The AVINU team carried out a heritage-sensitive KNX smart home transformation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s former residence, featuring delivered eelectron OL-U control interfaces.
Located in the heart of North Oxford’s residential district, Northmoor Road is a home of national cultural significance, internationally recognised as the former residence of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tolkien lived there with his wife Edith and their four children between 1930 and 1947, and much of his Middle-earth writing was developed at the home. The current owners, now raising their own family, commissioned AVINU to integrate intelligent home technology while preserving and enhancing the historic features of this Grade II listed property.
Darryl Roberts, Managing Director, AVINU explains that the design vision was shaped by a deep understanding of the clients’ priorities: to preserve the architectural integrity of the home while creating a modern, intuitive environment. The brief was not simply to ‘add technology’, but to ensure that every intervention felt intentional, discreet and aligned with the character of the property and the lifestyle of its occupants.
Darryl says, “From the earliest design discussions, we worked closely with the architect and heritage planning team to understand where the building could be adapted, where it must be protected and how modern systems could be integrated without visual compromise. “Original joinery, plasterwork and detailing were carefully respected, with routing strategies and device positioning planned in collaboration with all trades. KNX was selected not merely as a control protocol, but as the strategic backbone that would allow the home to function as a unified whole. Its decentralised architecture, flexibility and long-term reliability provided the foundation for a carefully layered integration strategy, one that could adapt to changing family routines while maintaining architectural clarity.”
ANINU reveals that the guiding principles of the project were threefold:
Discretion without compromise: ensuring that switches, sensors and control points enhanced rather than interrupted the interior design.
Unified intelligence: aligning lighting, heating and cooling, shading, gardens and AV under a single, coherent logic structure.
Future resilience: designing a system that is scalable, serviceable and robust enough to evolve with the home over time.
KNX at the Core
At the heart of the transformation is a fully integrated KNX Building Management System (BMS), designed and commissioned to unify every major service across the main house, the front and rear gardens, and the newly constructed garden room.
Rather than treating lighting, climate control, shading and environmental systems as isolated elements, a platform that aligns all services has been engineered into a single intelligent control to the client’s requirements and daily routines. The result is a home that responds quietly and intuitively, while preserving architectural integrity.
Lighting throughout the property is fully integrated into the KNX framework. Internally, scene-based control allows each space to transition between day, evening and entertaining modes, with calibrated dimming curves tailored to the character of each room.
Externally, both the front façade and rear garden lighting are incorporated into the same logic structure. Architectural features, pathways and planted areas are illuminated intelligently, with seasonal adjustments and security-based schedules operating in the background. The garden room lighting integrates within this system, ensuring the extension feels like a natural continuation of the original house.
Heating, Cooling & Environmental Control
Each room benefits from carefully balanced temperature management, with heating, comfort cooling and towel rail control all operating within a centralised logic strategy. Seasonal optimisation, temperature set-back modes and occupancy-linked adjustments ensure that the home remains consistently comfortable without unnecessary energy use, important in heritage properties where fabric upgrades are restricted.
Blinds are integrated as part of the wider environmental strategy rather than functioning as standalone motorised elements. Solar gain, time of day and scene activation are all considered within the KNX logic, allowing shading to operate subtly and efficiently. This protects interior finishes, reduces glare and supports thermal performance, while maintaining the refined aesthetic of each room.
Occupancy – Intelligent Logic
Discrete occupancy detection enhances both comfort and efficiency. Transitional spaces respond automatically, guiding movement through the home in a subtle manner, while environmental systems adapt to presence and usage patterns.
App & Visualisation
All building services are visualised through a dedicated BMS application, providing intuitive access to lighting, climate, shading and scene control whether the family is at home or away. Remote monitoring and control ensure flexibility without compromising security or reliability. While the user experience is elegantly simple, the underlying architecture is robust and decentralised, a hallmark of the KNX standard and a key reason it was selected for this culturally significant project.
By aligning lighting, comfort cooling and heating, shading, gardens, the new garden room, audio-visual systems and networking infrastructure within a single KNX framework, AVINU delivered a genuinely unified intelligent home.
