Design in Acrylics

03 1614 22

The PLEXIGLAS® Magazine 2 0 1 3 N o. 1 3

Going on tour – a band performs on a unique kind of stage

Driving in style – visionary car with flowing forms

Fabulous furnishing – items that fit into any setting yet catch the eye

Chilling out – guests at a London hotel can bask in luxury

12 Attracting the crowds – a special musical scale draws visitors to Vienna

Casting offA trailer that turns into a boat

2

A Moment in TimeThese little cubes on a string look like chunks of black and white liquorice. You can almost taste their sweetness just by looking at them. But wait a minute—instead of being soft and dull, they are shiny and have smooth, hard edges. A closer look reveals they are made of colored PLEXIGLAS®. Each cube con-sists of four black and white rectangles that are strung together to form a necklace. Swiss artist Hansruedi Bader crafts these and other unique artistic items by hand.

www.hb-art.ch

Michael Träxler,Senior Vice President,Acrylic Polymers Business Line

Design can be pared-down or eccentric, playful or minimalist. The possibilities are endless. But whatever style designers envision, many of them have the same inten-tion—their design should be unmistakable. Unique. Immediately recognizable. That applies both to the curved lines of an automobile, the noble equipment of a luxury hotel in London, and the elegant look of a furniture brand. To realize their visions, designers need the right materials. Such as PLEXIGLAS®. This not only enables a huge variety of shapes, its properties also contribute to the overall impression, such as a fascinating play of colors in a pendant lamp. We present examples like this in each issue of our magazine, which has just won three Awards of Excellence (cover page, layout, photography) in the customer publications category B2B at the International Corporate Media Awards (ICMA).

I wish you an inspiring read!

Dear Reader:

3Stage construction

It was number 1 in the sales charts in 81 countries, and is still a popular

title to this day: “You're my heart, you're my soul, I'll keep it shining everywhere I go,” sings Thomas Anders. The “gentle-man of music,” as he is sometimes called, still hits the spot with audiences every-where when he sings this song from his days as lead singer of Modern Talking. But this time, it’s not just his voice and his songs that enchant people, it’s the un-usual setting too. Together with the Noble Composition band, the singer stands on a stage made of PLEXIGLAS®.

Thomas Bleser is the man behind the idea of making a stage from a trans-parent material, and creating a highly unusual optical effect. He founded and manages Noble Composition together with Herbert Jösch. “Our clients kept asking us to get Udo Jürgens’ [acrylic] Schimmel piano up on the stage. That gave me the idea that this fantastic ma-terial must be capable of even greater things.”

On tourOne year later, this idea has come to fru-ition and will go on tour in fall this year. Noble Composition is now the proud owner of the one and only stage made of PLEXIGLAS® in all of Europe. It can be installed in a size of 10 by 10 meters, is made of 12mm thick PLEXIGLAS® Satinice 0F00 SC and has one matte satin surface.

Lars Brennecke, managing director of Action Light Veranstaltungstechnik, was enthused by Bleser’s idea to design and build the stage: “We already had experience of working with acrylic, say for individual pedestals. A whole stage was a real challenge because it has to bear extreme loads. It soon turned out

that PLEXIGLAS® Satinice would match our requirements.”

The company brought this feat off with flying colors. The stage has been approved to bear a weight of 500 kg per square meter, although only 350 kg were specified. So much for the technical properties.

But it’s the other features that catch the eye. The matte satin surface on one side of PLEXIGLAS® gives it a noble look. The light from the LEDs installed beneath the sheets is fed in from below, which gives them their extraordinary

Brilliant Appearance

The Noble Composition band puts itself in the spotlight with the only stage of its kind in Europe

Noble Composition’s stage and instruments look as if they were made of ice. But in fact, they’re made of PLEXIGLAS®.

The band line-up is selected according to the client’s wishes, from gala and evening events to receptions and parties

xxx

4 Stage construction

The two founding members are them-selves professional drummers. Thomas Bleser plays with the Django Reinhardt Orchestra, the Natascha Wright Orches-tra and the Rheinische Philharmonie, the philharmonic orchestra of the fed-eral state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Herbert Jösch has played on stage with Lionel Richie and James Brown. He is also the drummer and organizational manager of the TV band heavytones on the Pro 7 Late Night Show TV Total.

A high-caliber line-up combined with a good show is what both musicians aim to achieve. That’s why Herbert Jösch was enthused by his first appearance on the new stage: “The effect is unique, also because the musical instruments too look as if they were made of ice.”

What he is referring to are the drums, guitar and electric bass, which were also made of clear-transparent PLEXIGLAS®. Music stands made of PLEXIGLAS® Satinice tubes, and micro-phone stands made of clear rods fit perfectly into the optical setting. Bleser got support from Musikstore, Europe’s

luminance. The RGB color mixing sys-tem makes it possible to light up the stage in any imaginable color, including corporate colors.

Network of musicians“Every appearance is special and unique for us,” says Bleser. The musicians usually appear before companies, associ-ations and organizations. The band has a repertoire of 5,000 to 6,000 titles, and the best line-up to play every one of them. Noble Composition is a network of musicians from every shade of the musi-cal spectrum. Joyello, pop star Thomas Anders or the a capella female band Eurocats are just a few of them.

