Hasta La Ideas

Glowing walls, windows and furniture will replace light bulbs and LEDs in homes as OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology improves, according to Dietmar Thomas of Philips Lumiblade (+ movie).

“Just imagine windows where transparent OLEDs are integrated,” says Thomas. “During the day the sun shines into the room and at night you’re not switching on the ceiling lamp or the wall lamp, you’re switching on the window.”

The low working temperature of OLEDs – around 30 degrees centigrade – mean that lighting source can be integrated into furniture, Thomas says, and even painted onto walls.

“OLED will open up completely new ways where light can be introduced to the customer,” Thomas says. “In the far future, say five or 10 years or so, you’ll paint the wall with a colour with OLEDs mixed into it, so when you apply a current, the whole wall lights up.”

Thomas spoke to Dezeen at the Lumiblade Creative Lab in Aachen, Germany, where we were invited to make a film about OLED technology and its future uses.

OLEDs generate light when electricity is passed through layers of organic semiconductor material mounted on glass.

“OLED is the first light source that is a surface light source,” Thomas says. “All other lights sources are point light sources, starting with the flame, the candle and going up to the light bulb and the LED. For the first time you don’t need a system to spread the light. The system is built in.”

Today’s OLEDs are less than 2mm thin and their maximum size is 12 x 12cm but in the near future they will be less than a millimetre thin and up to a metre square, Thomas predicts.

While today they are relatively expensive, prices are expected to fall dramatically: “I expect OLEDs to be in the mass market within the next five years, so everyone can buy OLED systems at IKEA,” says Thomas.

Lumiblade is the brand name of Philips’ OLED lighting products and the Lumiblade Creative Lab is used to introduce designers to OLEDs and help them develop innovative uses for the technology. Products on show at the lab include prototypes by Tom Dixon, Jason Bruges and rAndom International.

Other future uses for OLEDs include in cars, where their thinness compared to LED technology will allow car designers to provide more internal space or design shorter vehicles.

Designs developed at the Lumiblade Creative Lab include Mimosa, an interactive piece by Jason Bruges (above).

The music in the movie is a track called Mostly Always Right by 800xL. Listen to the track on Dezeen Music Project.

Here’s some text from Philips Lumiblade about OLED technology:

OLED – The new Art of Light

OLEDs (Organic Light-Emitting Diodes) represent the next step forward in the evolution of new light sources, generating light by semiconductors, rather than using a filament or gas. Like LED lighting, OLEDs provide illumination that is more energy-efficient, longer-lasting and more sustainable. It also opens exciting new doors to how we can use, integrate and ‘play’ with light for decorative, design and ambience creation purposes in our cities – in homes, offices, shops or hotels.

LEDs and OLEDs – the difference

A key difference is that OLEDs are created using organic semiconductors, while LEDs are built in crystals from an inorganic material. There are also visible differences between these two types of solid-state lighting. LEDs are glittering points of light – in essence, brilliant miniature bulbs. OLEDs, on the other hand, are extremely flat panels that evenly emit light over the complete surface. The illumination they produce is ‘calm’, more glowing and diffuse, and non-glaring.

The thin, flat nature of OLEDs also enables us to use and integrate light in ways that are impossible with any other light source. OLEDs will not replace LEDs – they have their own very specific and useful types of application. The two, however, complement each other very well, providing different options in a new era of digital lighting.

Leading the development and application of OLEDs

Philips was one of the first companies to make OLED lighting technology commercially available to architects and designers on a large scale through its Lumiblade OLED panels of different shapes, colors and structure, marketed under the name Philips Lumiblade. Furthermore, Philips’ Lumiblade Creative Lab in Aachen, Germany, gives lighting designers, luminaire manufacturers and creative minds the opportunity to get hands-on experience of OLED light as a material, and to partner with Philips in creating customized OLED solutions.

The company also has OLED product development facilities in Brazil and China, enabling close collaboration with architects and designers all over the world, and announced a EUR 40 million investment to expand production capacity at its facility in Aachen last year.

Capturing the beauty of light with OLED applications

In a highly competitive market, hotels, retailers and companies are constantly looking for ways to stand out from the crowd, as a distinct brand with a unique identity. Their image and identity are also communicated through the design and decoration of their shops, hotels or offices. Innovative lighting applications can play an important role in creating a unique ambience in these environments. Philips Lumiblade offers a range of such applications incorporating OLED lighting into eye catching products.

Philips’ LivingShapes interactive wall, the world’s largest OLED lighting installation that is commercially available today, consists of 72 OLED panels incorporating a total of 1,152 Lumiblade OLEDs. Each panel has a click-fit system, so customers can easily combine as many panels as they want, generating an interactive OLED installation within a few minutes. The installation is ideal for company headquarters, lounges, hotel lobbies or high- end residential constructions.

