Smart Glass Conference Room Carlsbad — 500 sqft for Upper Deck
Project Overview
In 2025 our team completed a smart glass conference room Carlsbad install for Upper Deck — 500 sqft of PDLC switchable smart film retrofitted across a single large, steel-framed conference room at the company’s offices. The full panel array switches in unison from clear to opaque, driven by a single wall switch and a single transformer.
The Problem
Upper Deck needed a conference room that could host open, collaborative meetings one minute and confidential leadership discussions the next, without anyone having to leave the room or relocate. The space was built with full-height glass on every face — a deliberate design choice that opened the room to the rest of the office but left zero privacy when sensitive material was on screen. Static frosting, blinds, or shades would have undercut the architecture; the room needed to flex.
- Privacy on demand for executive meetings, partner reviews, and presentations
- Preserve the open, daylight-driven sightlines that defined the office aesthetic
- Single-touch control simple enough for any employee, no app or training
- No demolition, no permitting, no taking the room offline
Why a smart film retrofit was the right call
Replacing 500 sqft of installed steel-framed glazing with new laminated smart glass would have meant pulling the panels, rebuilding the frame interfaces, and shutting the room down for weeks. For Upper Deck specifically, the steel framing and integrated glazing meant the room couldn’t be modified piecemeal — pulling one panel meant pulling them all. A PDLC smart film retrofit avoided every one of those costs. We bonded the switchable film to the existing glass — no demo, no reframing, no downtime. Upper Deck kept the architecture that made the room work and got switchable privacy in a single install window.
Smart Glass Conference Room Carlsbad: The Build
We applied PDLC switchable smart film — a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal layer that turns clear when powered and opaque when off — across the full 500 sqft of conference-room glazing. The engineering call we’re proud of on this smart glass conference room Carlsbad install: every panel runs off a single transformer, wired to a single wall switch. Most installs at this scale split the load across multiple drivers and zones; we engineered the run so one switch operates the entire room at once. Toggle on and the room is open. Toggle off and the whole 500 sqft turns private in under a second.
Install specs:
| Square footage | 500 sqft |
| Scope | Single elevated conference room, steel-framed, full-height glass |
| Product | PDLC switchable smart glass (film applied to existing glazing) |
| Control | Single wall switch |
| Electrical | Single transformer powering the full 500 sqft panel array |
| Completion | 2025 |
| Client | Upper Deck (Carlsbad, CA) |
The Outcome
The conference room now switches roles in under a second. Open collaboration mode for team meetings and walk-throughs; private mode for partner negotiations, leadership reviews, and confidential presentations. With the film clear, the room reads as the original architecture intended — full daylight, open sightlines, steel frame visible. With the film opaque, the same 500 sqft becomes a sealed box, and the rest of the office can’t see in. The single-switch design means whoever’s running the meeting handles privacy themselves — no IT call, no key, no app to load. The single-transformer wiring also means there’s only one component to service long-term, a meaningful win for a commercial space that has to keep meetings running. Upper Deck reported the smart glass conference room Carlsbad install delivered exactly what the architecture promised but couldn’t on its own — flexibility without compromise.
Planning a similar install?
If your office, partner suite, or executive boardroom needs switchable privacy across a large single-room install, we can scope a smart film retrofit at any sqft. View our other smart glass projects or request a free estimate.