Home Movie Theaters

When you have a vision as big and bold as the recreation of the set design in Stargate Atlantis, you need a systems integrator that is right with you all along the way. Fortunately, for the client they discovered Visual Concepts Home Theater and Automation, whose motto is "we can build anything you can dream".

"We love it when our clients want a themed theater," says Jacob Abbott, President of VC Home Theaters. "It's much more fun to depart from the rest of the home's dcor and built something truly unique for each client. We prefer one-off's rather than build the same style theater over and over."

This client was a huge Stargate Atlantis fan and accuracy was critical.The gate had to be perfect, the colors needed to be correct and the symbol layout had to look real. The client turned out to be very tech savvy, but wasn't really involved in the engineering. However, after the project was finished he became very involved with the Control4 home automation system. Now VC Home Theaters is considering him as a programmer for the company.

Making the gate and doors authentic proved to be the biggest technical challenges. Some of the questions that arose had to do with what materials to use, how to light it, and how to build it for transport purposes.In fact, the entire room was built in the Nashville division, and then was shipped to the Louisville division for installation. Without actually making it move, the gate had to appear operational. A second projector was used to create the "water effect" when the gate is open.When the theater equipment is off, the second small projector comes on,making it appear that the gate is open when you walk by the theater.

The doors were designed by computer and cut from a solid piece of wood, stained and airbrushed to finish.The door casing is backlit and faux painted to match the Stargate.Pneumatic rams with motion sensors were installed to open the pocket doors, and even provide the "swoosh" sound when they open.A small air compressor was installed in the basement to run the pneumatic lines and relays.The doors motion sensor is wired into the Control4 system, controlling the pneumatic relays.

The room was fairly small and initially very tall, requiring the floor to be raised significantly. The speakers were laid out in a THX format with the LCR's placed behind the stargate.All the equipment, lighting, and pneumatics are located in a room beside the entrance.

The Sound Answercustom designed the sound panels and Andrew Caldwell cut all the panels and stargate on computer with a CnC router to ensure a perfect fit. Numinus Domes also worked on the project.

"This project really opened the doors for our nationwide design services," concludes Abbott. "We have done many theaters of this caliber, and we like the work because it is challenging and different.I feel we are one of the few companies in the nation that can do this level of work under one roof without subcontracting.I'd love to design these rooms and ship them all over the country, that's the business I'm trying to create."




Contact Info
Visual Concepts Home Theater and Automation
Nashville, TN / Louisville, KY
615-426-2655
Jacob@VChometheaters.com
www.VChometheaters.com