By Douglas Weinstein
The residential technology industry is a mature business marketplace, with seasoned manufacturers, distribution channels and design firms who impact every facet of the modern performance home. In many ways, we just aren’t the A/V Guys any longer. Witness advances in basic infrastructure and networking frameworks, intuitive automation schemes, beautiful user interfaces, and many more advances that are now a part of most luxury homes and dwellings. Along the way, we have gotten to the point where the veterans of the industry are retiring, and a new breed of entrepreneurs are rising to take their place to advance the state of the art.
One of the trends we’ve been following is the mindset of this new generation that design-build should not only benefit from technology, but that architects, designers and builders should play a more important role in specifying the very technologies and products that are a cornerstone to smart home living. Two of the many technologies that lend itself to design for design’s sake, are spatial soundscapes and digital canvasses. Along with this vision to partner more closely with design-build, many of the leading technology design practitioners are re-thinking the premise of the ubiquitous experience center.
Instead of merely showcasing ‘stuff’, we’re seeing a transition into spaces that are curated to allow design-build to be involved in the creative process of technology design. Spaces where, in addition to ongoing educational opportunities and networking events, collaborators can work together to not only bring the latest cool experiences to their clients, but also to enhance and amplify the immersiveness that today’s varied technologies and products represent.
One such experience center is taking shape in Gardena, California (a suburb of L.A. just south of LAX). And one such visionary is targeting the design-build community in the vital Southern California marketplace with opportunities to learn, experience, imagine, and perhaps dream of new expressions of their designs that have their roots in the field of technology. Founder of ByDesign VSM, a manufacturer’s representative, Joaquin Rivera has been an important figure in the residential technology space for over 15 years and as his rep firm grows, so does his appetite for evolving to meet the needs of his dealer base, and the various stakeholders in the design-build community.
Doug: It is always a pleasure to catch up with you. How close are you to opening the Gardena facility?
Joaquin: We’re a matter of months away, but as of the beginning of December 2023, the facility is functioning and there is a lot going on as we build out the vignettes and conference rooms and get everything integrated and dialed in. We made the decision to purchase the building and locate in what geographically is the center of our SoCal territory, and with the proximity to LAX, our dealers from Vegas to Honolulu can bring their clients and design-build partners in for a day or two to experience the latest in design technologies.
Let me take you through a stroll of what we have planned, and then we can get more specific depending on the technology or product group you want to talk about.
First, there is a focus on the visual arts and the technologies that not only enhance design, but as you mentioned, allow designers to perhaps express themselves in a new way. So, we have multiples of display technologies, from elite dedicated theater projector/filmscreens, to LED walls that we call digital canvasses, to more traditional displays that are enhanced with framing and integrated soundbars to give a wall its own defined look and feel. We have the supporting audio experience, from architectural speakers to cinema surround to newer spatial soundscapes that you might find in a Zen room. Supporting the audio and visual experience you naturally turn to various intelligent lighting designs, healthy indoor environment strategies, outdoor resilient products, beautiful interfaces, and of course the infrastructure and energy management that makes it all seamless and intuitive for the homeowner.
We, of course, will have a full kitchen, an outdoor space, and pretty much everything you’d want to see and experience in a modern performance home. But then we will also incorporate spaces so designers can learn, discuss, kick around ideas; full conferencing facilities, learning spaces, etc. It is as much about experiencing what the latest advances in our industry can bring to a design, but also we want to emphasize the role collaboration plays in getting everything right before you break ground.
Finally, we are hiring a dedicated experience center manager, who has extensive experience in the design-build community. This represents another major investment that we believe will pay dividends over the coming years. So there are a lot of balls in the air right now, but it’s all coming together and it’s going to be a great space.
Doug: I know you’re big on collaboration. Do you bring that from your experience working with Stewart Filmscreen in the first phase of your career?
Joaquin: That’s a good observation. And yes, the role I ended up playing at Stewart (before the travel just wasn’t sustainable for a father with a small child), was all about collaboration. Stewart Filmscreen, we made filmscreens! So you needed a projector. And audio. And infrastructure. Doug, in my years with Stewart, I went from production to marketing to sales, and eventually I was in charge of our global vertical markets that included residential, commercial, hospitality, government, flight simulation, houses of worship, and higher education. So, I got to know a lot of people in different industries who would come together on projects – you had to be able to listen and understand everyone’s objectives before you could then come together and work as a team to get it right.
