Originally posted in AV Magazine.
The Wizards World of Champions Gate is an eight-bedroom holiday rental home in Orlando, Florida - just 12 miles from a magic-themed amusement park and a similar distance from the Orange County Convention Center where InfoComm 2023 will be held.
"This Control4-powered home has timed and motion-activated lighting. It has speakers and TVs that surprise guests with magic events like simulated lightning and thunder when they open a door, having apparitions appear and disappear on screens as they walk by, or playing train sounds when someone enters the train station bedroom," said Lance Faber, owner of custom integration firm Cyberhomes Systems LLC.
Timed motion sensors throughout the house keep the experience fun and surprising. For example, when entering the movie theatre, a projector automatically starts rolling on the screen and when walking past a storefront animations appear on the wall. However, these events are set on a timer and aren't always triggered by motion, both preserving the technology and keeping the experience whimsical for guests.
The Control4 system that manages the home's lighting, TVs, Triad multi-room audio, ClareVision security cameras and luxurious home theatre is largely invisible to guests. The integration team chose technologies that do not intrude into a room's ambience or design, including Triad PDX in-ceiling speakers that blend in, Samsung Frame TVs with custom-designed frames, and engraved Control4 lighting keypads that make lighting control intuitive and easy.
Cyberhomes combined pre-planning with the wireless capabilities and in-wall foundation of the Control4 system to deliver a smart home that has no visible wires, boxy equipment or aesthetically intrusive speakers. This level of system coordination and focus on design is virtually impossible to achieve with off-the-shelf products from big box stores.
Every room in the home is designed to bring to life important settings and events from the timeline of a globally popular series of children's books and movies. In this home, one of the five bathrooms looks like a classic British phone booth (but bigger), while one of the bedrooms has a life-size replica of a train car that houses a child's bed.
