Smart Home, Portland OR
In an exclusive neighborhood outside of Portland, Ore., a homeowner was working with MCM Architects PC, and the general contracting firm of Reimers and Jolivette Inc., to build a 21st-century home with the look of an early 1800s residence. West Side Electric was hired based on its expertise in wiring the largest, most sophisticated houses in the area.
The design team advised the homeowners concerning new technologies currently available and what advances were expected in the future, as well as providing them with a detailed room-by-room proposal outlining equipment and how it could be used to the homeowners’ maximum advantage. The homeowners accepted West Side Electric’s ideas and what started out as a $75,000 job for a minimal number of control systems grew into one worth more than $1 million, including the traditional electrical systems—all this in a home that is worth $10 million.
The house’s lighting system consists of a combination of line- and low-voltage recessed fixtures, decorative fixtures, directed lighting for artwork, custom antiqued and distressed finishes, and outside and landscape lighting.
It is the completely integrated controls portion of the installation, however, that makes the house smart. Controlled and integrated through a Crestron system are the lighting; heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); audio/video; pool functions; intercom; shades; and extras, such as motorized artwork that shields television sets when not in use. Crestron Electronics Inc., Rockleigh, N.J., manufactures these types of advanced control and automation systems, integrating audio/video, computer, IP and environmental. More>>