bring in an “umbrella” specialist to design a system that incorporates all the components on a client’s wish list. The professional becomes another member of the design team. Palo Alto’s Borlik, of Young and Borlik Architects, says most of his clients work directly with the electronics coordinator. “We’re not trying to translate the tech information,” he says. “But we will listen to different options and help evaluate the advantages and disadvantages.
“It ends up being an exploration every time you get into it,” he adds. “I don’t depend on keeping up with the technology. It’s more common that I’m being led into new territory by the client.”
Like architects, a good tech specialist will also insist on thoroughly exploring with clients their precise needs and comfort levels. “It scares me to death to have a client say, ‘Here’s my budget, just make it happen. I don’t have time to understand it,’ ” says Stan Saunders, Audio Video Design, Wellesley, Mass. “We’ll back away from that client. They need to understand what it is they’re getting, so their expectation levels are set.”
Another designer of audio/video and lighting systems, Elliot Fishkin, Innovative Audio Video Showrooms, Manhattan and Brooklyn, N.Y., asks the same kinds of questions architects ask when they’re designing a house: How do you anticipate living in this room? Do you more often watch movies or listen to music? What kind of music do you listen to? “I find out what’s important to people,” Fishkin says. “My best expertise is to be a catalyst for someone’s self-discovery, rather than prejudging whether they’re a candidate for a certain system or not.”High Tech, High Cost
The budget is another aspect of a smart house that can zoom out of control. Components for houses that are 100 percent smart run from $50,000 and up into the millions.
Joseph Luna, AIA, Luna Design Group, Lynnfield, Mass., urges clients to start with a modest package and update or expand it later. “People go to showrooms and see all these wonderful things,” he says. “The problem is, although it’s more commonplace now, it’s still upper-end technology. We have to get a reality check as far as affordability.”
Houston’s Hollenbeck, AIA, Ligon/Hollenbeck Architects, does as much legwork as possible early on. After determining what the clients want in terms of technology, he gets an estimate from the consultants and enters it as an allowance. Then, the figure becomes part of the discussion of whether the clients can afford to use tile on the roof or to build the pool house, and still get the electronics they want.
Pinning down price on a complex automated system isn’t always possible, however. Kundig warns clients that it’s hard to evaluate what the costs will be before the house is finished. “There are hidden costs that are never readily apparent,” he says. “I just tell clients that you can go to the moon with smart-house automation.”
Those elusive costs are linked to the fact that this is an emerging industry, and marketers haven’t yet figured out how to offer a turnkey package. “It takes a lot of coordination on all sides,” Kundig says. “How does the audiovisual component really work with the lighting system? How does the wiring get routed?” Such issues as where the regular electrician’s work ends and a specialist’s structured, or low-voltage, wiring job begins aren’t always well articulated.
Like anything else, the decision to include sophisticated technology after the construction drawings are done will certainly send the budget skyward. For one thing, prior thought must be given as to where the infrastructure, or “nerve center,” will be housed.
Carl Brosius, Future Planning, San Francisco, says a typical home-automation network requires a special, moisture-proof room at least the size of an 8-foot-by-8-foot walk-in closet. “Unfortunately, we’re still at the point where often the house is being built and the client comes to us, and then the budget starts to grow,” Saunders says, adding, “but we haven’t had any budget wars with architects so far.” Looking Good
Late introductions create a ripple effect for everybody architects, interior designers, cabinetmakers, and electricians. But when a plan is presented early ideally, during design development architectural and aesthetic issues are fairly easily dealt with.
George Ide, Smart House Digital Interiors, Atlanta, wants to be involved when architects are drawing up electrical and lighting documents. Furniture plans, ceiling plans, and the location of lights are important pieces of the puzzle. Ide notes that in his market there are about 40,000 home starts each year, and 4,000 to 6,000 of those include a structured wiring package.
For audiophiles and architects, the goal is to design a system that delivers optimal performance without interfering with the rest of the room. Bob Kranston, Axiom Design, San Francisco, calls it architectural electronics. And it always involves compromise. “In a perfect world, you’d place the speakers at a very specific height and orientation to the listener,” he says. “But often they’ll have to be placed in the wall instead of freestanding, and at a height that is out of your direct line of sight so they don’t interfere with the aesthetics.”
Luna asks the tech experts for a laundry list of the components that will be included, along with notes describing their ideal placement. For him, the art of subterfuge may include covering the built-in subwoofer speakers, which usually go in the lower part of a room, with grilles to make them disappear. “Although,” he notes, “the tech people don’t like it, because grilles can distort the sound and rattle over time.”
