Technology Trends

Preparing For Tomorrow

Youngquist Homes understands that technology is a part of our culture and that technological devices and services are increasingly becoming part of everyday home life. As a forward-thinking and innovative builder, we have always designed our homes in preparation for the technology changes that are yet to come.

Recharging Centers

Most homes these days have a cell phone or two. Professionals may carry a personal digital assistant such as a Blackberry, and family members of all ages may have an iPod MP3 player or some other personal entertainment player for enjoying music and videos. In today's homes, mudrooms, laundry, and utility areas with expanded countertops are growing in popularity for hobbies, built-in storage, and recharging stations for the entire family's personal technology gadgets.

Media Rooms

Most homes built by Youngquist Homes have a dedicated media room for use as a home theater, stereo listening room or home office. Although many homeowners are content with a surround-sound system and projection TV for home theater use, some go all the way incorporating plush movie-style seats, acoustic paneling, and even ticket booths and candy counters.

Multi-Zone Entertainment Systems

Youngquist Homes offers "true distributed audio," a zoned prewiring system for independently controlling music, voice, television, and phone at each zone. Imagine this family scenario...

Mom listens to Mozart in the whirlpool tub of a spa-inspired luxury bath while Dad is on the screened porch enjoying the NCAA basketball tournament through the same system. At the same time, their daughter is listening to her MP3 files in her bedroom and/or in the family's media room. The zoned true distributed audio allows everyone in the family to remotely control individual technologies at the same time.

Gaming Rooms

The home arcade has transitioned from an old pinball machine in the rec room to fully-equipped gaming rooms outfitted for any number of popular products including Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii, and Sony's PlayStation3. Specialized chairs just for gaming complete this newest trend in home gaming rooms.

Future Technology

To accommodate future applications of technology, Youngquist Homes adds "Smerf" pipes. These empty plastic pipes are installed from the basement to the attic to allow future technology to be "pulled" through the home at a later date. As an example, a "Smerf" tube behind the wall above fireplaces to a logical media source allows for a future plasma screen TV or a chip-controlled "wall art" screen for displaying favorite artwork or digital photos.