Kitchen & Bath Business - April 2019 - 50

Tech Savvy

FAR LEFT Ciupe says that
slim, smart TVs are especially
popular in kitchens. His team
installed one across from
the kitchen island so the
homeowners could have the
entertainment they wanted
with a streamlined look.

Wiring Smart

ABOVE Using either wall-

A connected network gets
imbedded into a century-old home
ONE OF THE MOST HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT HOMES in Chicago is
an elegant brick-and-limestone near the Lake Michigan shoreline. Built in
1917, this home was designed by architect David Adler for his friend, the
artist and socialite Abram Poole Jr. Poole, and his wife, who were known for
entertaining the esteemed intellectuals and creatives of the day in their home,
which boasted three floors, six bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
The home had fallen into a state of disrepair after the homeowners moved
out in 1997; it was not put up for sale until 2016, when it was bought by a
Chicago real estate developer. With the goal of catering to today's wealthy
socialites, smart solutions company Residential Networks was brought on
board from the start to make technology part of the home's appeal.

WORKING IN A HISTORICAL HOME

This particular old house was constructed as many homes were a century
ago: solidly, with brick, stone and concrete with steel mesh supporting the
plaster in the ceilings.
"All the plumbing, air conditioning, heating and electrical needed to be redone, and the whole place needed to be wired up for maximum automation,"
said Dan Ciupe of Residential Networks. "At the same time, we wanted to
keep many of the original features, like the molded plasterwork, while making
the technology as unobtrusive as possible."
Ciupe, who is originally from Romania, is accustomed to working in the
similarly solid homes in Europe.To keep the historical integrity of the home,
he and his team could not touch certain antique walls or trims, so they had to
channel through the floors to get the ducting and wiring in.They also needed
to break through the concrete between floors, as well as negotiate the metal
mesh holding up the ceiling plaster.
After careful demolition, the resulting smart network - and all of its corresponding control panels- needed to be almost invisible in the new design.

50

/ APRIL 2019 / KBBONLINE.COM / The official publication of NKBA (NKBA.org) and KBIS (KBIS.com)

mounted or tabletop touch
screens, handheld remotes, or
an app on their smartphone or
tablet, Control4 runs devices
in the home automatically,
as well as lets residents manipulate everything from their
audiovisual entertainment, to
lighting scenes, heating and
cooling, security cameras and
door locks.

LEFT "We've installed invisible

speakers behind the walls in
both the main entrance hall
and the gallery, so there's
nothing unsightly to spoil the
elegance of these showpiece
rooms," said Ciupe, adding
that there are speakers and
screens placed unobtrusively
all over the house. "In total, we
have about 12 zones of audio
set up, all of which can be
automatically controlled."

By ERINN LOUCKS
http://www.KBBONLINE.COM http://www.NKBA.org http://www.KBIS.com
Kitchen & Bath Business - April 2019

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