What Palm Beach Architects Should Plan Before the Home Theater Is Drawn

By David Frangioni | Frangioni Media

The Short Answer

A great private theater is decided by the architecture before any equipment is chosen. Room proportions, ceiling height, door locations, isolation from the rest of the house, HVAC noise and the equipment room are the five decisions that matter most, and they are all made on the architect’s drawings.

I am David Frangioni. I have designed studios and listening rooms for artists including Aerosmith and Ozzy Osbourne and a private theater for Simon Cowell, and today Frangioni Media designs theaters for estates across Palm Beach County. Here is what I ask architects to plan for at schematic design.

Room Dimensions and Ceiling Height

Seating count and screen size drive the room. For a two-row theater with a large scope screen, we typically want enough length for proper viewing distance and a rear row riser, and enough ceiling height for the riser, overhead Dolby Atmos speakers and any architectural ceiling detail. I give architects target dimensions early so the room is laid out right the first time.

Sightlines and Risers

The back row needs to see over the front row. Riser height depends on seat height, row spacing and screen height, so the riser and the screen wall should be designed together.

Isolation and Door Placement

In a large Palm Beach home, the theater is often next to a guest suite or the primary bedroom. Wall and ceiling construction, door type and location determine whether a film at reference level is heard elsewhere. Doors at the back of the room also keep light and traffic away from the screen.

Quiet HVAC

The most common flaw I hear in otherwise beautiful theaters is air noise. Low-velocity supply and return, lined ducts and an air handler away from the room should be coordinated with the mechanical engineer from the start.

The Equipment Room and Pathways

Plan a ventilated, cooled rack location near the theater, with conduit to the screen wall, every speaker zone and the projector. In concrete and post-tensioned construction, conduit added after the pour is costly or impossible.

Historic and Island Homes

On the island, many homes have architectural significance, and visible exterior equipment may need to be coordinated with the Town of Palm Beach’s architectural review process. Inside, we lean on acoustically transparent fabric walls, invisible speakers and concealed displays so the technology never fights the house.

How We Work With Your Office

We provide technology narratives, device and speaker plans, rack elevations and power and cooling requirements for your drawing set, and we answer RFIs through construction. More on our process is on our page for architects and our Palm Beach page.

Talk to Us

Have a Palm Beach project at schematic design? We will review the plans and send back early theater and technology requirements. Call (786) 295-9674 or send us the details.