Soho Science

TD and I toddled down to Soho for a party last week in a beautiful, big loft on Prince Street. The loft was decorated by Thom Filicia of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame, and featured oversized lighting (pictured above), artwork and accessories to fill the sprawling space. There were great floor-to-ceiling French doors (see below), which ran along the front of the apartment, facing the Prada store across the street. Tres chic.


Lots of neat features were built into the apartment including an amazing home theater and an LCD tv screen within the back of the bathroom door. The coolest aspect of the apartment was invisible though; that was the technology that had been incorporated into it by Savant, the home automation company. For example, next to the bed was a small monitor which featured a photograph of the bedroom on a "touch" screen like that of an iPhone. So, by touching the picture of the lamp, the lights dimmed; by touching the picture of the blinds, the blinds went down. It was possible to control the music, the tv, the lighting, everything from the little touch screen next to the bed. You could control other rooms by swiping through room photos, and it also runs on an iPhone so you can prepare your house before you get home; it will do everything for you but mix you a drink.
It was very James Bond, very George Jetson.
I loved the lighting and audio aspect of the system. Add some candles, and voila, we're going back in time, conveniently. Wouldn't it be fun to put technology like that into a nineteenth century house overlooking the Hudson River, mixing the best of the old with the best of the new.