Special Home Entertainment Section: A Tale of Two Views
July 1, 2002
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When Stephen Enkeboll, 43, of Enkeboll Designs, a custom architectural wood carving manufacturer in Carson, Calif., began planning his dream home in 1998, generous water views from the five-acre Malibu lot perched above the ocean were essential. “I wanted a contemporary Frank Lloyd Wright look,” he says, which meant an open architecture with unobstructed ocean views. Just as important was a design that would provide total darkness and the acoustic conditions necessary for an audio/video system. “Some guys are into sports,” says Enkeboll. “I’m into music.”
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The architectural plan called for a house 90 feet long and 30 feet wide in which the living room opens to an elevated dining area and kitchen. The entire western exposure is faced with floor-to-ceiling windows. To create the audio and video systems, interior designer Pam Rigney brought in Greg Pass from SuperVision, a Los Angeles–based custom audio/video design company.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc(); "Media experience in the billiard room.")
Discussions began immediately about where to place the screen and projector without interrupting the view outside. “Stephen does a lot of entertaining,” says Pass, “so he wanted a system that would focus on the long dimensions of the room, encompassing all the different viewing areas.” To achieve this, Pass used a 100-inch retracting screen, placed at the far end of the living room near the fireplace, so that even people who are in the kitchen can easily see the screen.
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To prevent the considerable electronics from dominating the simple, elegant living spaces, Rigney and Pass decided to place the Sony LCD projector in a cabinet when it is not in use. A pair of Triad floor speakers, custom-finished in maple to match the hardwood floors, blend into the decor. The rest of the system’s components are housed in the room’s display case behind wooden doors. “When you walk in,” says Rigney, “you can’t see anything except the speakers until the shades come down and the projector pops open.”
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