# Luxoom > Luxoom is a design company specializing in spatial design, experiential design, and exhibition design, a practice it refers to as "Mediatektur." The company operates from three locations: its headquarters in Berlin, Germany, which handles strategy and design; a design and production office in Florence, Italy; and a design and delivery office in Shanghai, China. ## About - Studios: Berlin, Florence - Practices: Branding, navigation & user experience, Interior architecture & flagship spaces, Exhibitions & cultural storytelling, Media & phygital installations, Fair stands & launch stages, Concept Design for Complex Systems - Contact: hello@luxoom.com ## Projects - [The Next Stop](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/uitp-2025-mobility-touchpoints): Discover “The Next Stop” at UITP 2025—an immersive mobility touchpoint with AI, multilingual interaction, and collective user experience design. - [250 Years Young](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/250-years-young): Luxoom's multimedia tribute to Alexander von Humboldt at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin is a captivating projection art experience. - [Winter Olympics Medal Count](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/living-medal-count): The Living Medal Count Show was a daily highlight at the VW Group Russia pavilion during the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Our team created the media design, animations, and software using VENTUZ for… - [Ai for Mobility Design](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/ai-powered-urban-mobility-design): Luxoom and HVV used AI to generate 500 design variants for a modular bus stop in just 2 weeks—showcasing how AI in urban infrastructure design accelerates workflows, improves feasibility, and… - [Get the DNA](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/get-the-dna): BMW i Get the DNA is an exhibition that aims to deepen customer connection to the BMW i brand by building on the design and store elements created for the 'Meet the future' theme. The exhibition… - [Intro Rooms](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/shf-intro-rooms): At Stiftung Humboldt Forum, we designed the Visitor access to the exhibitions by four Welcome Rooms in the second and third floor of the museum. Goal was to create an introduction to the collections… - [Trade Show Global Guideline](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/claas-global-trade-show-guideline): Luxoom crafted an immersive trade show experience for CLAAS, combining digital and physical elements to engage visitors and showcase CLAAS’s cutting-edge agricultural solutions. - [Kinetic Pixel Curtain - Car Reveal](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/kinetic-pixel-curtain-2): With the introduction of the BMW X7 we created and designed a product launch strategy on par with the innovativeness and premium material language of the model. Lightweight yet powerful, aesthetic… - [Show Smart](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/claas-show-smart): SHOW SMART is a mixed reality tool for presenting CLAAS agricultural machinery at trade shows, events, and 1:1 sales meetings. It can be used live, hybrid, or streaming-only. At any time, the… - [Naga Land. Voices from Northeast India](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/nagaland-exhibition): In the context of ethnological exhibitions, it is still a challenge to speak not about, but with people. The temporary exhibition Nagaland – Voices from Northeast India masters this challenge in a… - [BMW Active Tourer Brand Stores](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/bmw-active-tourer): The BMW Active Tourer Exhibition was the first in a series of Brand Store concepts. It brought the outdoors inside by using natural materials and sporting gear to create a refreshing setup. The… - [Future Energy Space](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/siemens-future-space): Experience the Siemens Future Energy Space, an interactive and engaging room-scale experience created by Luxoom. From design and data visualization to hardware integration, our long-term partnership… - [XR Showcase at Drupa](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/kolbus-xr-drupa): Experience the next generation of presentation technology with Kolbus XR, a groundbreaking extended reality application developed by Luxoom, showcased at Drupa 2024. This innovative tool highlights… - [Meininger Hotels, ITB 2026](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/meininger-hotels-itb-berlin-2026): A two-storey trade show stand for Meininger Hotels at ITB Berlin 2026 — refined from an existing concept into a more composed expression of the brand, and delivered in full scope, on budget, on a… - [BMW 2 Series Brand Stores](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/bmw-2-series): Inspired by Palm Springs and Mid-Century Design, this concept draws on vibrant colors and luscious patterns as part of a lifestyle. In partnering with the furniture company VITRA we developed a large… - [Excellence for Life](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/biotronik-excellence-for-life): Having proven excellence of film production with the contents of the BIOTRONIK corporate exhibition and being quite knowledgeable in BIOTRONIK’s product portfolio through many years of collaboration,… - [BMW 5 Series Brand Stores](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/bmw-5-series-brandstores): The BMW 5 Series Brand Store exhibitions required a unique combination of business and sport designs. The result was the Business Athlete design, which featured signature blue light stripes that… - [Grand Opening Beijing](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/four-seasons-grand-opening): The opening of the new Four Seasons hotel in Beijing was a glamorous affair, with the stage media contents designed and animated by our team. The evening was a celebration of luxury, combining… - [Trion Launch](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/claas-trion-launch-virtual-production): A new generation of combine harvesters – you would expect it to be launched in the fields harvesting. But it was neither the right season for harvest nor would have many people joined due to Corona… - [Exiderdome World Tour](https://www.luxoom.com/projects/siemens-exiderdome-world-tour): Exiderdome World Tour ## Practices - [Branding, navigation & user experience](https://www.luxoom.com/projects?tag=branding): From wayfinding across airports, stations and cultural sites to interface design for terminals and interactive installations. We design how people find their way through complex environments — physical, digital, or both. - [Interior architecture & flagship spaces](https://www.luxoom.com/projects?tag=interior): Flagship stores, hospitality and lifestyle interiors. Spaces that carry a brand and work operationally, designed and detailed