OTHER TECH

Jeffrey and Jimmy wanted their one-bedroom (and two-bath, one-office) apartment to be hip, cool, and high-concept. They envisioned it as a stage before a performance, one that could adapt to any kind of spectacle - everything from dances to cocktail parties to movie screenings - by way of modular furniture, chameleon lighting, and an invisible (until needed) A/V system. Since they love to entertain - whether that means inviting over family or friends, throwing parties, or hosting 50-guest charity bashes - they needed an apartment that would be up for the challenge of any kind of occasion. That would translate into multicolor LED lighting fixtures set where ceilings meet walls, a four-zone, two-floor audio system that allows for different music choices throughout the household, and a video projector shining onto a 13-foot-wide retractable screen.

Oh, and did I mention that Jeffrey is an architect at the firm BBG-BBGM (he designed the Bangkok Peninsula Hotel, among other things) and that Jimmy is in real estate? That means they both have a good handle on how installations should go, which in turn meant they'd be very hands-on throughout the process.

"I was looking at this as a challenge," says Chris Wyllie, recalling his thoughts upon realizing what he'd gotten himself into. "I don't believe there's anything I can't do. I think that's because of the Navy SEAL field training I received: They push you to the outermost limit of human capacity."

It was two days before Thanksgiving 2006 when Jeffrey contacted Chris. (Jeffrey found him through a referral from Smart Home, the source of the project's lighting.) That "other" installer had by then designed the system and disappeared. Remembers Chris: "Jeffrey said, 'I have a very bad feeling about what just happened. I don't think they did anything correctly. Can you come by?' " And so Chris arrived at the apartment, only to quickly learn that the project needed some major rewinding before it could move forward.

"I came in just to see what the scope of the work was," says Chris while he's putting some finishing touches on the installation. "There just wasn't enough wiring for what they proposed - at all. And I realized they were already about 80 to 90 percent sheetrocked."

Looking at the previous contractor's proposal, Chris found some other bright-red flags. "Let's just say he picked out some very interesting products," he notes. Electronic case in point: a Motorola A/V receiver. "It was like, 'My God, Motorola makes a receiver?' I think I've only seen one other before, on eBay or something. So we came in and started rewiring. We tore out everything and started pulling."

"Ugh - he saved our ass!" interjects Jeffrey as he passes by.

"We pulled some sheetrock down and added a ton of wires," continues Chris. "And we brought everything into this tiny media closet," he says, opening the door to a wooden nook behind the fireplace, where all the gear is stacked.

"That's the size of my first apartment in Manhattan!" exclaims Jeffrey from the kitchen.

The project had a number of unique challenges for Chris. First, he found himself in a new installer/client dynamic: "With my previous customers, I usually said, 'This is the design,' and they'd go, 'Okay.' " But Jimmy and Jeffrey both designed and managed the project.

"We concepted everything," Jeffrey explains. "But we didn't have the technical expertise to execute it. And the team had to understand our concept and what we were trying to achieve. Everybody on the team came to understand it, and they exceeded our expectations."