Home of the Year Project Profile
- Name & Location: Storybook Smart Home, Hardy, Virginia
- Integrators: Fusion Audio + Video, Greenville, South Carolina; Argenta Solutions, Sandy, Utah
- Award: 2026 Home of the Year, Best Whole-House/Smart Home Over $1M, Bronze
When a Utah-born smart home needs to move to the Virginia mountains mid-planning phase, what is the original installer to do? The homeowners feared their original vision might not survive the transition, but, thankfully, that ended up not being the case. Argenta Solutions and Fusion Audio + Video partnered for the project in a collaboration that stretched across the country with the two firms coordinating design, engineering, installation, programming and commissioning.
The Storybook home: two firms, one unified build
Argenta took the lead on the home’s private cinema  while Fusion handled voice control, lighting and shading, enterprise networking, surveillance, access control, distributed audio and environmental controls throughout the rest of the residence.
Weather delays due to the Virginia home’s mountainous location slowed construction, and inconsistent internet connectivity on site made remote programming, commissioning and system testing more difficult than usual.
A single interface for a complex system
Josh.ai serves as the primary voice interface, giving the homeowners intuitive spoken control over the Lutron lighting and shading system, Ketra architectural lighting, DMX lighting, distributed audio, climate, and security.
Behind that interface, enterprise-grade networking ties every subsystem together, allowing the voice platform, lighting, architectural lighting, surveillance, and environmental controls to function as a single cohesive system.
Entertainment as a centerpiece
A reference-grade private cinema stands as the home’s centerpiece. The room features a Barco Residential projector, StormAudio processing, Wisdom Audio immersive sound, and a Seymour-Screen Excellence acoustically transparent screen, with Control4 automation running the system.
A magical retreat showcases high-tech whimsy
Beyond the cinema, home technology reflects the owners’ personalities in its layout a hidden Narnia-themed room lit by whimsical lighting, a cozy library, a heated screened porch and even a floor plan sized to fit a towering Christmas tree each year. In each area, the technology is arranged so that it best supports their intended uses.
That last focus weighed heavily on the decision to use voice control as the primary interface over other, more standard, methods. Instead of having to education the children on the intricacies of a control system, they can instead use familiar, intuitive commands to engage with the home—almost like a magic all its own.
The payoff of an uncommon partnership
The real magic comes in how it was completed in the first place. All of these on their own would be impressive enough, but the level of coordination and cooperation required to complete an interstate relocation of the project is something worthy of praise. It also allowed for an unusually close partnership to develop between the two integration firms, potentially making this project the first in many collaborations between Fusion and Argenta.
Equipment list
- Theater Audio & Video
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- Barco laser projector, zoom lens, lens adapter
- madVR video processor
- Seymour Screen Excellence acoustically transparent screen
- Sony Blu-ray player
- StormAudio immersive audio processor
- Wisdom Audio line-source speakers, in-wall speakers, passive subwoofers, DSP amplifiers
- Kinetics Noise Control room isolation system
- Argenta acoustic wall treatments
- Wirepath starry night ceiling
- Home Video & Audio
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- Sonos streaming amplifiers, streamers, subwoofer
- B&W in-ceiling, in-wall, outdoor and bookshelf speakers, pre-construction brackets
- Origin Acoustics outdoor speakers, in-ceiling subwoofer, subwoofer amplifier
- JL Audio sealed subwoofer enclosures
- Leon Speakers soundbar, mounting bracket, display frame
- McIntosh integrated amplifier, turntable
- Binary audio return extenders, Toslink cables
- Sony TVs
- Samsung outdoor TV
- Roku streaming players
- NVIDIA streaming player
- Control
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- Josh.ai core server, voice units, touchscreens, remotes
- Control4 controllers, touch remote, antenna kit, serial cables
- Garaget garage door interfaces
- Global Caché IR controller
- Wall-Smart in-wall touchscreen mount
- Lighting
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- Lutron HomeWorks processor, RF gateway, keypads, wallplates, dimming and switching modules, DIN panels, wire landing boards, shade power supplies, low-voltage enclosure
- American Lighting (Proluxe) tape lighting, LED drivers, DMX receivers
- Creative Lighting DMX gateway, DMX splitter
- Lucetta lighting trims
- WAC Lighting lighting trims
- Mean Well DIN rail power supplies
- Shading & Screens
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- Wirepath drapery track
- Progressive Screens outdoor screens, RF bridge
- Gaposa shade remote
- Networking
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- Access Networks wireless access points, stackable switches, pre-configured network package, management licenses, monitoring service
- Araknis Networks switches, SFP transceivers
- Fortinet firewall mounting brackets
- Cleerline fiber cable, connectors, DAC cables
- WAC Lighting fiber link package
- Security & Surveillance
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- Camect camera analytics hub
- Luma Surveillance NVR, outdoor cameras, junction boxes
- Western Digital surveillance hard drive
- Doorbird video intercom
- Power Management
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- Wattbox IP power conditioners, power strip, temperature sensors, power cords
- SurgeX surge protection load centers
- Xtreme Power online UPS units, SNMP cards
- Outdoor & Environmental
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- Infratech patio heaters, relay panels, mounting frames
- AC Infinity ventilation fans, ducting, silencer, rack cooling
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.
