Home Smart Home: The High-Tech Innovations Elevating Apartment Living

By Bernadette Starzee

Buyers who purchase a home in a luxury building expect that every detail will be considered—even little extras they won’t realize they needed until they move in and start using them.

For an analogy, consider the dimmer switch of yesteryear. “Before dimmers were invented, lights just turned on and off,” says Skyler Stevenson, North American senior marketing and product manager for high-end kitchen- appliance maker Gaggenau. “When you turned on the bathroom light at night, it came on at 100 percent intensity. But with a dimmer, it can be, say, 25 percent. People have come to rely on that.”

The same holds true for the “smart” technologies featured in today’s high-end apartment complexes. Owners discover the convenience, comfort, and peace of mind they bring and soon consider them indispensable. Here are a few such innovations that are reshaping modern living and changing the way those who reside in luxe developments enjoy their time at home.

A KITCHEN YOU CAN TALK TO

Just as you would tell Alexa to play a song or ask Siri to search a term, technology now lets you use your smartphone to communicate with your home appliances. The Home Connect platform—a feature at the new Five Park Miami Beach, the elegant 2505 Broadway on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and the iconic Towers of the Waldorf Astoria residences—offers an app that pairs with a number of appliances from Gaggenau and other well-known high-end brands to let you operate everything from an espresso machine to a washing machine using voice or touch, while you’re inside your home or away from it. So, while you’re preparing ingredients for dinner, you can tell your oven to preheat to a certain temperature. If you’re in another room with guests, you can make sure you turned the oven off without having to excuse yourself to go and leave to check it. If you’re bringing food home for a party, you can activate supercool mode in your refrigerator remotely to make sure it will be able to chill a large number of items.

Similar tech allows shades and sound systems to be adjusted from anywhere with a voice command or the press of a button. At a trio of new luxury apartment buildings in Houston—The Westmore, in the walkable Upper Kirby District area; Lexington River Oaks, in the tony River Oaks neighborhood; and The Hawthorne, in affluent Tanglewood—developers Pelican Builders pre-wired residences for multi-functional smart-home technology and voice control automation. Residents will be able to open and close, and raise and lower, window coverings, which include motorized shades and electric solar shades or curtains.

“People can customize how they want their home to operate,” says Nancy Calderon, director of sales for The Hawthorne. “If they’re at the office and their shades have been down all day, they can open them remotely to come home to light. Temperature can also be adjusted before they come home.”

BRIGHT IDEAS

High-end lighting, too, is getting smart. Home technology platforms let residents turn off their lights at night without getting out of bed, remotely dim them to transform a room’s ambience, or adjust the home’s lighting for security while they are away. At the new 8899 Beverly in the West Hollywood Arts and Design District, smart dimmers, controls, shades, and lighting from high- end manufacturer Lutron provide ambience as well as convenience. The lighting controls can be integrated with roll-down sheer shades in the residences’ entertaining areas, and with sheer and blackout curtains in the bedrooms.

Smart lighting solutions are not the only upgrade to address the increasing focus on sustainability and global warming. As these concerns have taken center stage, demand has risen for eco-friendly amenities in luxury apartments, and developers have responded with a spate of innovations. At the eco-conscious Diesel Wynwood in Miami’s art-centric Wynwood District, a customizable smart-sensing climate control system enables residents to customize the temperature and conditions in their bedrooms. The system uses variable refrigerant flow (VRF) technology so users can heat some spaces and cool others simultaneously.

The property, which is LEED certified for its low environmental footprint and WELL certified for its commitment to healthful living, also boasts a state-of-the-art rapid exchange system to ensure a constant flow of fresh air and optimal oxygen levels.

GET WELL

Speaking of optimal oxygen, luxury developers have become increasingly focused on wellness since the pandemic, not only improving air circulation but adding touchless entry points, enhancing security by equipping private elevators with facial recognition capabilities, and rolling out a bevy of healthy-living amenities.

At The Well Bay Harbor Islands in Miami, owners have access to Theragun, a handheld device that provides deep muscle massage; infrared blankets, which use heat to soothe tense muscles and alleviate aches; and lymph boots, which use pneumatic compression technology to flush out excess lactic acid, thus reducing swelling and inflammation. Residents can also use FaceWare Pro, an LED therapy device that battles wrinkles and acne, onsite. It’s all part of a trend in high-end residential buildings that sees smart, healthy living as the newest must-have luxury.