Philips will take interactive OLED lighting even further with the launch of the LivingShapes interactive mirror in 2012, shown for the first time at the LIGHTFAIR in Las Vegas. The interactive mirror is designed to enhance retail showrooms and enhance ambience in a hospitality setting.

Philips continues to lead the market in making OLED lighting brighter, larger and available for broader use with the introduction of its new high performance OLED Lumiblade GL350. The new OLED panel, shown for the first time in the US, offers an unprecedented combination of lumen output and size at an attractive price-performance ratio, making OLED lighting more viable than ever before for general lighting applications.

How OLEDs work

OLED lighting works by passing electricity through one or more incredibly thin layers of organic semiconductors. These layers are sandwiched between two electrodes – one positively charged and one negatively. The ‘sandwich’ is placed on a sheet of glass or other transparent material called a ‘substrate’.

When current is applied to the electrodes, they emit positively and negatively charged holes and electrons. These combine in the middle layer of the sandwich and create a brief, high-energy state called ‘excitation’. As this layer returns to its original, stable, ‘non-excited’ state, the energy flows evenly through the organic film, causing it to emit light. Using different materials in the organic films makes it possible for the OLEDs to emit different colored light.

The OLEDs currently available are mounted on glass. So far, glass is the only transparent substrate that sufficiently protects the material inside from the effects of moisture and air. However, scientists at Philips Research are investigating ways to make soft plastic substrates that will provide the necessary protection. This will open the way for bendable and moldable OLED lighting panels, making it possible for any surface area – flat or curved – to become a light source. We could see the development of luminous walls, curtains, ceilings and even furniture. Flexible OLED panels are likely to become available within 6 years.

Today, OLEDs generally have a reflective, mirror-like surface when not illuminated. Another current area of research is on the development of completely transparent OLEDs, which will open many new doors in application possibilities. Transparent OLED panels will be able to function as ordinary windows during the day, and light up after dark, either mimicking natural light, or providing attractive interior lighting. During the day, they could also function as privacy shields in homes or offices. Look out for transparent OLED panels within the next 2 years.

Product Performance (2012)

» up to 45 lm/W in different shades of white and RGB
» up to 4,000 cd/m2 brightness
» up to 15,000 hours lifetime (at 50% initial brightness)
» 1.8 mm thin
» <100 cm surface

As a rule of thumb: we expect the efficiency to double every 2-3 years.

The post “At night you won’t switch on the ceiling
lamp. You’ll switch on the window.” appeared first on Dezeen.

Design Miami: design duo Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram have used technology from the car-racing industry to develop a chair made by robots that weighs just 2.2 kilograms (+ movie).

Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram worked with experts at Audi’s Lightweight Design Centre to produce the R18 Ultra, a chair named after and inspired by Audi’s ultra lightweight prototype race car.

“We started using technology that you find in [the R18 Ultra] car and translated it into a piece of furniture, which is quite exciting because we got access to technology the furniture industry can’t even dream of,” Weisshaar told Dezeen at Design Miami.

Earlier this year Dezeen reported on the public beta testing for the R18 Ultra, where hundreds of visitors to the Milan furniture fair sat on the chair while it was hooked up to advanced stress-analysis sensors.

“It’s a process somewhat borrowed from the testing and development of a racecar,” said Kram. “Sitting is a very dynamic activity, weirdly, and everybody uses the chair differently,” added Weisshaar. “So simply putting weight on it and doing static load tests doesn’t get you anywhere. You actually need people to engage with it.”

Using data from the public beta testing, the designers worked out where they could trim off unnecessary weight from the carbon-fibre shell. “The nature of composite is it’s always a layering process,” said Weisshaar.”That also allows you to just take off layers where you don’t need the material.

“It’s completely different from any subtractive manufacturing or moulding, where you have a continuous wall thickness and continuous materiality. Here, not only can you manipulate the wall thickness, you can also manipulate the materiality.”

The legs of the chair are cut out from flat sheets of aluminium and then put together using the same cold metal transfer technology that Audi uses to make cars.

“They’re mass production techniques,” said Weisshaar, “but there are even more exciting mass production techniques in the making in the labs, which we couldn’t use because they’re totally locked away and top secret. So what we’re showing here is what’s happening tomorrow – but what’s happening the day after tomorrow is even more exciting.”

In 2010 Kram and Weisshaar worked with Audi to install eight robotic arms in London’s Trafalgar Square, where they spelled out messages in mid-air.

Dezeen was in Miami last week reporting on all the highlights of the Design Miami collectors fair, including the sausage-shaped inflatables around the fair’s entrance, an “ice halo” of Swarovski crystals and an installation of perfect natural curves inspired by the art nouveau history of a champagne maker – see all our stories about Design Miami.

