In the latest episode of Genius Home, our intrepid hosts Caleb Denison and Ariana Escalante take us on a tour of a high-class hideaway in the Hollywood hills that goes to great lengths to conceal all of the home’s component technologies. We’ve seen plenty of hidden home tech in earlier episodes of this series, but this latest house somehow manages to kick things up a notch. Check it out!
The first example of hidden technology in this home — and arguably one of the most impressive — is the ingeniously engineered driveway. Most driveways force the owner to pull in forward, then back out when it’s time to leave again. Some fancier ones are loop shaped, allowing the owner to simply drive in a circle in order to exit. But this one is totally different. It’s equipped with a gigantic (and practically invisible) turntable that allows the home’s owner to pull the car in and park facing forward, then press a button to spin the car 180 degrees so that it’s facing outward and ready to depart. How cool is that?!
The fun doesn’t stop at the driveway. Step into the opulent entryway, waltz through the huge open-air sitting room, and you’ll find one of the most low-key high-tech kitchens we’ve ever set foot in. First of all, its’ outfitted with not one, but three islands — each of which houses a suite of commercial-grade appliances that are clad in marble and hidden from view. You’ll also notice that there doesn’t appear to be a refrigerator in the room. Looks can be deceiving, though. Pull out one of the wooden drawers on the wall and you’ll discover that the fridge is there after all — it’s just not the usual cabinet shape that most of us are used to.
Beyond the kitchen, the “hidden from view” theme continues in magical fashion. Outside the main sitting area, there’s a wall that, to the untrained eye, seems completely insignificant and uninteresting. Nothing could be further from the truth, though, as a touch on a nearby biometric pad will cause the wall to swing open, revealing a hidden theater room. It really doesn’t get much cooler than this!
Perhaps the greatest example of hiding, however, is the house itself. Despite being nestled in a fairly populous part of California, the home still manages to feel private, secluded, and isolated from the rest of the world. As Escalante points out during the tour, the house is filled with giant, floor-to-ceiling windows that would typically make you feel exposed — yet somehow the space still feels very private.
It’s one thing to hide an oven, or even a movie theater — but hiding an entire house? That’s truly next level.