Home Theater II
Come on in, the Show is fantastic!
With the big cherry doors open, you get a glimpse of the new world you will be entering. It's a darker, cooler space. Carpets are gray. Directly ahead is the door to the A/V Equipment Room, which we'll talk about later. There's two steps down into the room and then a right turn. This effectively places the large acoustically bright surface of the cherry entry doors away from directly reflecting any sound back to the movie audience. It also lends an air of mystery--we see into the room, but not very far.
Small Nottebohm on Left
Immediately on your left, as you walk in the door is one of a set of small Nottebohm paintings. They all have this same interesting form factor. I imagine them to be torn out pages from the lost owner's manual of some ancient UFO that once visited our Earth.
Full Theater, Window Open in Daylight
Screen Down, Ready for Show...
Looking Towards the Rear
To your right, at last you can see the Theater in all its glory. It's very hard to photograph by day--the range in lighting between the brilliantly lit ocean view window and he cool dark surfaces inside is just too great. At night the city lights and stars are beautiful and easily seen even in the lit theater. The window transforms would could have been a somewhat cloying space into a spectacular observation platform.
The theater seating tiers down through three levels before rising up again to form an impromptu stage. Gray carpets, darker gray acoustically panelled walls, a flat black ceiling, and Cherry with Ebony pilasters make up the basic structure. The small Nottebohm pieces are hung in each gap betwen the pilasters with a wash of light specially directed at each from a ceiling can fixture.
Another small Nottebohm, this time in a portrait format
Pilasters, Sconces, Cable Lights, Cove Lights, Granite Table...
The Theater serves a few purposes. It is, of course a home entertainment focus. We go there to watch movies. But we wanted to make the space as multi-functional as possible. I had seen a friend's theater that was outfitted more or less as a place to gather with friends for any purpose, and we liked this concept. Our room is closer to a theater than the friend's, because it has fixed theater seating, yet it is less like the archetypal recreation of an old art deco theater that one sees in the magazines and more like, well, a posh Manhattan Night Club where the seating faces a stage.
The computer controlled lighting in the room can be set to one of several modes. In the brightest mode, it's good for letting people get a good look at the room. The surface treatments and colors can absorb quite a lot of light. This is good for eliminating stray reflections that detract from a movie, but it means the room needs a lot of light to show well. Accordingly, we've installed a whole gaggle of high tech sconces, a quasi-cable lighting system, cans, and a unique lighting cove. In addition, there is a large picture window that really shows off the ocean view during the day, and city lights at night. Creating a sense of elevation contributes to the night club theme.
There are two other lighting modes available from the touch panel. The first is called "Sports". It's useful when the room is being used to view a sports event, but you want to be able to see and interact with others in the room without letting too much light onto the projection screen. The second is called "Reading". Note the table with halogen cable lights overhead. It's very pleasant to read in this room while listening to music on the excellent sound system. The Escient CD Jukebox player will project cover art if desired on the screen, or you can play music with the projector off and the window open for the view. This is also a nice mode to go to after a movie has ended to chat with guests. Usually folks are not eager to leave the room right away.
We must close the blast doors, Captain Solo!
In this view, you can see the screen coming down over the window. In addition, there is a blackout shade behind the screen that rides in rail guides so that there is no light leakage even with bright sunlight streaming onto the window. It's always a neat effect for guests to see the screen coming down as the lights are dimming for the movie. It creates a wonderful sense of drama.