This holistic, logic-driven integration reflects the depth of coordination undertaken across architectural, mechanical and electrical disciplines, and exemplifies the calibre of work recognised by AVINU’s 2025 Smart Building Award for Best Whole Home Integration Project.
OL-U Switches
As the interior design developed, the clients wanted a control interface that felt authentic to the warm materials of the home while delivering premium functionality.
AVINU selected the Italian manufacturer eelectron and the OL-U KNX Metal edition range in brushed bronze, chosen for its combination of refined aesthetics, tactile interaction and advanced KNX functionality. The eelectron OL-U switches provide tactile scene control, lighting adjustment, shading functions and more.
Darryl explains, “The client particularly appreciated the RGB slider-bar dimmer for its intuitive, tactile interaction and exceptionally smooth operation. OL-U devices were installed in every room of the house and the separate garden room, offering a unified architectural aesthetic and premium user experience without compromising quality or performance.”
Also as a unique nod to the heritage of the home, the client embraced Tolkien’s legacy by creating custom LOTR-themed icons for the OL-U switch buttons. These include symbols such as a mountain, a wizard’s hat, a ring and a flame motif.
eelectron OL-U were used throughout the home
In-House Customisation & MyCustom Portal
A key aspect for the AVINU team of Eelectron is its in-house customisation process, managed through the proprietary MyCustom portal. This platform allows partners to configure finishes, layouts and button engravings with precision, translating design concepts directly into production-ready products. Custom icons and symbols are engraved using Eelectron’s in-house laser engraving machines, ensuring accuracy, consistency and quality control. This approach delivers bespoke solutions – such as the Lord of the Rings-inspired iconography in this project – while maintaining reliability and short lead times. This project also represents a milestone for Eelectron as the very first OL-U project in the United Kingdom, something the team were excited about.
The project benefitted from close collaboration between AVINU, Eelectron and the UK distributor Aldous Systems. AVINU worked closely with Giangiacomo Pastore, Regional Business Director – Europe, who supported the project through specification, scheduling and delivery of the newly launched OL-U range. Aldous Systems – led by Jason Aldous – played an invaluable role in product selection, costing, supply logistics and coordinating the production of the custom LOTR icon engravings.
Multi-Room Entertainment
Designing multi-room audio for a listed property presents unique challenges. AVINU designed a discreet, high-performance audio system that integrates into the property without affecting protected surfaces. Working with the clients and interior designers, AVINU utilised Monitor Audio Vecta speakers positioned high in the corners of rooms or built into bespoke joinery. This ensures an immersive listening experience while maintaining visual discretion. Audio extends into the garden with weather-resistant speakers and hidden speakers at the front of the house allow the clients to play atmospheric Tolkien-inspired effects – an imaginative and memorable feature.
All television installations were integrated into bespoke joinery to avoid impacting original walls and preserve the clean lines of each room.
The dedicated home cinema was also designed and delivered by AVINU, featuring high-performance audio, acoustic treatment and automated lighting, shading and environmental control through KNX.
AVINU also delivered a robust data and networking infrastructure using Ruckus and Ubiquiti network hardware, supporting wired and wireless networking across indoor and outdoor areas.
Delivering this level of control and entertainment in a period property is never easy, add the extra level of the property’s national heritage status and the pressure was really on. AVINU really delivered as the client enthuses, “We had a fantastic experience working with AVINU during our house renovation. They covered the installation/automation of lighting, speakers, internet, heating/cooling and windows. From the start, the team was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and easy to work with. Their recommendations were thoughtful and tailored to our house (which was listed, so needed a delicate touch) and the way we live. The quality of the work has been excellent throughout, and the team super friendly. The only downside is that now we have to get used to turning on light switches when we visit other people’s houses.
Giangiacomo Pastore, Regional Business Director, Eelectron, was also very pleased with the result, commenting, “We were thrilled to see the very first OL-U installation in the UK realised in such an iconic and culturally important property. AVINU’s attention to detail and technical execution made this a landmark project for us.”
Final word here to Jason Aldous, Aldous Systems, “Supporting AVINU on this heritage project has been a pleasure. The OL-U range suited the home beautifully, and collaborating on the custom LOTR icons made this project truly one-of-a-kind.”
