panasonic: piano forte by ferruccio laviani

OLED motion tracking wall. image © designboom

italian designer ferruccio laviani has partnered with japanese brand panasonic to create ‘piano-forte’, an interactive installation for milan design week 2011. the multi-sensory space features lighting systems that invite human interaction to create a shared and responsive setting of physical and emotional appeal.

modeled after the musical concept of sound, the design balances soft and loud tones with delicate and intense accents. innovative LED products, OLED panels, spotlights and spatial sensors produce an environment of new spatial dimensions, utilizing the subtleties of lighting to create a range of ambiences.

demonstrating the accuracy of the wall with one person, the system is able to track many more at the same time. images © designboom

visitors become an important element of the installation – a coordinated train of discoveries spread over three floors at the minguzzi museum – interacting and experimenting with the innovatory products as first hand, dictating the qualities and characteristics of each space.

explorations in new systems of interactive lighting on the ground floor, these spaces react to the viewer’s proximity. as one enters a cylinder, the OLED lighting reacts to the presence by becoming brighter and providing a personal experience with OLED systems. image © franco chimenti

advanced technology becomes reality in the environment with three-dimensional image sensors which respond to movement and keep count of the number of people present at the exhibition. new OLED light panels – a product considered to be the future of lighting for innovative space design – are also used throughout the installation, providing instant light when power is applied and turning almost transparent when the power is cut.

image © franco chimenti

inner view of one of the cloth column environments. image © franco chimenti

OLED suspended in glass image © franco chimenti

left: when turned off, the light is just as transparent as glass. right: when turned on, the surface becomes opaque. images © designboom