Experience It – Paul Self

This is an Experience Center I project managed the design/build and then heavily leveraged for marketing purposes to grow the company. The design team included Rich Starley as the lead designer, Russ Berger Design Group for acoustical and noise engineering, KPMG for lighting design, and special credit to Keith Yates for participating in the initial design concept.

Building an Experience Center requires a specific financial goal with an ROI before even starting the design. Building a vanity project is all well and good, but businesses must measure success through ROI. Planning the demonstration/touring script before starting design will drive everything including what will be sold. I usually create metrics for sales growth goals that will deliver the ROI.

Events are the key to an Experience Center. If your company is considering building an Experience Center, then the budget, planning, and staffing to have a lot of events needs to be in the equation as well. Some of the most successful events are the ones others host in your Experience Center.

I work with clients to build the financial model, touring script, design/build, and event production.

Click on an image for a larger view with descriptive captions.

Experience Center Entry Door. Conference room to the right. This is a 2,000 sqft home inside a commercial office building.

Functioning kitchen and dinette. Demonstrates: lighting design, lighting control, in ceiling speakers, control system, video distribution, and IT services. Heavily used as a real kitchen for events.

Looking across Great Room towards the Entry. Notice the abstract art. Ceiling above Living Room area is fabric with acoustic treatments and speakers. The non-fabric ceiling is painted to match the fabric color.

Looking across Great Room towards the Entry. Art is retracted to reveal TV.

The bookshelf has a fabric back with acoustic treatment to control the first reflection point of the surround sound system.

Looking towards the kitchen/dinette from the front of the Great Room. That is a video projector concealed in the column to the right of the bar.

There are speakers for left/right surround sound speakers and subwoofers in the walls behind the chairs on each side.

Notice how well the fabric ceiling "reads" like a dry wall ceiling to the eye. Many acoustical problems are solved with this ceiling.

Configured in a conversational style seating, this is a very comfortable space to entertain or just read a book.

Look closely at the ceiling in the foreground to see the transition from drywall to fabric.

Up to a 60" TV can be motorized to lift out of the credenza. Front channel speakers for this system are in the ceiling and properly aimed for the audience.

This is a standard height credenza. The floor inside the cabinet is recessed to accommodate the TV height. This TV is only a 50". The black inserts left/right of the TV allow for the TV to be changed without building new cabinetry.

A 120" motorized screen is recessed into the ceiling. This is an acoustically transparent screen with the center channel right behind the screen in the wall. The left and right channel speakers are concealed behind the fabric as well.

An earlier Great Room image shows the projector concealed in the column.

Stepping through an entry with a 550lb noise control door, here is The Entertainment Room. This is a large, open space that includes a Game Room, Sports Bar, and high performance Theater.

The space is build to about an NC25 level of noise control. The goal is to keep noise out so the audio system inside has no competition.

This is a fun space. The Sports bar at the far end has it's own entertainment system. The Game Room has it's own TV (next images) and sound system as well. That backgammon style suede fabric conceals acoustical treatment as well as looking great with a feel that begs to be touched.

The ceiling is a custom soffit to create whimsy and function as a bass trap. The black ceiling is a fabric ceiling with 4" of absorptive acoustic treatment.

Looking back towards the entry is the TV for this space and the equipment rack for the entire center. The door to the left of the TV is a 550lb STC rated door to keep noise out. It is perfectly balanced and moves effortlessly.

Same image as before but with the equipment door closed.

This close-up is to subtly show the detail of the door on the right. Notice how deep the the door jamb is. All the walls around The Entertainment Room are two walls with an air gap between them to decouple the space from the office outside. This door is also an STC door, but "only" weighs 500lbs. A low noise floor means the sound system inside has no competition and can deliver great experiences.

The technology up close. The door can be closed and it goes away.

The curtains are closed waiting for the big reveal. Visually, this room is round. Acoustically, it is rectangular. The round soffit defines the space and it is a custom fabric color with acoustic treatments. The curved walls use an acoustically transparent silk fabric to conceal speakers and acoustic treatments.

A 12 seat theater that will rival screening rooms delivers fantastic experiences. A 150" screen that is acoustically transparent with speakers behind it has a great image.

This is a popular lifestyle design with front row seating for the committed viewer while casual viewers will find comfortable bar stools.

In the foreground on each side is a "curb" with up-lighting to just graze the silk fabric. Look closely on the ceiling to find HVAC supplies that are custom made with just enough upward angle to get the air to stick to the ceiling and fall across the audience. This was done for a quiet HVAC system and comfort. The black ceiling is also fabric with acoustical treatment.

Behind the silk fabric is acoustical treatments, side channel speakers and subwoofers.

From stage left looking into the the space. The projector is concealed in a sound proof cabinet that is climate controlled. Lights to the left/right of the projector are used to frame presenters during events. The seats are motorized.

A temperature sensor is located on the black pony wall between the two center seats. There are two other sensors in the space that are averaged out for maximum comfort. A cool trick is that the HVAC return is concealed in the toe kick of the stage.

Another look at the entire space from stage left. To fully isolate the space from the office space above, the entire ceiling is free-floated on springs to prevent the sounds of people walking upstairs from coming into the theater.