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Schluter House Case Study

Schluter Systems provides ceramic and stone tile installation systems that benefit the tile industry. Along with offering high-quality products, Schluter has always been committed to education and training in industry-approved installation methods. These ongoing commitments lead to the idea of the Schluter House.

Concept

Initially the idea was to create a website that would serve as an online resource center for tile related projects and products. The first steps towards realizing the project began with multiple brain storming sessions involving Schluter, Bk design and home renovation experts. These sessions were truly open and free-flowing, allowing each party to contribute in a meaningful way. More importantly, ample time was given to mesh the goals and priorities of each participant group into a single, cohesive vision.

Schluter’s primary marketing has traditionally been directed at contractors, relying on them to in turn disseminate knowledge to the end-users. The Schluter House represents a break in this paradigm, for the first time directing a large effort squarely at the general public (or the term we affectionately coined for them – “Mrs.Jones”). After all, property owners represent the end client in every scenario, and can in fact be used to leverage new contractors into the Schluter fold by informing them of the benefits and innovations of Schluter Systems. The final consensus was to develop an immersive online experience focused on providing not only information on Schluter products, but on tiling in general. A one stop shop for thorough and intimate tiling knowledge, for beginners and industry veterans alike.

CGI

The design of the Schluter House itself was first collaboratively approached with Schluter and contracting experts. This was to ensure that not only would the house be beautiful, but that it would stand up to scrutiny on a functional and architectural level. This was necessary to ensure that the variety of projects and locations Schluter products would be applied would be as realistic and correctly built as possible. A great deal of thought went into the design, including environmental and aesthetic localization issues, energy efficiency and more. In fact, when the house was being created in 3D it was put together very much as a real house would - foundation, framing, walls, finishing… even plumbing was accounted for. Needless to say, the process was quite time consuming but the level of flexibility afforded by the effort would not have been possible otherwise. At any time, the user can navigate to the room and project of their choice, choosing exactly what they wish to see, from a view of exposed construction materials to the finished beauty shot.

Since the 3D architecture was constructed exactly as it would in real life, carefully layering on substrates, thinset, profiles and ceramics in full interactive 3D. Not only were the rooms being used to create renders for the website, Bk design has also used the ability to create any camera angle and quickly render images for other marketing material such as brochures and video. We made sure to create all assets in HD resolutions to ensure maximum returns for the client, affording them alternate and complementary marketing assets for a minimal investment.

Programming

The rendered CGI frames were integrated into a web based application built entirely in Flash where the house, products and rooms themselves form the primary interface. The system was carefully coded to run smoothly on a variety of systems both older and current, allowing a consistent and expansive experience for almost any user. Due to the varied types and large amounts of information presented the site navigation was designed to be as intuitive as possible, starting with a few choices and gradually added more details as the viewer travels deeper into each section.

The “Choose” section is graphically the most intense section. In order to ensure smooth transitions, we could not simply load everything up at once on opening the site. The way around this was to load the products, finishes and tile patterns dynamically per section as the user selects them. This method, coupled with careful compression reduces both the initial waiting time and internet bandwidth used. Each room also supports a beginner “Learn” and advanced “Build” video and document section. These 2 sections are in essence dynamic libraries of indexed knowledge, presented in clear and friendly fashion. The user is free to browse for specialized topics, or take a multi-chapter crash course on tiling. To accomplish this, a custom video player with an interactive chapter selection system was developed and seamlessly integrated.

Guide

With any website that contains a lot of information, there will always be a learning curve. The Schluter House targets a broad audience that is very diverse in not only their tiling knowledge, but their online experience level as well. To help viewers along, Jon Eakes offers a very down-to-earth guide and friendly personality to ease users into the experience. His knowledge and expertise as a home renovation expert prove invaluable in the Learn and Build videos, making a potentially academic and intimidating subject fun and exciting. It is Jon’s prescence on the site both as guide and host that is a major contributor to giving this project a personal touch, and conveying that sense of sharing Schluter strives to impart.

The Result

The final result is an expansive and still growing interactive experience encompassing everything from 3D to print to video. An experience that invites viewers to both enhance their tiling knowledge and explore their design ideas and creativity by customizing products and finishes in each room. By encouraging engagement through the use of products and room interiors as part of the interface, we hope to impart a rapid understanding of Schluter methods, and perhaps more importantly convey a strong sense of the Schluter brand.

It’s not over…

The Schluter house has been designed from the beginning to easily add rooms and products. Check back regularly, we’re planning to add balconies, a garage, basement rooms and maybe a car in the driveway!

Our Work / Schluter House