Thomas Anders shot to fame with Modern Talking. Today he also stands on stage with Noble Composition.

One, two, three, four: the PLEXIGLAS® drum sets the rhythm

Uniform appearance: the stage, microphone and music stands, drums and guitars are all made of PLEXIGLAS®

Noble Composition offers all kinds of formations, from duos and various band line-ups to big bands and orchestras

The minds behind the band: professional musician Herbert Jösch (left) and Thomas Bleser founded Noble Composition

5Stage construction

www.noble-composition.com

biggest music store, to realize these ideas. Musikstore custom-built the in-struments for Noble Composition.

“It’s amazing how similar the sounds made by PLEXIGLAS® are to those made by wood,” says Bleser. For him as a drummer, all that counts is how the instrument is strung. “The next item on our list are the wood instru-ments,” he says. So a saxophone made of PLEXIGLAS® may soon be coming to a stage near you. pia

“The effect is unique, especially because the musical instruments also look as if they were made of ice.” Herbert Jösch

A world star and his colleagues: Thomas Anders (center) and Noble Composition

6 Architecture

Distinguished design: the S 01 sanitary system has a pared-down, classy look. Since it consists of individual modules, it can be assembled to suit different requirements.

7Architecture

Concentrating on essentials has long been a recipe for success when it

comes to classic design. The even greater challenge is to create equipment that is not only functional and attractive, but comfortable too. The S 01 sanitary system is a successful example, and PLEXIGLAS® Hi-Gloss is the crucial material.

The design appears amazingly simple. The washstand, toilet or urinal of the S 01 system are made of individual elements installed in front of the wall, with sober lines. The purist effect is even more pronounced if the elements are arranged as modules around the room. The flat geometric design of the modules makes a clear architectural statement and creates a feeling of order and space. Another advantage is that various items that usually protrude and often collect dust are integrated into the wall panels. Hinged support rails, shelves, waste containers, hooks or the toilet brush are cleverly concealed behind the PLEXIGLAS® Hi-Gloss wall panels. At a gentle touch, they can be folded out of the wall modules as required.

Simplified planning“This design enables a huge variety of architectural solutions,” explains Tanja Walter, technical product designer at HEWI Heinrich Wilke GmbH in Bad Arolsen, the company that manufactures the S 01 sanitary system. “It is especially suitable for designing exclusive bath-rooms.” The system can meanwhile be found in museums, theaters, office and company buildings, and hotels. Bath-rooms in exacting private households are also equipped with S 01, for example to add an architectural highlight to guest bathrooms or to make effective use of tiny rooms.

The system is based on two compo-nents, a pre-wall installation that is mounted in the construction phase, and a ready-to-use kit consisting of the func-tional elements and the final front panels of PLEXIGLAS® Hi-Gloss. Planners do not need to give thought to individual

products, only modules. The washstand element already includes the mirror, hook, paper towel basket and shelf. And the toilet element comes complete with toilet brush, toilet roll holder, spare roll holder and toilet flush. It can also be sup-plied with an additional fold-out support rail. Solutions like these make it much easier to plan bathrooms.

Noble exteriorThe most important material for the S 01 is PLEXIGLAS® Hi-Gloss, which is mainly used for the wall panels. The piano lacquer effect of PLEXIGLAS® Hi-Gloss underlines the noble design. “This material harmoniously unites the optical effects of glass with the tough-ness of PLEXIGLAS®,” says Walter. The material’s perfectly smooth, water-re-pellent surface makes it the ideal choice for sanitaryware, since it has an anti-soiling effect and is especially easy to clean. “What’s more, it is impact-resis-tant and insensitive to scratches,” Walter adds.

The idea for this modular, inte-grated system solution arose when HEWI got together with the reputed company of architects, KSP Jürgen Engel. The product design comes from the Aachen design company NOA, with which HEWI had already developed sev-eral sanitaryware ranges. One proof that this high-quality design is well-accepted is that it received the red dot award for product design and the iF design award in 2008. This dual accolade added further glamour to the innovative sys-tem during its year of introduction. fix

Purist Chic

The S 01 sanitary system adds shining touches with PLEXIGLAS® Hi-Gloss

www.hewi.de

8 Technology

People who travel with a trailer want one thing above all—to be independent. To travel yet feel

at home. To stop in the midst of nature, wherever it takes their fancy. On a campsite or in the wild, where that’s allowed. To switch off the engine and enjoy the landscape. To travel on next day to a different place, yet always take their own four walls with them. The campsite brings out individ-ual personalities. Some people drive a huge mobile home with the full equipment, including a flat-screen TV, couch and built-in kitchen. Others prefer a spartan, compact style. Another category can now be added: travelers with trailers that can take to the water.

