Entertainment, Beautifully Integrated.

The idea

A room for entertainment is decided with the plan, not after it

The finest private cinemas and entertainment rooms are not rooms with equipment in them. They are interiors in which seating, materials, light, acoustics and technology were settled together, so that nothing in the room looks as though it arrived late.

That is why the conversation is best started early: with the architect, the interior designer or the developer, while the plan can still change to suit the room.

It applies whether the room is a dedicated home cinema, a media room that also has to work as a lounge, or a cinema on board — in Milan, London, Dubai or wherever the project is.

• Read the essay: the next revolution in luxury interior design

Bespoke residential cinema

A cinema that feels complete before the film begins

Wall treatment, ceiling depth, floor and upholstery all decide what a room does to sound. A cinema is the one interior where the finishes have a second job, so the room reads as an interior with the lights up and disappears when they go down.

The settings shown here are real rooms by Vismara Design, on land and on board.

Seating is where a home cinema is judged first. The rake of each row, the sightlines and the space between seats are set with the room, and the upholstery is chosen to belong to the interior’s palette — then the room around it is treated so that it sounds as good as it looks.

• Cinema rooms and seating
• Cinema rooms on board

Sound and entertainment spaces

Sound that belongs to the room

Sound should be designed into a space from the beginning, alongside light, materials and furniture, rather than added afterwards. The same is true of the rooms around the cinema: the lounge, the game room, the terrace and the pool.

• Architectural sound
• Game rooms

Design-led technology

Technology that serves the interior

The measure of the technology is how little of it is seen. Control, display and sound are planned around the architecture and the way the household lives, so that a room can be used by anyone in it without anyone noticing the system.

Project approach

How a conversation works

1. The briefYou describe the room, the household or guests, and how the space will be used.
2. With the design teamThe idea is shaped alongside the architect and interior designer, before decisions are fixed.
3. The right specialistsI bring in the Italian houses whose work fits the room, and coordinate them with the team.
4. Through to the finished roomSpecification, production and installation are followed through so the design survives delivery.

Represented specialists

I represent three Italian houses internationally: Vismara Design for cinema rooms and furniture, Architettura Sonora for architectural loudspeakers, and Saporiti Italia for turnkey interiors.