Sharing A Glimpse of The Future of Smart Home Automation

Barrett’s Technology Solutions brings specifiers to visit leading smart home manufacturers to learn about our evolving industry

It’s crucial that a smart home company serve as a technology ambassador, educating specifiers and homeowners alike on the latest products, features and trends. From Illinois’ Gold Coast region to Chicago, the suburbs and beyond (as you’ll see below!), we take proactive steps to help our trade partners in particular know what role technology can play in their projects.

As technology becomes such an integral part of homeowners’ lifestyles, it’s more important than ever that architects, designers, and custom builders be able to have conversations with them about how to optimize this aspect of their homes.

That’s where Barrett’s Technology Solutions steps in to help, introducing our specifier partners to the top manufacturers in the smart home industry. As part of this ambassadorial role, Barrett’s hosted a group of specifiers on a trip to New York City to let them experience some of our favorite technology partners firsthand! Below are some highlights on what our group got to see during our trip.

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WHAT WE SAW

We visited four different smart home experience centers during our trip: Savant, Delos, USAI Lighting and Lutron. Savant showed off their smart home control systems at their 8,000 square foot penthouse. There they showed our trade partners how these systems tie everything in a smart home together, giving clients simple control over all their automation technology. Homeowners can easily create customized scenes to engage their favorite technology features at the touch of a single button. And with a professional technology partner, specifiers can add these systems with little impact on the home’s overall design or décor.

At the Delos’ experience center, they demonstrated their signature Darwin home health automation system. The Darwin system monitors water and air quality (purifying them as necessary) and uses circadian lighting to restore the body’s natural rhythm. By integrating Delos, builders, designers and architects can promote a healthier lifestyle for their clients through a custom home wellness system.

USAI Lighting used their “Lighting Collaboratory” to showcase the profound impact tunable lighting can have on a home, both in terms of aesthetics and residents’ health. USAI Lighting systems use LEDs to let the clients fine-tune fixtures in any room. Homeowners enjoy the ideal blend of ambiance and lighting with minimal disruptions to the body’s mood and natural functions. Designers and architects can use these lighting solutions to showcase the home’s best features and save the perfect lighting settings for homeowners to use themselves at a future time.

Finally, Lutron displayed their Ketra tunable-lighting systems and their Palladiom motorized shades. The Ketra lighting system includes LED fixtures that adjust color temperatures throughout the day to help your body maintain its circadian rhythm. By replicating natural light, designers and architects are able to craft more beautiful and comfortable living environments for their clients.

Lutron also showcased their Palladiom shades, which were one of the favorites items among the interior designers in the group. Palladiom shades come with sleek mounts which make them ideal for any décor. Our group also got to see Palladiom’s elegant line of on-wall keypads for lighting and shading control; a welcome solution to the wall switch clutter dreaded by designers, builders, and architects alike.

IMPACT ON SPECIFIERS

With this firsthand exposure to the latest smart home technology, our trade partners are now better prepared to talk to their customers directly about how to interweave technology with their projects. Not only will they sound more knowledgeable with clients, but they’ll be able to make direct recommendations to improve their everyday lifestyle. When needed, they know they can turn to Barrett’s Technology Solutions to work with them to integrate any technology they wish into their design or construction projects.

 

If you’re a designer, architect, or custom builder in the greater Chicago area, we’d love to be your go-to technology partner. You can always give us a call at (630) 898-2850 or reach out to us online with any of your technology questions. And if you’d like to join us on one of our future specifier trips, let us know and we’ll make sure to keep you in the loop when the next one is coming up!