Full-scale projection studio opens in Coeur d'Alene

Jeremy Decker, owner of Immersive Studio CDA, had been in the construction industry for 25 years and was about to build a house for him and his wife.  

Looking at the home's architectural design, Jeremy said it was difficult for her to understand the rooms' scale.  

"She was having a hard time visualizing how things would fit in a room — especially in the living room — wondering if a couch would fit or not," Jeremy said. "So, I started searching for a tool to help with the visualization process." 

During his search, he discovered technology that can "bring architectural plans to life," displaying them at a true 1:1 scale and allowing architects, builders, designers and their clients to walk through a future home or commercial building before construction begins. 

"It's the Inland Northwest's first full-scale production studio," Decker said. 

Decker said his new 70-foot-by-50-foot studio at 216 E. Coeur d'Alene Ave. is the ideal place to project full-scale interior layouts for a home or commercial structure. 

"What's neat about this is we can service any type of home or business because we can move the floors around and show the elevations of the walls," Decker said. "If you have a cabinet elevation that bumps to the floor, we can show you that exact elevation of what those cabinets are going to look like." 

Decker said if an architect or designer wants to bring their own laptop in and show him their model, he can share a screen with them.  

"They can pull up their model, fly around in it, do whatever they want to do," he said. "And that's really nice to be able to see through the model at a large size." 

Decker said viewing a full-scale model before construction begins has its advantages. 

"It not only gives people an understanding of the scale and the size of things, but it also saves making expensive change orders," Decker said. "During construction there's always unexpected change orders that cost money. I built this visualization model to help avoid that. It's a lot cheaper to change things on paper than after construction has begun." 

Decker said his projection studio has other uses beyond the building and design industry. 

"We can have private events, private parties, sales presentations and investor presentations. It's really set up to do multiple things," he said. "If developers are building a bunch of condos and they have four different designs, they could use our space as a sales gallery to pre-sell those condos or houses or whatever before they even start construction." 

Decker said Immersive Studio CDA, which opened in mid-September, has been well-received. 

"People are excited about it and want to get in and take a look, which is awesome," Decker said. "I'm doing a lot of private demos. A lot of architects want to see it too, so they know how it can help them as well." 

Decker said Adept Construction, which builds homes in Spokane and North Idaho, and Uptic Studios, an architecture firm in downtown Spokane, utilize his services. 

Immersive Studio CDA is open by appointment only Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 208-755-2696 or visit www.immersivestudiocda.com. 

    A projection of a home's interior layout and exterior with landscaping.
  

    Jeremy Decker, owner of Immersive Studio CDA
  

Now the TidBits    

New and Upcoming 

• Pullman-based Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories is expanding its manufacturing operations to Post Falls.

• A Circle K Store is coming to the southeast corner of Highway 41 and Poleline in Post Falls.

• Ross Dress for Less is coming to Ironwood Square in Coeur d'Alene. It will be located in the old Rite Aid space. 

• Idaho Primary Care and Wellness opened a new location at 1581 E. Edmonton Ave. in Post Falls. 

• Crayon Box Child Care is now open at 245 W. Bosanko Ave. in Coeur d'Alene. 

• Government Way Antique Mall at 7352 N. Government Way in Dalton Gardens is now open. 

• Mor Furniture for Less, located in the Prairie Shopping Center in Hayden, is open. 

Ongoing Projects   

• Chipotle is building a restaurant on West Neider Avenue in Coeur d'Alene

• A Goodwill store is being built at 750 W. Canfield Ave. in Coeur d'Alene.  

• Chase Bank is under development next to Verizon and Starbucks off Prairie Avenue and U.S. 95 in Hayden. 

• The Selkirk Center is building a new Health Care and mixed-use campus at Lancaster Road and Highway 41 in Rathdrum. 

• ATC Manufacturing Inc. in Post Falls is building a project to nearly double its 67,000-square-foot headquarters. 

• Super 1 Foods is building a new location at Highway 41 and Prairie Avenue in Post Falls.      

• A new commercial building is planned for the Riverstone development at 1570 W. Tilford Lane and will bring at least one new dining option to the area. The 7,500-square-foot mixed-use building is expected to be completed in early fall.      

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Have a tip on local business happenings? Contact Bob at [email protected].