Gold Award: Best Home Office/Gaming Space

Project: Tampa Game Room (Tampa Area, FL)

Designed to bring together golf, entertainment, work, and family life, this Tampa-area residence transforms a highly customized game room into a true multi-purpose experience. At its center is a custom-engineered golf simulator surrounded by bespoke design details that allow high-performance technology to feel completely at home within the architecture.

One of the defining elements is the simulator enclosure itself. Custom-dyed faux alligator skin fabric was engineered into the impact-absorbing perimeter surfaces, allowing the system to withstand repeated golf ball strikes while preserving the refined Florida-inspired aesthetic envisioned for the room.

The result is much more than a place to practice a golf swing. Custom theater seating positioned behind the hitting zone allows the golf simulator itself to transition into a cinematic viewing experience for movies, sports, and more. Just beyond the simulator, a separate home theater/media room creates an additional dedicated space for relaxing and entertainment. Together with an architectural lighting, motorized shades, and tailored finishes, the overall environment was designed to support golf and media entertainment within one connected space.

Project Highlights:

• Uneekor EYE XO2 launch monitor integrated into a custom-built golf simulator system
• Custom multi-textured turf featuring distinct hitting, rough, faux sand, and putting surfaces for a more realistic playing experience
• Custom-dyed faux alligator skin impact surfaces developed to balance simulator performance with the room’s refined design language
• Architectural and RGBW lighting combining DMF fixtures and custom linear lighting for layered illumination throughout the space
• Custom theater seating positioned behind the hitting zone, allowing the simulator to transition into a theater for movies, sports, and family entertainment
• Lutron motorized blackout shades for effortless light control and an optimized viewing environment
• Integrated AV and control designed to keep the technology intuitive while supporting the room’s many different uses

What makes the Tampa Game Room stand out is not any single piece of technology. It is the way every element works together. By carefully planning around the home’s footprint, design direction, and multiple uses, our team created an environment that moves naturally from golf practice and simulator-side movie viewing to a separate media room, work, play, and family time without sacrificing performance or aesthetics.

Silver Award: Best Commercial Project

Project: Skyway Motor Space

Created to showcase an elite automotive collection, Skyway Motor Space brings together dramatic architectural lighting, automated protection, control, and high-performance entertainment within one highly specialized environment.

On the showroom floor, a custom continuous linear lighting system traces the architecture and casts a refined glow across the high-gloss reflective surfaces below. Rather than simply illuminating the room, the lighting becomes part of the display itself, creating a halo effect around the vehicles and emphasizing their contours, finishes, and presence within the space.

Above the showroom, an open mezzanine houses a full-scale Golfzon golf simulator. That location presented a unique challenge: how to protect the multi-million-dollar vehicle collection below from an off-target golf ball without permanently closing off the mezzanine or interrupting the architecture.

Working alongside the general contractor and design team, Innovative engineered a custom Lutron motorized drapery solution fitted with dense, impact-absorbing fabric. When the simulator is in use, the system encloses the exposed perimeter of the loft. When play ends, it retracts into concealed architectural pockets, reopening the view between the mezzanine and showroom.

Project Highlights:

• Golfzon TwoVision NX with dual-handed play, full motion plate, automatic teeing, ball retrieval, touchscreen kiosk, and high-speed swing cameras
• Custom Lutron motorized protection system designed to shield the automotive collection while preserving the open architecture
• Custom linear architectural lighting integrated into the baseboard and surrounding architectural details
• Proluxe lighting creating smooth, precision-diffused illumination throughout offices, hallways, and display areas
• Luminii Stenos lighting integrated into the kinetic art feature for an additional layer of architectural illumination
• Control4 keypad control providing intuitive access to lighting throughout the surrounding spaces
• Custom simulator turf, wall panels, and platform buildout designed specifically around the Golfzon system and surrounding architecture

Skyway Motor Space demonstrates what can happen when technology is treated as part of the architecture rather than something added afterward. From the low-level lighting that visually frames the vehicles to an automated protection system that disappears when it is no longer needed, every solution was designed to perform without compromising the space around it.