Out of Bounds Design Contest - Students Exploring Complete Freedom in Lighting Design
Seventeen innovative prototypes are the outcome of a four-month long journey taken by students from the Department of Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich, Germany. In collaboration with Seoul Semiconductor they got to experiment with AC-LED modules as light sources and discover lighting design without the traditional barriers of LEDs. The prototypes will be exhibited at the LED professional Symposium +Expo 2015 in Bregenz, Austria.
Who better to explore complete freedom in lighting design than those with fresh eyes and minds, namely design students? This idea laid the foundation for Out of Bounds – Design Contest, which awarded the most imaginative, forward-thinking designs. “By engaging with young and creative students, who have no limits and could work unreservedly with this technology, we wanted to provide a platform to demonstrate what great solutions can be realized with the design freedom enabled by Acrich. By doing so, it was our goal to show established lighting manufacturers what excellent designs can be achieved with new technologies like AC-LED technology, and that in reality the barriers are not as high as the perception today”, said Andreas Weisl, Vice President Europe, Seoul Semiconductor.
Award Ceremony at the LpS 2015
On July 9th the prototypes were presented to a jury comprising of Prof. Peter Naumann from the University of Applied Science in Munich, the internationally well-known industrial designer Ingo Maurer, Andreas Weisl from Seoul Semiconductor, Stefan Eckstein - President of the federation of German lighting designers, Markus Helle - Chief Editor at the Highlight Magazine and Siegfried Luger - Founder of LED professional. According to the jury it was extremely difficult to choose a winner, as all prototypes were so different in their designs and application. Finally they agreed not to award any of the projects but to highlight three prototypes, which were most interesting from a technical point of view: a construction lamp from Lena Gillitzer, a hanging lamp from Julian Lange and another hanging lamp from Christopher Gros. “I am very proud of the fantastic results. The seventeen luminaries couldn't have been more diverse. This diversity highlights the quality and creativity of the young designers”, stated Prof. Naumann, who guided the group of students through the project. The award ceremony will take place on Sept. 22nd at the LpS 2015 as a part of the “Design meets Technology” program. All seventeen prototypes will be exhibited during the three-day LpS event in Bregenz, the meeting point for the international lighting industry.
A student describes her journey
Magdalena Gillitzer created an innovative construction lamp, consisting of two foldable light panels. The panels can be turned and twisted for creating different light directions and different impressions. She described the Acrich3 technology as very useful and important for her lamp as the lamp stays flat in the design without any electronic ballast. This makes it easier to carry the lamp and change locations.
Ms. Gillitzer has a passion for light and technology and she has taken part in other lighting projects before. “Seoul Semiconductor’s technology is something very functional, in my opinion. So it was clear to me from the beginning that I would design something useful and functional where the technology makes sense”, explained Ms. Gillitzer. In the research phase of her project she realized that most of the existing construction lights are very functional in their aesthetics and shape and therefore often not attractive. She decided to design something different: a functional lamp which is highly aesthetic at the same time. The most difficult part was for her to deal with high power LEDs, which produce a lot of heat and therefore need a certain sized cooling body and distance to the diffusor. “So in the end, the light effect had to take a back seat”, said Ms. Gillitzer. She focused on the body of the lamp, which is the cooling body at the same time.
In a next step she plans to give the 3D-Data of her construction lamp called “Trinity” to a professional miller. According to her it will be possible to optimize the cooling body in order to have an even better cooling effect through thinner cooling ribs. She also plans to optimize the light effects. After asking her about her future plans she said “It would be great to use the Acriche 3 Technology one day to have a dimmable light”.
LpS Event Website: www.LpS2015.com
Design meets Technology Program: www.LpS2015.com/DmT
SSC Design Contest: www.seoul-be-bright.com/contest/
Students Blog: www.seoul-be-bright.com/participants/#posts
All images © 2015 Gunnar Menzel http://gunnar-menzel.de
