The Brief
The owner had lived in this 16,000 sqft Emirates Hills mansion for nine years and accumulated three different smart home systems from three different installers. Lighting on one platform, AV on another, climate on a third. None of them spoke to each other. Two of the three installers were no longer reachable. Touchpanels in the entry foyer had been broken for 18 months.
The brief was to consolidate everything onto a single Crestron platform, make the technology disappear into the architecture, and give the house manager a system she could actually run.
The Build
Crestron 4-Series control processors
Two redundant 4-Series processors in the main equipment room. They handle the AV matrix, lighting scenes, shade choreography, climate and access control.
Lutron RadioRA 3 for circuit-level lighting
240 lighting circuits across two floors, basement cinema, gym, staff quarters and outdoor areas. All on Lutron Palladiom keypads finished in matte bronze to match the interior hardware. The owner can dim a single chandelier in the dining room from the basement gym if he wants to.
36 motorized drapes on Lutron Sivoia
The double-height living room has 6m drapes that open and close in 24 seconds. The master bedroom has blackout drapes that close on a single tap. The owner's wife has a "wake up" scene that opens the bedroom drapes by 25% at her alarm time.
Sonos plus Crestron DM NVX for AV
14 AV zones. Sonos handles distributed music. Crestron DM NVX distributes 4K HDR video from the main rack to any TV in the house. The cinema room has a dedicated Trinnov processor and a 7.4.4 surround system with motorized acoustic curtains.
Staff and access management
The driveway gate, pedestrian gate, garage doors, staff entry and pool gate all run on Crestron access control. Each staff member has a code with hours. The house manager has a Crestron touchpanel that shows who is currently on property, what zones are armed, and what lighting scenes are active.
Home Assistant as the bridge
Crestron handles the heavy lifting. Home Assistant sits underneath as an open layer that lets the family add Aqara sensors, Apple HomeKit voice control, and any future Matter device without needing to call us back.
The Outcome
- Total scope: AED 1.4 million over 9 weeks of installation, programming and integration.
- Three systems became one. Everything responds from any one of the nine touchpanels or any phone in the family.
- Reliability transformed. The owner reports zero glitches in the four months since handover. The previous patchwork system failed weekly.
- House manager autonomy. She runs lighting scenes, climate setpoints and staff access without ever calling us.
- Future-proof. Crestron handles the demanding parts. Home Assistant means the family can add new devices forever.
This project is part of our Emirates Hills area guide and our work with Crestron.