The brief
A large modern residence in Red Hill, built by Manteena and completed in 2022. Five bedrooms, a gym, a purpose-built office, a dedicated theatre, and an expansive outdoor entertaining area. The client wanted one system across lighting, blinds, curtains, climate, audio, video, access control and security, built around the way they entertain rather than around a feature list.
The approach
Two layers. KNX runs the building services, because lighting, shading and climate are the parts that need to still be working in fifteen years. Savant sits over the top as the interface, because that is the part the household touches every day.
Lighting, climate and shading on KNX
KNX handles more than 120 lighting groups across the residence, along with five Haiku fans on 0 to 10 volt control, blinds, curtains and sheers, two zones of electric underfloor heating, two zones of hydronic heating, eight zones of ducted air conditioning, and motion and humidity sensors throughout.
Control is through Ekinex switches with engraved buttons, so every button says what it does, backed by a Gira visualisation on two fixed screens and on the client's phones with remote access. Given the size of the house, we built both scheduled and manual scenes around wake-up times, sunset, and entertaining.
Theatre
An Australian-made 130 inch 2.35:1 ultra-wide screen, a Sony 4K laser projector, Yamaha pre-amplification and power amplification, and an Origin Acoustics Dolby Atmos layout.
Two rows of seating and a bar at the back, with the room lighting on the same control system as the rest of the house. The film starts and the room goes to a scene, rather than somebody hunting for a dimmer.
Multi-room audio
Nine Sonos Amp zones, five inside and four out, driving Origin Acoustics and Bang and Olufsen in-ceiling speakers, plus three sets of Origin Acoustics garden speakers. The outdoor zones cover the pool, the fire pit and the gardens.
The in-ceiling speakers are tied into the televisions, so the same speakers that carry music also improve television audio without a soundbar in sight. The garden speakers point at the pool and the entertaining area, which is where the system gets used most.
Video distribution
A Just Add Power 4K over IP system distributes sources from the basement AV cabinet to every television in the house in uncompressed 4K, with Samsung Frame TVs in the living spaces so the rooms stay clean and nothing sits under a screen.
Control
Savant ties it together: the theatre, the televisions, the video distribution, the audio, and KNX in the key areas, presented through a touchscreen remote and a phone app.
Security, access and intercom
An Inception security and access control system covers four doors locally and remotely, along with gate intercoms and CCTV across the property.
Why it works
A house with 120 lighting groups can very easily become a house nobody wants to operate. The engraved switches, the scene work and the single Savant interface all exist so that the complexity stays in the switchboard and the ceiling space, rather than in the hands of the people living there. Scenes shift with the time of year and the time of day, so the house is already right rather than waiting to be adjusted, and entertaining is a single press rather than a lap of the house turning things on.
Built by Manteena. Photography courtesy of Manteena.