Commercial Office ‘Home Theater’ Presents Unique Challenges
ADA compliance, sound mitigation, and aluminum studs are all issues Lifestyle Solutions in Bristow, Va., handled to construct an office-building theater.
Sound mitigation was a major concern when constructing this screening room inside a commercial office building. So care was taken with multiple layers of sheetrock, as well as sound absorption material on the sidewalls.
It’s hard enough to build a “home theater” in a commercial office complex, but when the client is a movie producer, the details of the project take on even more importance.
That is the situation Lifestyle Solutions in Bristow, Va., faced when they were approached to construct a home theater/screening room inside an office building for a client.
Among the challenges that president Behzad Sarwar and his team had to overcome included for the office home theater:
- A particular room size that had limited dimensions but required a tiered seating design
- Sound isolation needs so the booming bass and other audio would not bleed to adjacent offices.
- Meeting the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in terms of aisles and seating for wheelchairs.
“Our client hired a commercial contractor to build-out a large office space for his government contracting business. Client also wanted to build a dedicated theater room for his other business which produces indie films,” says Sarwar. “The theater room would be used by local production companies to host screening of locally produced films.”
The commercial contractor on the project did not specialize in theater room build, so the client reached out to Lifestyle Solutions to finish the single-room office home theater build.
Office Home Theater Sound Mitigation
“The main concern for the client was sound escaping the room and disturbing other office employees. All walls were bulked up with insulation and two layers of Quiet Rock to keep sound from escaping,” says Sarwar.
The room itself was built to meet all ADA requirements, which included aisle space and seating area for wheelchairs.
Based on the client’s needs, Lifestyle Solutions performed the following elements:
- Design and technical concept
- Room acoustics and sound isolation
- Acoustic treatment materials and structures selection
- Technical design
- Cables layout
- Purchase and installation of electronics hardware
- Light control system and electronics software programming
- Room acoustics calibration.
A Screen Innovations’ 120-inch screen was selected based on the size of the room and seating distance. Triad Speakers Silver Series loudspeakers were installed were hidden behind fabric wrapped walls. All walls were covered in fabric and color scheme was based on client’s alma mater colors of Rice University. A Sony 4K projector was selected based on the client’s requirements. The URC remote system allows the client to easily operate all the equipment with a single click.
The dedicated theater room acts as screening room and a production studio for the client.
Equipment List
- Universal Remote Control MX-980 controls
- Sony VPL-VW295E projector
- Screen Innovations 1TF120GW 120-inch screen
- Triad Silver loudspeakers
- Marantz SR5014 AVR
- Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Player
- URC MX-980 remote
- Middle Atlantic SRSR equipment rack
