When TSP Smart Spaces began to design its new Experience Lab, the company knew it had to move away from the traditional product-focused showroom to create an immersive real-world, smart home experience center. What made it even more challenging was the pandemic and the tidal wave of new technologies that high-end homeowners needed to integrate into their homes for hybrid working.

All that work paid off in the end, as not only is the new space a marvel of integration potential, it was also impressive enough to earn a CE Pro Home of the Year Award in the Best Showroom category.

The TSP Smart Spaces Experience Lab re-envisions the home as the center of comfort, entertainment, security, and productivity. The newly renovated 3,700-square-foot space (in a structure built in 1899) is driven by a robust infrastructure from Cisco Meraki and cybersecurity from Tech Superpowers. Smart home technologies are integrated into varied locations throughout the showroom which allow clients to see and hear the differences between exposed, architectural, and invisible technologies and controls.

Take a virtual tour of the showroom, courtesy of TSP Smart Spaces, while you read along.

Three Building Types Packed Into a Single Space

The biggest challenge of the space, notes Michael Oh, President of TSP Smart Spaces, was dividing the showroom to highlight three distinct roles.

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The first is a showroom for high-end residential home automation. The second is a working demonstration space for commercial AV. And the third is a fully functioning hybrid workspace.

“Since we designed our showroom during the pandemic, we knew that the traditional borders of residential, work-from-home, and in-office technology were already disappearing, so we threw away our initial budget for a modest showroom,” Oh notes.

“Instead, we imagined a tour through top-notch solutions that showed the best of resimercial technology. Our office pods have individually controlled Lutron shades and can be reserved online or in the office using Joan schedulers.

“Our cafeteria space transforms, using a motorized projector and screen, into a virtual town hall space. The security cameras and access controls are equally at home in a high-end residence as they are in a biotech lab space.”

More Than a One Trick Pony

By far, the Experience Lab’s biggest “wow” factor is a secret cinema experience. Walking into the 12 x 14-foot room via a hidden door, clients first see a huge mural by local artist Silvia Lopez Chavez. Lit with Ketra, the mural shows that home theaters can be so much more than a one-trick pony. In the front, there’s an LG 83-inch OLED display.

Then, on command, a 133-inch SI accoustically-transparent screen descends and JVC laser projector turns on, activating the Dolby Atmos experience driven by Harman audio processing and JBL Synthesis speakers. The media room is transformed into a fully immersive 5.3.4 home theater.

“And we’re still not done,” he adds. “The room can transform yet again into a collaboration space, with Biamp camera, microphone, and Zoom Rooms system making it the ultimate video conferencing space. The Ketra lighting adjusts to create natural lighting for video conferencing, and the Artnovion acoustic panels help to create a snug environment for participating in video conferences.”

Take a virtual tour of the showroom, courtesy of TSP Smart Spaces.

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