Fortunately, electronics are getting more compact; speakers are smaller, and light control panels are becoming virtually invisible on walls. “Some clients like celebrating the technology a little bit,” Kundig says. “Others want keypads to be very discreet.” But in addition to a superb appearance, clients want a design that allows components to be easily plugged in and out as the technology advances sometimes as soon as six months after a system is installed. Wiring For The Future
A homeowner may want to upgrade, either with the latest electronics or by expanding the scope of an existing system say, by carrying music to more rooms in the house. In either case, a smart wiring system will prevent retrofit headaches.
Brosius’ biggest complaint is that the standard for residential wiring lags far behind that of commercial buildings. “One of the worst wiring design features I’ve seen in the residential environment is that the wiring has been stapled to the joists and studs, so there’s no choice but to remove walls,” he says. “There needs to be a methodology for having a retrofittable wireway to get to each of the room locations.” Flexible tubing that goes to each wall plate from the control center, for example, allows subcontractors to pull wires through easily.
Wiring for the future also means including enough kinds of low-voltage wire and enough outlets to anticipate changes. Ide uses both composite cable (a flexible sheath that holds multiple kinds of wire) and single cable, a combination that provides more conductors and more types of wire to each location. “Running two coaxial and two cat 5 cables to each location should meet any need,” he says. His smart wire package also includes a conduit that’s run from a distribution center in the house to such strategic locations as the home office and the family room.
Fishkin also runs more strands of wire than a current system needs, in a flexible metal conduit. He recalls how, recently, the practice paid off. Five years ago, he installed an audio system in a home. Though at the time the client didn’t want music throughout the house, he nevertheless consented to more extensive wiring that could someday accommodate, say, a computer network. Years later, the client purchased a Crestron wireless home-control system, which works by radio-frequency touch panels. “I had put enough cat 5 wires in the right places that we didn’t have to do any deconstruction,” Fishkin says. “I call it ‘wiring for the future’ on my proposals, and only about one in 100 customers rejects it.”
Brosius predicts that in the future, most of the smart-house market will be in retrofit wireless work. “I’m a fan of composite solutions,” he says, “providing for high-speed cable lines at a minimum of one location in a room, and doing the subsidiary controls for lights, thermostat, and low-speed data access in wireless technology.”
Settling InArchitects looking for a reliable home-automation expert to work with should judge candidates based on such forward-thinking practices. “As with any immature industry, the people who do smart houses are also in a learning curve,” Kundig says. “There’s a lot of movement and shaking around of people, so ask for referrals.”
David Humphries, of Lutron, recommends asking how long a specialist has been in business and what kind of equipment the firm installs. “Go with companies offering well-known brands,” he says.
We may not be there yet when it comes to seamlessly designing a house that’s as smart as it is beautiful. But meanwhile, architects must help clients figure out what works for them, and leave the rest in the showroom. A trace of backlash is already starting to appear. “There’s an interesting skepticism that’s emerging about the automation being done,” Kundig says. “It’s complex and expensive, and some people are not interested in it as they look deeper. But on the whole, smart houses are the wave of the future. It’s just a matter of time.”Glossary of Terms
cat 5: Short for “category 5,” a rating system that refers to the number of twisted wires in a telephone cable. The more twists, the greater the bandwidth and speed and the less the interference in the transmission of voice and computer data.
coaxial cable: Low-voltage electrical cable typically used to carry signals for satellite dishes, cable TV, and computer modems.
composite cable: A single sheath containing different kinds of wires such as coaxial and cat 5 cable. It speeds the process of upgrading a house with new technology. Fiber-optic cables, which are glass, are usually run separately because they are less flexible than other wiring.
DSL: Short for “digital subscriber line,” one of several methods for delivering high-speed access to the Internet. It also lets users make and receive phone calls while surfing the Net.
LAN: Abbreviation for “local area network,” a group of personal computers configured to share information, usually within one building.
macro: A series of preprogrammed instructions that enable multiple tasks with a single command, so that, for example, one button can dim the lights, close the draperies, and start a movie.
PIP: Short for “picture-in-picture,” a feature of many television sets that allows them to display an image from a second video source along with the primary picture.
rf technology: Stands for radio-frequency technology. Unlike most remote controls that use infrared technology, it doesn’t have to be pointed at an object and its signals can penetrate walls. It works within a range of 150 to 500 feet.
structured wiring: A system of low-voltage wires designed to carry electronic signals through a home.
