The Solar Module Designer is as an interactive application, which allows one to design and configure the most diverse forms of solar modules with ease. This tool was available as an online application, a touch screen installation for trade shows and an iPad App.

It was developed in collaboration with Plural Kilian Krug.

Due to the need for a tool that helps architects visualise the various configurations that Odersun offers, we developed this communication tool that also helps the architects integrate unusual module shapes into their design/production drafts.

The custom designed solar modules can be exported as PDF/CAD-files, which can be directly integrated in construction plans or used as a reference in module manufacturing.

Awards

The Solar Module Designer was awarded the IF Communication Design Award, the Red Dot Award and the European Design Award Bronze.

Work
Interaction Design, Programming in Flash/ActionScript 3, Backend in PHP/MySQL

A part of the “Be Berlin” campaign, the interactive table in the shape of the city of Berlin, located in the foyer of the main municipal building (Rote Rathaus) Berlin, which is visited by a large number of tourists daily, shows bilingual descriptions of sights and stories from berliners on a satellite map.

The table allows visitors to get an insight into the many attractions berlin offers with historical pictures, descriptions in german/english and trivia. The multitouch surface enables several users to explore the content at the same time. This project was done in collaboration with Felix Hardmood Beck (exhibition design, draft, consulting) and Hermann Klöckner (consulting) of ART+COM.

One can view the Be Berlin Table at the Red Town hall during working hours Monday–Friday, unless there is a private gathering.

Interactive city map
Foyer in front of the coat of arms hall (Wappensaal)
inside the Berlin Town Hall (Rotes Rathaus)
Entrance Rathausstraße
10178 Berlin Mitte

Work
Concept & design in collaboration with ART+COM, Java, OpenGL and OpenAL programming, Projector timing control

Technology

• Graphics PC for the real-time display
• 2 SXGA+ (1400×1050) projectors
• Touch sensitive table surface (ART+COM)
• Speakers

The Polygon Playground is a large scale interactive lounge object developed and produced by WHITEvoid. Markus Lerner was commissioned for the Tracking/OpenGL software development.

The object offers room for up to 40 persons at a time to walk, sit and explore its multifaceted surfaces. Gradient ramps guide to the top plateau or offer space to sit and rest. The installation features a software aided 3D surface projection system to cover the object with a seamless 360 degree projection. An additional sensory system detects peoples positions and proximity.

The visual appearance of the Polygon Playground changes continuously with the presence, movement and physical touch of its visitors. The object detects the positions and directions of people and reacts with evolving visual moods and graphic styles.

The hardware and software system of the Polygon Playground can be applied to virtually any 3D body to turn it into an interactive object.

Commission, production and art direction by WHITEvoid.

Work
Design of the interactive modes in collaboration with Christopher Bauder/WHITEvoid, Tracking/OpenGL programming in Java

Exhibitions
– 2008 “SMUK” festival, Skanderborg, Denmark
– 2009 “STRP” festival, Eindhoven, Netherlands
– 2009 FREEZE! Art Show,
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
– 2011 “I/O/I. The senses of machines”,
Disseny Hub, Barcelona, Spain

Photos: Christopher Bauder, Markus Lerner

An interactive screen display was developed for the OSRAM stand at the light+building trade fair in Frankfurt in collaboration with ART+COM.

Climate protection being the theme of the installation, each visitor is estimated to have the decision making power on over 1,540 tons of CO₂. This amount could be potentially reduced by implementing more efficient lighting. In order to emphasise the influence each individual has on the climate change, the number of trees necessary to compensate this CO2 emission is displayed.

A tracking camera records the number of visitors who enter the OSRAM stand in real time. Every new visitor triggers the growth of a new tree in the foreground of the screen. As the number of visitors increase the tree thicket gets denser as well.

The total number of viewers on one day, their CO2 saving potential and the corresponding number of trees are displayed on the top part of the LED screen.

Work
Design, Java and OpenGL programming

Technology

• Wall with 825.000 LEDs
• Tracking computer with fire wire camera
• Computer for the real time rendering of the display

Three concepts for the generative display on a bar counter surface were developed in collaboration with Nadine Thieme.

Attraction
A bar is a meeting point. People meet, get closer and build personal relationships. The intensity of a contact is visualized by dynamic shapes surrounding the glasses on the bar.

Spiegelwelten
Real mirror images of people are modified in generative manner. People and their movements are shifted in space and time.

Strich & Faden
A black & white texture which reminds you of manually produced tablecloths, reacts to external impulses like movements or touch.

Work
Idea, concept, sketches in Flash and Processing, video simulations

Assignment
Pressure project: Bar! Design a dynamic surface for a bar counter or a bar table.

Radiation culture is an interactive installation that visualizes the spatial distribution of mobile radiation.

Electromagnetic radiant energy feeds a synthetic bioindicator. The visual display uses the metaphor of algal growth in places of strong insolation. The absorption range in the electromagnetic spectrum, however, is shifted from visible light to long-wave radiation.

The installation refers to a space, where mobile sources of radiation like mobile phones are. This can be both a room inside a building and an area of public space, for example a place, where many people frequent. At places of concentrated radiation an alga-like shape begins to grow. It is loosely connected and can freely move in space.

Work
Idea, concept, design, programming in Java, video tracking

Assignment
Conceive and design a project, whose main means of expression is generativity. The choice of topic is open.

Project documentation
Programmed sketch