Shut the door, open the panoramic roof, and off it goes into the water. Quickly fold out the 5 PS outboard motor, and we’re away. In late 2012, the Sealander went into serial production. This is an amphibian trailer that can be turned into a boat in just a few steps. “I’ve been traveling with a boat and a trailer since I was small. For a long time, I’ve had the tempting vision of not being restricted in my

On Water and on LandThe Sealander amphibian trailer is a mobile home that can even swim. PLEXIGLAS® windows contribute to its striking design.

mobility by the boundaries of land or water,” says the vessel’s inventor, Daniel Straub. The managing director of the Sealander company from Kiel first had the idea for the trailer of the same name a few years ago, during his product design studies. But he lacked the time to work it out in more detail, until he made it the subject of his dissertation.

Watertight and drivableAfter completing his studies, Straub went on the lookout for a development partner, and finally found one in Woterfitz, a German company special-ized in boat building from Rechlin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The boat builders and Straub spent two years experimenting on the Sealander and its integrated watertight running gear. They had many a setback to contend with, such as the search for suitable materials. “The problem is that all the ma-terials we use have to be suitable on land and in the water,” Straub explains. Some conventional trailer parts, like metal fittings, start to rust when they are installed on a boat. Some products made for use in

The Sealander is a trailer and boat rolled into one. It can be converted in just a few

steps, pushed into the water, and off to go. Watertight: the sealed glass fiber chassis

and built-in air chambers turn the Sealander from a trailer into a boat

9Technology

www.sealander.de

the water, like special adhesive compounds, can’t cope with vibrations on the road. And the selected materials have to be approved by road traffic test institutes.

But the development work focused on more than just functionality. The Sealander was to be more than a swimming trailer, it was also meant to be good to look at. “I wanted to develop a novel product that is esthetically convincing too,” says Straub. The designer opted for rounded shapes and clear lines, which typify the exterior of the four-meter-long and 1.7-meter-wide vehicle. The three large tinted windows contrast with the white of the glass fiber construction. “The window panes are a very striking design element,” explains Straub. “That’s why it was very important to us to find a manufacturer that could put our ideas into practice and supply large, precision-tinted panes.” The ma-terial also had to suitable for use in road traffic.

Experience with boat buildingWith an eye to these requirements, development partner Woterfitz brought PLEXIGLAS® into the picture: “We had already had good experience with the material for building boats,” says Manag-ing Director Bernd Scheiter. “It is highly weather-resistant and easy to machine. So we decided to use this material in the Sealander.” Another advantage was that PLEXIGLAS® sheets weigh 40 to 50 per-cent less on average than a comparable sheet of glass. This is one reason why the Sealander, which weighs less than 400 kg, is a flyweight among trailers. That means it can be easily towed even by small vehicles or ones with low engine capacity,

and has low fuel consumption. And there is no need for a driver’s license entitlement.

Casting offIn 2010, the moment had come. The cooperation partners launched the first Sealander on the water, and it stayed tight. Straub presented the first proto-types to the public in 2011 at the Caravan Salon trade show in Düsseldorf. Since then, the team has been working to get it ready for serial production. The basic version has been available since June 2012, from EUR 15,000 depending on the level of equipment. “Our customers can design and equip this basic version according to their individual wishes,” Straub says. That starts with the color of the chassis, and goes on to the interior materials and colors, right through to additional equipment such as a cooking and washing module, refrigerator box, chemical toilet and on-board barbecue.

With the customized equipment and modern design, Straub also wants to attract younger and new customer groups. “Most people think trailers are stale and old-fashioned. I want to change that. The Sealander is addressed to a growing public in the leisure mobility market, which is looking for flexible designs and innovative products that match this modern leisure culture,” says the entrepre-neur. Inquiries are presently coming in from anglers and divers, but also from people just looking for relaxation. They can all be sure of one thing—they will certainly make quite a splash when they launch their trailer. hco

Due to its low weight, the Sealander can be towed even by vehicles with low engine power

10 Architecture

11Architecture

www.breimann-bruun.de

The Domplatz (cathedral square) is an oasis in the midst of lively downtown Hamburg. This is

where the people of Hamburg take their midday break, turn their faces to the sun and watch big city life go by from a safe distance. In 2009, the Domplatz was given a facelift. Within 15 months, a gravel parking lot was turned into a place where people can relax. It is a good example of how a mod-ern architectural concept can put a historic location to practical use.

“We wanted to give this place steeped in his-tory a characteristic face and create a haven of peace in the heart of the city,” says landscape archi-tect Bertel Bruun. That’s why the Domplatz has not been paved. Instead, many square meters of lawn absorb some of the big-city noise. The City of Ham-burg had commissioned the landscape architects at Breimann & Bruun to redesign the square. Although it was used merely as a parking lot for almost 70 years, it is in fact one of the most historic places in the Hanseatic city. For hundreds of years, this was the site of the St.-Marien-Dom cathedral, which was originally the diocesan seat of the archbishop-ric of Hamburg. The city wanted to recognize the historical significance of this location and called on its citizens to do their part.

A place to relaxToday, the Domplatz is not only a verdant space. It is also a visible witness to the past. Five steel walls represent the fragments of the historic ramparts. Between these, white squares are dotted around as if they had fallen from the sky. These mark the former location of the cathedral buttresses, and in-vite people to take a break. They also light up the square in the dark. The landscape architects came up with this idea too, and found a capable partner in the Frerichs Glas company from Verden in Lower Saxony, which has been manufacturing its Plaza-DesignBänke benches for a number of years. Some of them have been installed in Essen, Leverkusen and Düsseldorf. For the Hamburg Domplatz project, the company devised a new shape and design for its

seats, together with the landscape architects at Breimann & Bruun.

