SmartHouse Integration, southwest Florida’s leading commercial and residential technology integration firm, today announced that the Sarasota Modern home has been named the silver winner of Electronic House’s 2016 Home of the Year Award in the “Best Unique Space” category. According to SmartHouse Integration Founder, President and industry veteran, Mark van den Broek, the Sarasota-based team is very proud to be recognized for their innovative work on the project.
“We are honored that the Sarasota Modern home was named the silver winner in the ‘Best Unique Space’ category,” van den Broek said today. “This project fuses home automation with design to create an extremely unique space. By working closely with the interior designer, we ensured that the smart home technology made just as much of an impact on the overall aesthetic as any traditional design element does.”
Controlled by ELAN Home Systems, the Sarasota Modern home met the homeowner’s functional requirements while also amplifying the home’s dramatic design features.
For example, to emphasize the home’s stationary art, lights were strategically placed underneath or above the piece to enhance aesthetic. While art-enhancing light found in traditional galleries is usually stark white, van den Broek strived to stay away from the harsh hue and rely on light more conducive to a residential setting. To do so, he played with the light’s consistency and power; using the ELAN system, each light was automated and set on a schedule to fade and amp at specific times throughout the day. By doing this, he achieved an art gallery-like atmosphere within the home.
“When the sun begins to set, the lights slowly amp up their yellow glow approximately 1 percent per minute, therefore incrementally highlighting the art as the sunlight continues to fade,” continued van den Broek. “It’s a truly stunning effect.”
What’s more, one of the home’s most distinctive art pieces, the Orb – a kinetic aircraft aluminum sculpture designed by Chuck Hoberman – utilizes light as part of its playful interaction of electrical engineering and design. Positioned from the ceiling of the home’s grand salon (or living area), the Orb shifts, morphs and expands, giving the illusion that the fixture is alive and breathing. To complement the shifting nature of the piece, van den Broek installed RGD LED controllable lighting in a circular configuration around the piece. Through ELAN, the homeowner can initiate the Orb’s movement or change the color and frequency of the lighting.
Electronic House’s Home of the Year Awards showcase technologies and systems for the whole home. Each year Electronic House picks the best homes, submitted for judging by professional home automation and home theater integrators in several categories.
For more images of the Sarasota Modern project, click here.