The project
A 2,000 square metre residence on a 4,900 square metre heritage block in Forrest, built by Manteena Residential to a design by Architects Ring & Associates, with interiors by The Dept. of Design. It was named House of the Year at the 2021 Master Builders ACT Excellence Awards, and the same project took National Residential Builder of the Year for Manteena at the Master Builders Australia awards.
Three storeys, a rooftop terrace, a commercial lift, a library, and a secure basement server room acting as the brain of the house.
Our scope
We delivered the audio, video, theatre and control layer. The KNX system running the building services was installed by the site's electrician and integrator, and our part was everything above it: a control system that could speak to KNX rather than replace it.
That meant coordinating with the other trades through the build rather than arriving at the end. On a house of this complexity, where plantroom and services space was designed in from the start rather than found later, that coordination is most of the work.
The theatre
The theatre was the largest single piece of our scope, and the room was built for the job before any equipment went near it. Concrete walls and a concrete roof stop sound travelling through the rest of the house, and the room is acoustically lined throughout. None of that can be retrofitted. It is decided months ahead of installation, which is the argument for having the AV integrator in the room during design rather than at fit-off.
Two rows on stepped platforms, with the lighting built into the risers and the joinery rather than pointed at the seats. Into that room went a Sony 4K projector, Lyngdorf processing, Arcam amplification and KEF THX speakers in a Dolby Atmos layout.
The lighting in the room, from the step lights in the risers to the wash behind the screen wall, runs on the control system rather than a bank of switches. Nobody has to find a dimmer in the dark.
Audio
Six indoor Sonos zones with Sonos and Sonance in-ceiling speakers, plus two outdoor zones covering the entertaining area and the pool.
Video distribution
A Blustream system over IP serving four televisions and the theatre, with sources centralised in the basement rack so nothing sits under a screen.
Savant over the top
Savant unifies all of it, including the KNX layer installed by others, into one interface on the wall and on a phone. This is the arrangement we use most often on larger homes: an open bus underneath running the building services, and a single interface above it.
Why it mattered
The client travels frequently, so remote access was part of the brief rather than something added at handover. The house behaves the same from the next room or from another country. On a home judged at this level the technology is assessed alongside the architecture and the build, which is a useful discipline: it has to work, and it has to disappear.
Built by Manteena Residential. Architects Ring & Associates. Interiors by The Dept. of Design. Photography courtesy of Manteena.