Light source and seat rolled into oneSo the Domplatz benches are square rather than longitudinal. Mounted on a supporting structure of galvanized steel, they appear to hover over the ground. Thirty-nine of these seating elements are scattered across the Domplatz, some with a view-port that shows part of the foundations of the for-mer cathedral. Frerichs Glas made all of the benches from PLEXIGLAS® Satinice. “The seating elements are always left outside and are used by many thou-sands of people. That calls for a tough, hard-wearing material like PLEXIGLAS®,” explains Olaf Kless, project manager at Frerichs Glas. Another aspect also weighed in favor of PLEXIGLAS®: it can be il-luminated with ease. “This is obviously not an op-tion with concrete or steel,” says Kless with a grin. The unusual seats immediately met with a warm welcome when the Domplatz was refurbished from 2008 to 2009. “As soon as we installed them, pass-ersby stopped and tried them out,” the project man-ager reports. People have taken to the redesigned Domplatz, as the number of daily visitors goes to show. They all enjoy the new free space at the heart of Hamburg, and imbibe a little history while they relax. geb

The Domplatz was once the spiritual centre of the city. In past decades, it was used as a parking lot. Since its refurbishment, glowing benches invite people to linger. The benches are placed where the cathedral’s buttresses used to stand.

History Greened OverHamburg’s Domplatz combines the historical with modern urbanity. The unusual seating elements that invite passersby to take a rest fit perfectly into this scene.

12 Art

274,000 people pass through Gare Saint Lazare, the second-largest

station in Paris, every day. Throughout the month of March 2012, they all had the chance to make the Viennese choir-boys sing. With their feet.

The Viennese tourist association (WienTourismus) had an interactive musical scale installed in the heavily fre-quented station. The scale consisted of eight flat white keys with the notes “do, ré, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do”. A passerby who tapped a key with his or her foot could hear the voice of a Viennese choirboy singing the chosen note. If several people tapped a sequence of notes, the choirboys sang the whole song: Donauwalzer, Freude, schöner Götter-funken, or the Tritsch-Tratsch Polka. The interactive musical scale with the voices of the young singers from Vienna was a charming invitation to the French people to visit Austria’s capital.

The advertising agency Jung from Matt, a town on the Danube, had the idea of making Vienna a travel destination in this way. Not for the first time, the Strukt company was tasked with putting it into practice. This Viennese design studio was supposed to produce an ex-

hibit that people could use intuitively, and which looked good as well.

On the floor As well as being responsible for working out the functional design in every detail and developing the corresponding soft-ware, Strukt also supervised the hard-ware design together with industrial de-signer Ewald Neuhofer, monitored the production of the hardware, recorded the choirboys singing, and was even on site when the exhibit was used in Paris. “The special challenge was that the scale would be installed on the ground in a heavily frequented place and be oper-ated by foot,” explains Tanja Tomic, ma-naging director at Strukt. “We couldn’t fasten the sheet to the floor, for instance. Instead, we chose heavy aluminum as the base material, which has its own weight.”

Strukt carefully selected the ma-terials for the keys together with its pro-duction partner INDAT from lower Aus-tria. They opted for a mix of the surface material Corian and PLEXIGLAS®, which was used for the red keys. The keys light up when activated. The plastic material stands out due to its high impact

Hitting the right note

A very special musical scale is meant to entice visitors to Vienna

Pulling the crowds: many people passing through Gare St. Lazare, the second-largest station in Paris, wanted to make the Viennese choirboys sing

13Art

The Viennese choirboys drew attention in an advertising campaign for the Austrian capital. For one month, passersby could hear a foot-operated recording of the singers.

strength and unequalled scratch resis-tance. After all, the keys had to with-stand loads of up to 200 kg without harm. “We also wanted to keep the sound sheet as thin as possible, which left us with restricted scope for instal-ling the LEDs,” Tomic goes on to say. “So we needed a material with good light-guiding properties, which was available in the corporate identity color of WienTourismus. We soon identified PLEXIGLAS® as the right choice.”

Permanent loadAnd indeed, travelers at Gare Saint La-zare were very impressed by the scale: “Young people, old people, people who stamped with all their might or tapped the keys with a walking stick, everyone wanted to get the choirboys to sing,” Tomic recalls. “The PLEXIGLAS® letters had to withstand the stiletto heels of spirited Frenchwomen, children’s shoes and hip-hop sneakers.” Passersby tried out the scale with backpacks on their backs or shopping bags in their hands. The installation had a magic appeal for small children in particular, Tomic says. “They sometimes shed a tear or two

when their parents told them it was time to go.”

Following its huge success in Paris, this unique musical scale spent a month in Tokyo, where the choirboys sang out for visitors at Suntori Hall, an inter-nationally famous concert hall. The ex-hibit is now at Palais Augarten in Vienna, where the Viennese choirboys are at home. kma

www.strukt.com

The film for the text.

