Home of the Year Project Profile
- Name & Location: Sunset Pavillion, Los Angles, California
- Integrator: ForTech Solutions, North Hollywood, California
- Award: 2026 Home of the Year, Best Whole-House/Smart Home Project under $1M, Bronze
Set in West Los Angeles, Sunset Pavilion is a luxury estate spanning across two separate properties: the main residence and a newly constructed entertainment compound, which the owner wanted unified together under a single technology ecosystem.
The new compound includes a main residence, a dedicated entertainment pavilion, a tennis and pickleball court, an outdoor lounge and bar, the Reflection Courtyard, a waterfall garden, and the Olive Tree Pathway.
ForTech Solutions provided integration work for the two properties, making it so one network, one Control4 system, one surveillance app, and one phone system are all able to service the three distinct buildings across the estate.
Supply chain disruptions required more than a dozen formal product substitutions, each managed through written change orders. ForTech also owned coordination across eight trade disciplines, including the general contractor, electrician, Lutron programmer, HVAC, landscaper, interior designer, architect, and AV infrastructure, from first design through final commissioning.
What makes the result especially notable is that no third-party specialists were needed. ForTech’s in-house team handled two-channel hi-fi, Dante audio networking, outdoor RF engineering, IP surveillance, and full automation programming, giving the client total accountability from a single firm. The complete installation came in at $538,747.
Sunset Pavillion unites multiple properties under fiber backbone
A Corning fiber backbone links all three buildings, supporting a unified Araknis enterprise network. A single Control4 project spans rooms in both residences, Uniview surveillance runs on one mobile app, and a Grandstream IP-PBX routes calls to either property.
Just as important, the architecture was designed with future separability built in, so the two estates can operate independently if that’s ever needed.
AV-over-IP powers estate-wide entertainment
An AVPro MXnet 4K-over-IP video matrix with 12 encoders feeds seven Sony displays. More than 40 audio zones are anchored by a reference Bowers and Wilkins 805 D4 Signature hi-fi room, where a Rega Planar 8 turntable spins records that can be played in every zone on the property.
Outside, four engineered audio zones featuring Ambisonic and James Loudspeaker systems cover the court, courtyard, pathway, and waterfall garden.
Voice control supplements multi-property smart system
Nine WiFi 6 access points deliver enterprise wireless indoors and out, 22 Uniview 8MP cameras protect the grounds, and DoorBird IP intercoms serve three entry points. Josh.ai voice control works alongside Control4 across both properties, with Lutron lighting integration and seven-zone environmental control rounding out the system.
Limited storage necessitates advanced planning for cables and racks
The spatial constraints were severe. With no attic and no basement, every cable route and device position was locked in CAD before the walls closed. The main residence houses a Middle Atlantic AXS-42 42U rack with UPS backup, and the pavilion has its own dedicated 35U rack and UPS. Neither is visible from any living space.
Equipment list
- Displays
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- Sony 42″, 55″ and 98″ Bravia OLED and professional 4K displays
- Control
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- Control4 CORE 1, CORE 5 and CA1 controllers, IO extender, bus Ethernet gateway, bus power supply, terminal blocks, lighting panel
- Control4 10″ in wall touchscreens with back boxes, new construction mounts and PoE mid boxes
- Control4 SR260 system remotes with charging stations, Halo touch remote
- Control4 Decora wired keypads with engraved buttons
- Control4 wireless antenna kits, wireless thermostats
- Josh.ai Core AI platform, rack mount, Micro voice controller
- WallSmart in wall touchscreen mounts
- Apple iPad mini tablets with docks
- iPort iPad cases and bases
- GMKtec mini PC
- Distributed Audio and Speakers
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- James Loudspeaker small aperture ceiling speakers, in wall subwoofers, outdoor standing speakers, landscape speakers, subterranean subwoofers, multichannel amplifier
- Sonance small round stereo and surround speakers
- Ambisonic landscape speakers, mounting spikes, in ground bandpass subwoofer
- Audio Control Dante DSP matrix amplifier, Dante encoders and decoders
- LEA Dante amplifiers, smart amplifier
- AVPro Edge audio matrix
- Lounge Hi Fi
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- Bowers & Wilkins monitor speakers
- NAD streaming DAC power amplifier
- Rega turntable with cartridge
- Bluesound wireless audio adapter and multiroom streamer
- AudioQuest analog audio cables
- Video Distribution and Sources
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- AVPro Edge MXnet AV over IP encoders, decoders, control box, network switches, heavy duty rack, SFP modules
- Binary media over IP transmitter, 4K HDR HDMI splitter, HDMI cables
- Apple TV 4K streamers
- Networking
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- Araknis Networks dual WAN VPN router, PoE network switches
- Access Networks WiFi 6 indoor and outdoor access points
- Ruckus outdoor access point mounting kit
- Cleerline fiber transceivers, fiber breakouts, fiber media extension
- Panduit and Belden fiber connectivity components, connectors, patch panel housings and frames
- Corning fiber cabling to the main house and pavilion
- Altronix power distribution module
- Grandstream IP PBX and FXO gateway
- Security and Surveillance
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- Uniview 8MP turret cameras, panoramic camera, junction boxes, pole mount adapter, outdoor wall mount
- Luma Surveillance network video recorder
- DoorBird IP video door stations with keypads, flush mount housings
- DoorBird indoor video station
- Power Management
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- WattBox IP power conditioners, IP power strips, IP UPS kits
This project is part of our coverage for the 2026 CE Pro Home of the Year Awards. Presented annually at CEDIA Expo alongside the BEST Product Awards, the Home of the Year Awards represent the best of the best smart home innovations within the CEDIA channel. Check to see when the next submission window is open in case you have a project you would like to submit and don’t want to miss your opportunity.
