Photographs: GA design
A recreation room is an important feature in a luxury home, especially when occupied by large families or occupants who love to entertain. This room is meant to provide entertainment as well as comfort to all of its users, irrespective of the age group they belong to. Shami Goregaoker, Project Manager and design strategist, GA design shares certain principal factors to be taken into account when designing a recreation room.
- Seating forms the most important element in this room. Depending on the recreation facilities in the space, seating can consist of couches, chairs, recliners, bar stools or even floor seating.
- The other important feature of a recreation room is lighting. The preferred lighting for a recreation room that is used mainly for audio/video set up is generally soft and indirect, whereas the lighting for a room used for games is supposed to be adequately bright for functionality. Alternately, for parties and social gatherings you can have varying lighting options – from indirect and intimate to colour-changing with a night-club feel.
- Games that are to be played in a recreation room in a residence are generally meant to entertain teenagers and adults. They could range from table-top games like board games and cards to more action-packed games like ping pong, foosball, air hockey and pool. You can also provide custom tables for casino games like poker, black jack and craps. If there is a space constraint, there are other options like dart board, pin ball and video games.
- Food and drink should also be considered when designing an entertainment room. The provision of a food counter or a console to prepare drinks is vital so as to avoid having plates and glasses strewn all over the space.
- Acoustic and sound-absorbing elements should be used if you don’t want the noise to affect other areas of the residence. These could be in the form of carpets, thick curtains and acoustic paneling.
- One aspect of a recreation room that is commonly missed out is storage. One should expect much clutter in this room because when people are having fun they are generally unorganized. So have some storage areas where you can put away your board games, movies, magazines and other accessories used for entertainment. Also make provision for wires to be stowed away and electrical gadgets to be safely put away when not in use.