14 Cabinetry

Design Pure and SimpleJan Seeber produces furniture under the Edelber trademark. His tables, wine bottle holders and newspaper stands fit into any setting, yet still catch the eye.

Transparent but striking. The table edges are faceted and reflect light.

15Cabinetry

www.edelber.de

Sometimes they are intricate, some-times streamlined. Their design is

timeless, noble and exclusive, and is sure to be recognized. The items of furniture he designs match Jan Seeber in every way. He too is a multi-faceted personal-ity who is full of ideas. The shelves, showcases and plant stands he creates under his own Edelber brand are a wit-ness to well-thought-out design. The tables made of transparent PLEXIGLAS® fit into their surroundings yet still catch the eye. Their faceted edges create special light reflections on the table legs and along the table top. “I always want clear forms”, says Seeber. “The chal-lenges lies in creating items that are striking despite their simplicity.”

Part-time managerBreathing life into the Edelber furniture brand is only part of Seeber’s history. Now aged 38, his passion for design began much earlier. He started to paint at age 14, and was already interested in fashion design back then. “You could say I have trained my eye all my life. I’ve flicked through magazines and attended trade shows,” he tells us. Before studying mechanical engineering and design, he trained as an industrial mechanic. When Seeber took over Klüh Acryl Design GmbH in Essen in 2008, whose portfolio already comprised acrylic furniture, he had already won his spurs in the automo-tive and aviation industry. For years, he designed structural components for cars and aircraft, including the Airbus A380. Sixteen-hour days, a lot of responsibility, exciting jobs. But no space for artistic freedom. Everything had to be practical yet attractive. “I enjoyed that because technical design is important. No one wants to buy an ugly car.” But Seeber also had to take on a growing number of man-agement duties and realized he wanted to expand his creative side again. A bit of management was okay, though. The sol-ution? To take over a firm where he could do both.

Good ideas come at nightSince then, he has been the boss of 40 employees and designs his own furni-ture. To do that, he reads several design magazines, studies what is on offer at furniture stores, and finds inspiration. That is how a car door handle inspired him to design a newspaper stand. He has his really good ideas at night, he says, and when he has one, it only takes him half an hour to complete a draft. “But I usually have a lot of not so good ideas be-fore that happens,” he says. The designer usually works with clear-transparent PLEXIGLAS®, since this is the type of furniture customers prefer. But he also uses PLEXIGLAS® Satinice, and pat-terned or colored PLEXIGLAS®. One of his personal favorites is Cube, a box whose interior is made of PLEXIGLAS® Hi-Gloss White, with striking facets that have a specially brilliant effect. Seeber uses various PLEXIGLAS® grades for his furniture. “I have tried out other grades of acrylic, just to see. But none of them was as durable and as easy to machine as PLEXIGLAS®.” Sawing, routing, sanding and polishing are no problem, he says. The material does not break and the cut edges are always impeccable.

In the next few years, Seeber in-tends to design more new items of furni-ture under the Edelber trademark, while reducing the previous portfolio. “I’d like to offer a small but high-quality range of manufactured items,” he says. With his dynamism, that should be no problem. geb

Jan Seeber, 38, used to design parts for aircraft and cars. Today he focuses on furniture design.

With its clear and sober lines, Edelber furniture is convincingly straightforward

16

In deserts, over time the wind stacks sand into dunes. Water courses

gradually cut through even the hardest stone. The flowing forms created by na-ture are the models for the Fluidic Sculpture design of Korean car manu-facturer Hyundai. This can be seen in the latest HED-8 i-oniq concept car that Hyundai presented at car shows in Geneva, Paris, Busan and Bejing in 2012. “Our concept car is intended to show our idea of a premium vehicle: clear design with flowing forms and high-class materials,” Thomas Bürkle explains. He is chief designer at Hyun-dai’s European design and development center in Rüsselsheim. Here, 250 engin-eers and designers are working to de-velop new Hyundai models that reflect the specific design and technical requirements of the European market. They also come up with ideas for future models. “The aim is to find new ap-proaches to design, drive technology and user-friendliness,” Bürkle goes on to say.

Models made of clayIn the world of design, fluidic refers to flowing forms. The second aspect, “sculpture” is crucial for their develop-ment. At Hyundai, design ideas are first of all fashioned from clay. “We take an artistic approach to development. That’s why our creative work is mainly done with clay, rather than at the computer,” the chief designer reports. Modelers at Hyundai first shape various models from this special clay according to the de-signers’ sketches, on a scale of 1:4. The team then selects the best draft, which is made in original size, then further per-fected. “The advantage of clay is that it can be flexibly shaped. We can always remove or add material,” Bürkle ex-plains. The finished 1:1 model is finally masked with a coated film in order to perfect the impression the shape makes in daylight. The development work for

the interior follows a similar pattern. The engineers use the models to hone the details and transfer them to a com-puter-aided design program (CAD). The concept car devised by CAD is then built as an individual prototype.

