Slowly but surely themed theatres are growing in prominence at home and abroad. TV shows and movies, Broadway and sporting teams – there really is no accounting for taste.

The trend of turning a home theatre into the set of a TV show or movie is taking off in the United States, while finding its feet in Australia.

Home-owners are starting to turn their dedicated home theatres into the flight deck of spacecraft, temples of doom and the decks of pirate ships pillaging the Caribbean.

But should installers succumb to every client request? And what does it mean to a small business to offer themed theatre services?

Colorado-based Electronic Systems Consultants (ESC) director Anson Fogel has a phrase covering theme theatre requests: “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”

Anson uses analogy to expand on his view.

“Controlling the bathtub fill rate from a touch screen is a bad idea. It doesn’t improve at all on the basic faucet interface itself (ie: the handle), it adds complexity without benefit and is downright dangerous.

“And how about a sensor that measures the weight of garbage cans and alerts you via touch screen and email when the bin is full? It will never work as well as just looking in the garbage can and taking it out when it’s full.”

One of the strangest requests he has received was to recreate a realistic, functional version of the USS Starship Enterprise from Star Trek as a personal home theatre.

“They can make it easy to design a room but often at the expense of comfort,” he says.

“They may be interesting in the beginning, but over time I think they fail to provide a space that provides long-term comfort and enjoyment.

“Themes simply present different versions of the same fundamental home theatre design challenges we deal with every day – screen size versus seating distance, viewing planes, budget limitations, acoustical treatments and user interface design.

“There are requests that we deny, and those that we honour. Occasionally, a bizarre or challenging new request makes us better as a firm – those are rare gifts.”

Don Dixon is president of Florida-based custom installer Definitive Electronics, which spent almost 800 hours designing and installing an Old West theatre for a client’s 2,200m² ranch in Florida. (See Connected Home Australia May/June 2007, p62)

The cinema features a retracting mural made from a turn-of-the-century image of a cowboy with lasso, distressed-leather full-motion seating and Western movie posters in custom frames.

“A luxury home theatre install and design should not only look good but should also sound and perform well,” he says.

“The most common challenges are space limitations for our equipment and not being able to put the equipment where we want to.

“A lot of designers and home-owners don’t like to see any equipment. Luckily there are now several designer-friendly products on the market that actually perform well and have bridged the gap between technology and interior design.”

The local market

In Australia the idea of themed home theatres may seem excessive or indulgent to most home-owners, but some installers want to be capable of meeting all of their client’s requests, no matter how bizarre.

“While there is some interest in themed theatres, Australians tend to ignore the excesses of American design and are interested more in classic or contemporary designs that will not date,” says Wavetrain Cinemas director David Moseley.

Wavetrain offers a complete design and construction service including sound isolation, air-conditioning, acoustics, equipment specification and interiors.

“There will always be people out there that love a particular movie and want to reflect it in their cinemas, and we are certainly catering to that market,” David says.

“However, it is a small percentage of our work at the moment. We hope our pre-designed cinema rooms and our work with Ego Guiotto will start to change that.”

Ego Guiotto, a graphic designer well known for painting, is the primary artist for Australian Geographic. He has produced numerous stamps for Australia Post and has been commissioned to create artworks by private clients worldwide.

Ego joined forces with Wavetrain Cinemas to provide a complete cinema experience through custom artworks, murals, advice on specialised finishes and colour selection.

“Doing themed home cinemas gives us access to every style of previous centuries, plus the world of make-believe,” David says.

“This is where it is critical to have an understanding of architecture, interior design and building. No two projects are the same, and you must be able to adapt to each client’s requests.

“Clients often see a home cinema as an escape from the world, so they treat the room separately to the rest of the house. A client with a modern dwelling might want an art deco cinema or recreation of a 1920s London theatre in their home cinema, for example.

Wavetrain produces custom accessories for home theatres, including ottomans, signage, studio equipment and carpets. It also produces a range of custom seating.

“As an installer it is your job to bring all the elements together in a cohesive design philosophy. This is the joy of truly original design and architecture in general.”

David has recently teamed up with Melbourne custom installer Cableman after seeing an opportunity to combine their skills to offer a turnkey solution to clients.

“Theatres don’t have to be foreboding, ugly rooms that look like a commercial dubbing stage,” says Cableman sales director Joshua Holko.

“They should be rooms that are comfortable to walk into and provoke a pleasing emotional response, while providing a fantastic AV experience.

“Themed theatres are yet to take off at the higher end of the Australian residential market as they have in the US.

“The themed theatres I do see in Australia are usually the result of DIY amateurs who have a strong passion for home theatre. They put a lot of love and attention into their projects and accomplish some amazing things on what are often shoestring budgets.

“Their work really helps to promote the idea in this country.”

Joshua says clients at the higher end of the Australian custom installation market tend to want theatres that generally conform to the rest of the home.

“A themed theatre is going to mean different things to different people. It may mean just a few movie posters on the wall to one client, but to another it may be recreating the deck of the Starship Enterprise.

“Understanding and being able to interpret the client’s needs and wants is critical to successfully delivering their project.”