Rather than flashy, large microLED screens and shoving technology in the face of visitors, the System 7 Experience Center isn’t about excess and superficial displays. Instead, the company’s showroom takes a subtle, yet immersive approach to showcase luxury smart home and entertainment solutions.
The experience center is a guided tour through four main areas: The Motorized Shading Gallery, a Tunable Living Room, a Design Gallery that uses custom software to visually engage clients in their own design, and an educational Architectural/Linear Lighting Studio.
The Shading Gallery, Living Room and Design Gallery all share one rectangular space, so a chief challenge was creating an immersive lighting experience while preserving an open aesthetic.
Shades were mounted around three sides of a custom ceiling grid, and lower to enclose the living room when it’s time for the tunable lighting demonstration. At the press of a button, a large commercial space is transformed into an intimate residential setting. The shades change the feel of the space.
“They even change the acoustics of it,” says Mary Schmidt, director of brand and client experience. “It’s so comfortable that clients usually ask us to stop our presentation at this point so they can take in and enjoy what is happening with the space transformation.”
Since the space only has a few windows, the company used tunable LED windows that can be tuned in color temperature and brightness.
“This has been a very effective tool,” Schmidt says. “Not only do we have more space to show shading, but we can also show clients what the fabrics might look like at different times of day and in different lighting conditions.”
Now, the System 7 Experience Center has gone viral in the community and has developed a reputation as a place to learn and understand smart home systems.
“Homeowners and trade partners alike — including those who may have defined themselves as technology-averse — find themselves falling in love with tunable lighting or motorized shading,” Schmidt adds. “We’ve found that most projects grow and scope after one Experience Center visit, even among those clients who set up the meeting with the intention to value-engineer their project. They leave spending more, and are happier about it.”
Systems & Equipment
- Ketra lighting fixtures
- Lutron shading
- Lutron lighting and shading controls
- Samsung Frame TVs
- Leon Framebar
- James Loudspeaker speakers
- McIntosh turntable, preamplifier, amplifier, power controller
- Bowers & Wilkins speakers
- Ubiquiti networking
- Middle Atlantic rack
- Google Nest doorbell, cameras
- 2N door station
- Brivo card reader
- Nice home automation
This project is part of our coverage for the 2023 CE Pro Home of the Year Awards. Presented annually at CEDIA Expo, the Home of the Year Awards represent the best of the best smart home innovations within the CEDIA channel. If you have a project you would like to submit to the Home of the Year Awards, stay tuned for our next round of submissions.