In the i-oniq, this produced a spor-ty design that is reminiscent of a stylish coupe. The four-seater has a long hood and two softly ascending lines that inter-sect. “The car’s proportions and pared-down design give it a noble appearance. At the same time, the curved lines flow-ing in the opposite direction give it a muscular, powerful look,” Bürkle says. “Our emphasis was on the aerodynamic quality of the vehicle, also for practical reasons. Streamlining cuts energy con-sumption.”

All of a pieceEven the side windows in the large gull–wing doors follow the sharp con-tours of the two lines and are corre-spondingly shaped. “We didn’t want to interrupt the form in different compo-nents like the windows and the car body,” the designer explains. While it is no problem to shape this contour from clay, in practice the team of developers had to find a material that enables this special type of forming. “That’s why we opted for PLEXIGLAS® windows. We couldn’t have obtained this shape with glass,” says Günter Roos, who was re-sponsible for technical implementation of the design. The same applied to the front window which also follows the curved line and flows into the so-called penthouse roof. “This gives passengers a comprehensive view and also im-proves the aerodynamics because there is no edge between the window and the roof,” Roos explains. The semi-trans-parent color of the glazing was specially matched with the lava-red paintwork. “We precisely matched the individual color to suit our specifications with our partner Evonik Industries,” Roos

Flowing FormsWith its HED-8 i-oniq concept car, Korean automobile manufacturer Hyundai shows how materials may interact with drive technology in the future. Large PLEXIGLAS® glazing is part of the design.

Technology

Striking appearance: the concept car shows the further development of the typical Hyundai “face” which is defined by the hexagonal grill. This is a prominent design element beneath the headlamps, which look like rock crystal but are made of PLEXIGLAS®. Clear-cut lines: the i-oniq has sharp contours that even continue into the windows.

User-friendly: drivers can operate the ergonomic navigation, in-formation and entertainment sys-tem by gesture or touch elements

17Technology

18 Technology

www.hyundai.de

explains. The concept car looks all of one piece, just like a sculpture.

Inside the car, the curved lines continue in noble materials such as wood, leather, and a seat material in lava red that was developed by BASF for this project. “Ambient lighting is also im-portant for the atmosphere inside the vehicle. It underlines the shape of the car and creates a lounge feeling,” Bürkle says. PLEXIGLAS® ensures uniform light diffusion and also enables a distortion-free view of the colored display sur-faces.

Hybrid driveBut the four-seater is not just part of a design study, it is actually roadworthy. The i-oniq combines a 1.0-liter, three-cylinder gasoline engine with a 109 PS electric engine. “Hybrid is the drive of the future, but it’s not just the drive that determines resource-saving driving. The car’s weight is also key. That’s why our design focuses on lightweight con-struction,” Roos reports. In the i-oniq, Hyundai is therefore experimenting with various plastics as a lighter alter-native. This includes the PLEXIGLAS® glazing, which is up to 50 percent lighter in weight than a comparable sheet of glass. “We want to show that our car offers more than sleek design, it also contains a great deal of technical know-

how,” says Bürkle. Nevertheless, the i-oniq will never be mass-produced: its demanding design would be too expens-ive for the regular market. But, as Bürkle sums up, “our current Genesis coupe has similar proportions to the i-oniq. Maybe the Genesis successor will have i-oniq genes." hco

The menus can be transferred to the large panoramic screen by hand movement

Sporty yet elegant: the interior of the i-oniq contains noble materials like wood and leather. The ambient lighting made of PLEXIGLAS® creates a lounge feeling.

19Architecture

The six-meter-high wall element at Douglas in Mainz changes color as if

it were in motion, depending on the viewing angle. It is reflecting and irides-cent, and catches the eye of visitors to the store. This structure is part of the branch’s new design concept, the multi-functional Grid Wall. It was developed by Christoph Munz, project manager at Lewang Architekten.

Mr. Munz, what’s the idea behind the new store concept?Christoph Munz: Douglas was looking for an element that would guide visitors to the top floor of the store. It was to be eye-catching, with colored mirror effects and a light and airy de-sign. That’s why we developed the Grid Wall, which connects the two floors of the store. Its reflective surface is made of PLEXIGLAS® Reflections. The Radi-ant color grade shines in all the colors of the rainbow.

How did you make the Grid Wall?The entire structure rests on a metal frame that is six meters high and four meters wide. PLEXIGLAS® panels sized two by three meters are screw-fastened to the bars of the frame. Because of its size, we built the wall on site. The metal frame and the semi-transparent PLEXIGLAS® panels make the structure very light in weight, which opens up the space. The reflections make it appear even larger and provide additional view-points.

What is special about this wall?The name Grid Wall says it all. On the reverse side there are holders in which Douglas presents products. In the top part, a monitor surface of five-and-a-half square meters is integrated into the sheets. Customers can generate the pictures on the monitor themselves.

How does that work?In the gallery opposite, there is an oper-ator terminal with a buzzer function. A motion detector registers the customers and directs two spotlights towards them. If the buzzer is pressed, the camera shoots a picture and projects it onto the wall. Customers can also post a comment. These pictures appear regularly on the screen as customer feedback.