See all our stories about Kram and Weisshaar »
See all our stories about chairs »

Here’s some more information from the designer:

R18 Ultra Chair
designed by by Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram
for Audi

December 5-9, 2012
Design Miami/
Miami Beach, FL, USA

Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram have developed a chair using methods borrowed from the future of automotive manufacturing in collaboration with Audi’s Lightweight Design Center. The chair’s multi-material space frame is made from carbon composites, carbon micro-sandwich and high strength aluminum and weighs only 2.2 kg or 77 ounces. The chair embodies Audi’s ultra lightweight design credo completely by following strict guidelines to shave off every ounce of excess weight.

The R18 Ultra Chair’s genesis incorporates crowd-sourced data acquired through thousands of testing sessions held in Milan during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in April 2012. Using advanced physics simulation software, the big data set enabled designers and engineers to analyze a wide variety of load scenarios and carefully adjust and optimize the carbon fiber lay up, geometry and dimensions of the final object accordingly.

At Design Miami/ the chair’s designers and engineers are giving visitors an intimate insight into their studios and labs, displaying drawings, samples, models, mock-ups, moulds and prototypes from the various stages of the development process. This includes an industrial welding robot and the chair’s namesake and inspiration, the R18 Ultra – the pace car for an entire technology: Audi ultra.

Audi ultra stands for state of the art lightweight construction, technology and design aimed at streamlining and optimizing efficiency across the board. This begins with the raw materials sourced for production all the way through various manufacturing stages, the operation of the vehicle, its fuel consumption and its deconstruction and recyclability at the end of its life cycle.

Aluminum is a key material in Audi’s repertoire of lightweight design technologies: The chair’s legs are made of folded sheet aluminum, welded by an industrial robot using a cold metal transfer process. The chair’s seat shell is fabricated from the latest carbon composite materials: a combination of carbon micro-sandwich and carbon rubber composites extrapolated directly from components of the racecar. The R18 Ultra Chair manifests Audi’s ultra lightweight design credo in a 2.2 kg (77oz) piece of furniture that is ultra light and extremely durable.

The post R18 Ultra Chair by Clemens Weisshaar
and Reed Kram appeared first on Dezeen.

Random snippets of news headlines are harvested from the internet, muddled up and printed using a traditional wooden letterpress in this movie by the Out of Print team.

Out of Print was organised by designer and illustrator Roma Levin, designer James Cuddy, digital maker Danilo Di Cuia and a team of students from Goldsmiths, University of London.

The installation first asked visitors to choose a selection of news sources. An algorithm then selected words from headlines in those publications and combined them with trending data from social networks to generate random headlines, which visitors scrolled through until they found one that resonated with them.

This was then sent to the @outofprintevent Twitter account to be queued for printing on a traditional wood-block letterpress using a font developed especially for the installation. Visitors could then buy the posters for £10 each or leave them on display for others to enjoy.

The app throws up intriguing combinations as “NATO need to rethink thinking”, “Prada do like crisps” and “Kate has a nuclear war”. “Some of them are quite obscure, some of them are quite funny, some of them are quite profound,” Levin told Dezeen.

“Essentially what the app does is read ten news sources at the same time. What it emulates is the bombardment from so many sources of information we consume and that by trying to consume ever more we end up actually understanding less,” he explained.

Above: listen to Roma Levin explain the Out of Print installation

The Out of Print project was first shown at 4 Cromwell Place in the Brompton Design District during the London Design Festival. See all our coverage of the London Design Festival 2012.

Here’s some more information from the Out of Print organisers:

The invention of the printing press is the finest example of how a shift in technology can change the way we communicate. In the 21st century, digital technology has become the defining force shaping society; changing the way we live, interact and consume information.

But with the growth of digital media we are now faced with unprecedented levels of data. We find ourselves at a saturation point. By attempting to consume ever more, we end up understanding less.

In this context, we find news and media redefined to fit our shortened attention spans. How do we make sense of all the information we consume and not get lost in the process? Through the use of traditional printing techniques we explore this question.

By using live online news feeds we are building a digital application that generates seemingly random headlines; these will then be printed using a custom-built letterpress. The prints will form a growing collection exhibited as part of the installation.

Both the print process and the software can produce unexpected results. The distortions and juxtapositions in language create headlines that are profound and confusing in equal measure. This notion is not unlike our evolving relationship with digital media today.

Roma Levin is a Russian born designer and illustrator with a cross- disciplinary approach. Since graduating from Goldsmiths University and London College of Communication, Roma has worked in Moscow and London for a wide range of clients ranging from Tate to Sir Bryan Ferry.

James Cuddy is a designer with an interest in the intersect between tangible and digital objects. A graduate of Goldsmiths College, James has since worked with agencies in London and Barcelona and for forward thinking clients such as the Whitechapel and the V&A.

