The Study Hall/Technology Loft

June 1, 2002
Professional Builder

	In the study hall, basic can mean a lot of things. The simplest plan: a voice line and a Cat5E data line.

Visit five model homes designed for families, and you will see at least four with flex spaces modeled as study halls or technology lofts. The idea is that this is the place where children and young adults will be informed and entertained while using the Internet.

Depending on the size of the area, the owner might put several other networkable devices in that location, including a printer/scanner, a fax machine or even a television with an Xbox game player. Not everyone knows this, says systems integrator Steve Hayes, but Sony PlayStation 2s and Microsoft Xboxes are ready for broadband connections.

	A more robust plan for the study hall includes dedicated voice, data and fax lines, with two RG-6 video feeds.

So for this “data-dense” area, he recommends a minimum of two RG-6 cable jacks as well as connections for all voice and data lines in the house. It is in many ways like a home office. Having the printer in this location might in fact be more convenient as the default for all other computing locations except the home office.

Here again, the policies of Shea Homes and Estridge Communities differ. For Shea, one data line and one video feed, with an option to trim out both, is seen as enough. But because Estridge offers an eight-port, 10BaseT Ethernet hub in addition to a voice/data switching panel, it can offer more in the way of networked devices.

“We highly suspect that people will demand those services in the next five years,” says Estridge’s Mark Flagg. “So we are just trying to build them a home that has a skeleton that can handle that.”