Why did you opt for PLEXIGLAS® Reflec-tions?Unlike glass, PLEXIGLAS® is a very lightweight material that is perfectly suited for interior design. Fabrication is also simpler because the production company was able to make the drill holes itself. And PLEXIGLAS® Reflec-tions met all our requirements. It is re-flective and changes color depending on the viewing angle. That creates a fantas-tic effect of optical movement in the sales room. veba

Always on the MoveChristoph Munz at Lewang Architekten talks about the development of the interactive wall element at the Mainz branch of the Douglas perfumes and cosmetics chain

A rather different partition. The wall element with inserted displays at the Douglas branch in Mainz is six meters high.

www.lewang.com

Christoph Munz designed the Wall

Eye-catcher: the wall element at the Douglas store in downtown Mainz is designed to attract visitors to the top floor

20 Lighting

From bright orange and turquoise to yellow and green tones, through to

dark blue—the side-mounted shades of the BRETT-LED PE pendant lamp create surprising effects. The color changes de-pending on the viewer’s perspective. This makes the lamp an interactive ob-ject, which the viewer can play with simply by changing position. This is due to the prismatic material PLEXIGLAS® Textures with a rainbow effect, which refracts ambient light and produces ef-fects all of its own, even without light-ing. In addition, the LED tube creates small vertical stripes that are visible on the lampshade because the individual LEDs are arranged in a specific form.

The idea for this product arose sev-eral years ago. Alexander Ludwig saw the material at the Frankfurt trade show Material Vision. He was immediately fascinated, had some samples sent and

experimented with lighting and materi-als. Gradually, he developed a wish to build a lamp along these lines. Subse-quently, the company Ludwig Leuchten KG located in Mering near Augsburg (Bavaria) tested different light sources, made drafts and experimented with various prototypes. “Even then, I could tell by the material’s special character-istics that it might be a very interesting product for places where design is just as important as light, such as in bars or res-taurants,” says the managing director of the lighting company.

The development took several months. Finally, the company focused on a new LED-based light source. The meticulous efforts continued, always with the involvement of master crafts-man Christian Schwankhart, who is re-sponsible for building specimens and prototypes. PLEXIGLAS® Textures was

The LEDs are arranged to produce longitudinal stripes The horizontal grooves in the material make the colors change with the light

Rainbow in the Living Room

A prize-winning pendant lamp with changing color effects

21

www.ludwig-leuchten.de

chosen as the light-guiding material for the lamp. “We have been working with PLEXIGLAS® for decades. It has very good light guiding behavior and is easy to form to the desired shape. That makes it an indispensable component for devel-oping shades for our recessed lights and pendant lamps,” Schwankhart reports. Ludwig uses a variety of PLEXIGLAS® grades for its products, from clear tex-tures, opaque and prismatic sheets to microprismatic covers.

Awards aplentyAfter about 200 hours of painstaking de-velopment work, the time had come in April 2012 to present the new, 1.5m pendant lamp at light + building in Frank-furt am Main. The lamp’s corpus consists of a multiply wooden sheet instead of aluminum. It drew plenty of attention, also from design professionals. BRETT-LED won the Materialica Design + Tech-nology Silver Award 2011, the Interior Innovation Award 2012 and the ‘Prod-uct of the Year’ award from the German Pro Kunststoff association. It has also been nominated for the German Design Award 2013.

Alexander Ludwig is proud of these prizes, even though he assures us he is no award-hunter. It’s more impor-tant to him that customers are pleased with the product, both with its design and with the special atmosphere it cre-ates. “The BRETT-LED PE creates very emotive light and is a real source of in-spiration,” Ludwig believes. That also has something to do with the chosen light source. Ludwig consciously chose

an LED tube that produces a warm tone (2,700 kelvin) rather than the cool light that LED lamps often create. Another ad-vantage of this technology is that it requires no ballast. All the electric com-ponents are integrated in the 230 V LED tube, which made it possible to design an ultra-slim lamp.

The first models have already been installed above dining tables in modern living rooms, in the reception areas of company buildings, and in doctor’s of-fices. They glow in hotel receptions and conference rooms. In orange, turquoise or green—depending where the viewer happens to be standing. ew

The BRETT LED pendant lamp changes color depending on the viewing angle

“A very emotive light, a real source of inspiration.”

Alexander Ludwig

Lighting

22 Architecture

Luxury, luxury and yet more luxury! That is exactly what the Italian brand

Bulgari stands for in the realms of jewel-ry, watches or handbags. Less well-known than these accessories are the hotels of the Italian luxury goods manu-facturer, the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts. After hotels in Milan and Bali, one of these five-star establishments now re-ceives guests in London’s exclusive Knightsbridge area.

Within walking distance of luxury department store Harrods, the design delivers what the name Bulgari prom-ises: sterling silver candelabras light up the ceremonial hall, tailor-made silk cur-tains decorate the rooms and suites. The design chosen by the Italian firm of

Bathing in LuxuryThe Bulgari Hotel in London unites noble design, understated elegance and modern technology. This includes the pillar panels in the spa area.

architects Antonio Citterio, Patricia Viel & Partners revolves around the main theme of silver, in a nod to the roots of company founder and silversmith Sotirio Bulgari. The result is a mixture of elegant architecture and noble interior design, most items of which were exclu-sively manufactured for Bulgari by Ita-lian companies.