So I see that as a foundational truth in how the different trades should be looking at advancing the art of home building. And I think that designers and architects can use some of the latest technologies as part of their offerings. But what I understand is that it’s difficult to keep up with technology, so we have to assume the role of continuing education and provide a space for them to experience and ask questions and see the actual products live.
Doug: I’ve never asked you this, but how did you get into the industry?
Joaquin: [laughs] Like many others, I was a failed musician. Actually, I met a few of the Stewart brothers in a recording studio and we hit it off. They offered me a job and like I said, I started off in production, which really wasn’t my thing at all, but you have to start somewhere. And then I moved to marketing and eventually sales.
And while I loved working for the Stewart family, the travel just was taking too much time away from raising my boy, so when our SoCal rep firm resigned the line, I decided that I would throw my hat in the ring to take over the territory. I put a business plan together, presented it, and they gave me the opportunity to create something that worked better for me as a father. My partner Benito Joaquin got on board and we picked up three lines – Stewart, Planar and PRO Audio Technology – and we were off and running. We cover SoCal, Hawaii, Arizona, Southern Nevada (Vegas); those are our major markets.
And SoCal is a great territory and there are great reps and every major line is already being represented, so when we started in 2014 we set up our plan to take on those lines that really worked for our vision, as they became available, and we added personnel along the way and have really grown into a very large rep firm.
Doug: Let’s talk about some of your vendor partners and what’s exciting about the opportunities they offer for technology designers and design-build professionals.
Joaquin: Well, I obviously have a video background, so let’s start there, because the latest product offerings are so varied and so diverse that the designer has so many wonderful options to choose from.
First, we are still the Stewart Filmscreen reps. And we’ve partnered with Barco for our projection and LED wall products for many years. This allows us to offer a wide variety of options, in regard to both price and functionality. For dedicated private cinema, it’s hard to beat the Barco/Stewart presentation, and for digital canvasses, Barco is just incredible. Of course, one of our recent acquisitions, and a brand we have wanted to work with for years, is Leon. They really are artists first, so design is inherent in every product they bring to market. This is a brand where designers can create a complete wall presentation around whatever TV display and soundbar option they might choose.
Another huge area for us and for the industry is lighting. We have been representing Colorbeam for years and their expertise in low voltage lighting delivers tunability and wellness applications. We also are proud to offer DMF Lighting. They really offer everything from an affordable retrofit option so homeowners can get rid of those ugly six-inch cans and simply replace them to bring them down to sleek four- or two-inch apertures. They are also famous for their modular downlights, now available in the ultra-elegant two-inch flangeless design. For outdoors we offer simple, sophisticated and precision-engineered product from HK Lighting. So when you come to our experience center, designers will see multiple layers of light options.
We touched on healthy indoor environments, so let me first say that we are a member of the Pure Tech Alliance, which are rep firms across the country who have banded together to bring healthy indoor technologies to our industry. We need to be leaders in this area because there is obviously technology involved and we need to put it on our networks and monitor results and allow the homeowner to view their environment from anywhere they have internet access. We partner with Broan NuTone which introduced the first fully integrated and connected Indoor Air Quality System – Overture™ – that delivers fresh, clean air throughout the home. And we offer RePure who is dedicated to bringing hardware and software solutions covering all aspects of indoor air and water quality.
SurgeX is our go-to energy management vendor, Josh.ai is our go-to voice and automation solution, J Geiger Shading offer a uniquely minimalist motorized shading solution, and eero brings powerful Wi-Fi mesh technology to the table. Those are most, but not all, of the solutions we represent and together they offer a wide range of solutions for performance homes.
Doug: Final thoughts on what’s trending upward in the industry?
Joaquin: Lighting continues to grow exponentially. Energy management and healthy interiors will see major growth in the next 10 years. Most of the other technologies we have are pretty well established, although we’ll see new applications and advances similar to any consumer technology product.
The trend I think that will grow our industry the most is further collaboration with the design-build community. If we can become better collaborators on more and more projects, everyone will see their businesses doing better.