Danilo Di Cuia is a digital maker from Matera, Italy. He started programming before knowing anything about computer science and has worked on the web since owning his first dial-up modem. After studying graphic design and new media in Milan and San Francisco, he now works for small and big international clients, mostly nice people.

The build of the printing press is being led by a team from Goldsmiths College Design BA:

Hefin Jones
Andrea Mourdjis Monika Patel
Candyce Dryburgh
Verity Nichols
Daisy Saul
Katinka Schaaf

Out of Print is kindly supported by Goldsmiths College, AlchemyAPI and GF Smith Paper.

The post Out of Print by Roma Levin, James Cuddy,
Danilo Di Cuia and Goldsmiths students appeared first on Dezeen.

Icelandic designer Katrin Olina describes how she translates characters from her imagination into drawings, animations, products and interiors in this movie we filmed at Dezeen Live at 100% Design.

Above: “The Wanderer” ink drawing

The first of five images Olina presents is an ink drawing of one of her creations, a character with an intriguing back story about journeying named ”The Wanderer”. “My culture is based a lot around story telling and I think it is something we carry within us,” she explains.

From hand drawing, she moves on to show a digitally-illustrated animation. ”When I started to use a computer in the nineties it completely revolutionised my life,” she says. “I saw it as a window into the extended mind.”

Above: digitally-illustrated animation

Olina proceeds to show her designs for Cristal Bar in Hong Kong, a bar where every surface is patterned, to demonstrate how she applies her illustrations to interior projects. ”By galvanising the space in this imagery it feels like an extension of the architecture, extending your mind into another space.”

She then explains how her characters inspired a collection of bent-steel furniture. ”With these creatures I see them as letters in an alphabet, they’re like nuances, they’re colours,” she explains, listing examples such as her “book dogs” which she describes as “little shelves that carry your books, never happier than at your feet”.

Above: Cristal Bar interior, Hong Kong

Finally, she shows a short teaser animation of characters from her forthcoming book, which she hopes to publish next year. “It’s about a girl from the old world who goes on a journey into the new world to find a lost dream and she meets different kinds of characters,” she says. ”I see all these creatures moving in my mind’s eye when I’m drawing them and I wish technology was just more advanced so all these things could be moving.”

Dezeen Live was a series of discussions between Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs and a number of designers and critics that took place as part of the talks programme at design exhibition 100% Design during this year’s London Design Festival.

Above: Friends of Steel and Miklimeir furniture collection

Each of the four one-hour shows, recorded live in front of an audience, featured three interviews plus music from Dezeen Music Project featuring a new act each day. Over the next few weeks we’ll be posting all the movies we filmed during the talks.

We’ve already published a couple of movies from the series so far: in the first IDEO UK design director Tom Hulme encourages designers to be more entrepreneurial and in the second architect and writer Sam Jacob questions whether we could be human without objects.

The music featured in this movie is a track called Don’t Go by east London band Strong Asian Mothers. You can listen to more of their music on Dezeen Music Project.

Above: teaser animation featuring characters from Olina’s forthcoming book

See all our stories about Katrin Olina »
See all our stories about Dezeen Live »
See all our stories about London Design Festival 2012 »

The post “I use my imagination to create story spaces”
– Katrin Olina at Dezeen Live appeared first on Dezeen.

The fourth and final movie from our series featuring the architecture of Slovenian studio OFIS Arhitekti features Shopping Roof Apartments, an apartment block on the roof of a shopping market in the Alpine village of Bohinjska Bistrica.

Completed in 2007, the apartments were designed by OFIS Arhitekti on an L-shaped plan around a rooftop courtyard. This layout opens up views of the mountains to the south and allows as much sunlight as possible to reach each residence.

Diagonal rows of grey slate tiles clad the building’s pitched roof and wrap down onto some of the walls, protecting them from damage by strong winds and snow.

West-facing balconies also need shelter from the weather and sit within recesses in the facade.

The architects used locally sourced larch for the other elevations, adding vertical panels across the walls and chunky slats around the balconies.

Dezeen first revealed images of Shopping Roof Apartments when it was first completed, alongside an apartment block based on local Alpine hayracks.

See more movies in this series produced by Carniolus, including one about an Alpine holiday hut and another about three baroque houses converted into apartments.

Other projects by OFIS Arhitekti on Dezeen include student housing inspired by wooden baskets and an apartment with staggered floors.

See all our stories about OFIS Arhitekti »

Photography is by Tomaz Gregoric.

Above: first floor plan – click above to see larger image

Above: second floor plan – click above to see larger image

Above: third floor plan – click above to see larger image

Above: roof plan – click above to see larger image

Above: section A – click above to see larger image

Above: section B – click above to see larger image

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by OFIS Arhitekti appeared first on Dezeen.