Stylish spaThis exclusive touch is reflected throughout the hotel, from the 85 rooms and suites, the in-house cinema, the clas-sy restaurant Il Bar to the two-story spa area measuring 2,000 square meters. The pièce de résistance of the spa is a 25-metre pool with glittering green and

The hotel has a top location in London’s exclusive Knightsbridge area

23Architecture

www.bulgarihotels.com www.heinz-fritz.com

gold mosaic tiles. Indirect lighting sets off this peaceful scene. The light appears to flow down the walls of sandblasted Vicenza stone and the seven pillars in the pool area.

The pillar panels play a central role for the lighting concept. “They are made of PLEXIGLAS® and therefore offer good light guidance. This gives the impression that the material is flooded with light, al-though the light source is installed above,” explains Heinz Fritz, managing director of the company that bears his name. He had already worked with Squire & Partners on other projects in London, such as a PLEXIGLAS® façade. They are the architects in charge of managing the project. “The architects approached us again to find a solution for the pillar panels,” says Heinz Fritz.

Originally, 64 individual rods on the pillars were meant to provide a three-dimensional look. Instead of that, Heinz Fritz took blocks of PLEXIGLAS® that were 28 meters high, two meters wide and 60mm thick, and thermoform-

The Bulgari brand stands for luxury, and that can be seen throughout the hotel, as in the spa area with its 25m pool. The PLEXIGLAS® pillar panels contribute to the noble ambience.

ed them to the chosen curved shape at his company in Herbrechtingen. Sub -sequent 3D routing gave the compo-nents their characteristic wavy profile. “PLEXIGLAS® is highly suitable for this because it is easy to form,” Fritz adds. In London, he and his team then put four pieces together to form each of the pil-lars. Between these, generously sized lounge areas with white curtains invite hotel guests and spa club members to relax. The perfect place to rest after a shopping spree at one of the many lux-ury boutiques in the direct vicinity. hco

Credits:

Design in Acrylics

A publication by:Evonik Industries AGAcrylic Polymers KirschenalleeD-64293 DarmstadtGermanyPhone +49–6151–18–01Fax +49–6151–18–02www.plexiglas.netwww.design-in-acrylics.com

Please send notice of changes in address to:design-in-acrylics@evonik.com

www.plexiglas-shop.com

Edited by: Profilwerkstatt GmbH,64295 Darmstadt, GermanyPhone +49–6151–599020www.profilwerkstatt.de

Editors in Chief:Doris Hirsch, Acrylic Polymers (responsible under Journalists’ Law)Susanne Diehl, Acrylic Polymers Martina Keller, ProfilwerkstattDr. Claudia Klemm, Profilwerkstatt

Art Direction: Annika SailerTypesetting/Layout: Profilwerkstatt

Managing Editor: Ralf Ansorge

English Translation: Mitzi Morgan

Printed by: Zarbock GmbH & Co. KG, Frankfurt

Printed on paper bleached without chlorine.

Photos:Evonik Industries AG – p. 2 (top)Hansruedi Bader – p. 2 (bottom) KEMWEB.TV – p. 1 (top left), pp. 3–5 HEWI Heinrich Wilke GmbH – pp. 6 – 7SEALANDER GmbH – p. 1 (cover), pp. 8 – 9Frerichsglas GmbH – pp. 10 – 11Strukt GmbH – p. 1 (top, 2nd from left), pp. 12 – 13Kunststoff Acryl Design GmbH – p. 1 (top center), pp. 14 – 15Hyundai – p. 1 (top, 2nd from right), pp. 16 – 18Lewang Architekten – p. 19Ludwig Leuchten KG – pp. 20 – 21Bulgari – p. 1 (top right), pp. 22 – 23 (top)Bulgari, photographer Leo Torri – p. 22 (bottom)bowlerwille/iStockphoto.com – p. 23 (bottom)

Evonik Industries is a worldwide manufacturer of PMMA products sold under the PLEXIGLAS® trademark on the European, Asian, African and Australian continents and under the ACRYLITE® trademark in the Americas.

® = registered trademark

DiA, PLEXIGLAS, PARAGLAS, DEGLAS & EUROPLEX are registered trademarks of Evonik Röhm GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany.

ACRYLITE is a registered trademark of Evonik Cyro LLC, Rockaway, NJ, USA.

This information and all further technical advice is based on our present knowledge and experi-ence. However, it implies no liability or other legal responsibility on our part, also with regard to existing third party intellectual property rights, especially patent rights. In particular, no warran-ty, whether express or implied, or guarantee of product properties in the legal sense is intended or implied. We reserve the right to make any changes according to technological progress or further developments. The customer is not re-leased from the obligation to conduct careful in-spection and testing of incoming goods. Perform-ance of the product described herein should be verified by testing, which should be carried out only by qualified experts in the sole responsibility of a customer. Reference to trade names used by other companies is neither a recommendation, nor does it imply that similar products could not be used. (Status: 04/2011)