end-to-end. - [Exhibitions & cultural storytelling](https://www.luxoom.com/projects?tag=exhibitions): Permanent and temporary exhibitions for museums, cultural institutions and brand spaces. Narrative concept, exhibition design, content and media. - [Media & phygital installations](https://www.luxoom.com/projects?tag=media): Media facades, kinetic installations, interactive content systems. Where physical space and digital media work as one. - [Fair stands & launch stages](https://www.luxoom.com/projects?tag=events): Trade show stands, launch stages, show content and live direction — full ownership from concept and visitor journey to built environment with integrated media. Design, content and AV led by us; build, rigging and logistics handled by our production partners. - [Concept Design for Complex Systems](https://www.luxoom.com/projects?tag=systems): Design-led concept work where engineering meets the user — AI terminals, transport tap-in points, public infrastructure, new service interfaces. Design that holds up when engineering, software and real-world constraints meet. ## Studio - Ulrich Sauerwein — General Manager & Founder (Berlin) - Tobias Sievers — Creative Director (Berlin) - Pietro Fantoni — Design Director (Florence · Berlin) - Olaf Titel — Head of Development (Berlin) - Tomás Contreras — Chief Strategy Officer (Berlin) - Valeria Barannikova — Creative and Project Lead (Berlin) - Finn Kortenbrede — Creative and Project Lead (Berlin) --- ## Full project details ### The Next Stop Discover “The Next Stop” at UITP 2025—an immersive mobility touchpoint with AI, multilingual interaction, and collective user experience design. **INTRO** — The Next Stop consolidates what is currently scattered across separate objects on the street. Shelter from weather and from physical exposure. Real-time security awareness — analysis built into the structure rather than bolted onto it. Wayfinding and journey information delivered visually for passengers who can read it, and conversationally through an AI avatar for those who can't or who don't speak the local language. A water dispenser, because waiting in heat is part of the real experience of urban transit. Each function is there because a real passenger need was named. **AI SMART** — The AI avatar handles the linguistic and accessibility problem in one move. It speaks 27 languages, which means a tourist arriving in a city without local knowledge, a recent resident still learning the language, and an elderly user uncomfortable with screen interfaces can all use the same touchpoint with the same expectation of being understood. The avatar suggests routes rather than presenting timetables — the question a passenger actually asks ("how do I get to X from here") replaces the question a system usually answers ("when does line 4 arrive"). Behind the conversation, the AI is governed: it stays inside verified mobility knowledge, so the answer a passenger acts on is the answer the transit network would give. **CHALLENGE** — The harder design challenge was holding all of that inside a single object that still reads as a place to catch a bus. Adding functions to street infrastructure usually adds clutter; the absorption logic only works if the result feels less complicated than what it replaces, not more. The form had to look like the future of an existing thing rather than a new category — recognisable enough that someone running for the bus doesn't have to think about it, considered enough that someone waiting starts to notice what it does. **TIMELINE** — The full delivery — concept through industrialisation — ran in six months. The companion process is documented separately; here the relevant point is that the timeline didn't compromise the product. Every function visible in the UITP unit is engineered for street-scale deployment. The Next Stop was the cover attraction of UITP 2025, the global public transport summit where transit authorities from around the world come to evaluate what their networks will look like in the next decade. The unit was picked up by German national television and reviewed by more than 40 media outlets across transport, design and technology press. Beyond the summit, the project anchors HVV's ongoing innovation work in this field — the elements developed inside it (the AI layer, the integrated touchpoint logic, the multi-modal framing) carry forward into the initiatives that follow. ### 250 Years Young Luxoom's multimedia tribute to Alexander von Humboldt at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin is a captivating projection art experience. **** — The façade was treated as part of the storytelling rather than its substrate. Humboldt's life and South American expedition were routed through the architecture itself — detours into recessed windows, river bends following the stonework's existing geometry, obstacles found in the ornaments rather than worked around. Eleven quotes from Humboldt and his contemporaries anchored the narrative across the show. **** — The building isn't projected onto. It's projected through. That choice changed how the rest of the work had to be made. A show that uses the architecture can't tolerate generic content; every frame has to know which window it's about to pass behind. The research was done in-house, at the standard the Stiftung operates by: every image, every quote, every date and attribution confirmed from original sources. **** — Where available reproductions weren't reliable enough, we bought or borrowed the historic editions and made new reproductions from them ourselves. Text passages were verified the same way. Nothing licensed pre-cut from a stock partner. **** — The two decisions reinforced each other. The architectural routing required precise content; the in-house research allowed precise architectural routing. Either alone would have produced a smaller piece. The work launched on the east façade as a public anniversary moment, visible from across Schlossplatz and looped through the inaugural night. The commission opened a working relationship with Stiftung Humboldt Forum that the building itself now carries — the Intro Rooms on the second and third floors, the Berlin Global media systems, and the Headhunters' Paradise exhibition all followed from it. ### Winter Olympics Medal Count The Living Medal Count Show was a daily highlight at the VW Group Russia pavilion during the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Our team created the media design, animations, and software using VENTUZ for real-time animations. Live dancers interpreted the country's medal counts of the day and interacted with the LED facade. The extensive set of real-time animation contents were required to be both flexible and reliably respond to changing show contents every day. The show was directly connected to the Olympics medal data server to update the medal count and announcements in real-time. **** — The show pulled medal data, medal highlights and sporting event results directly from the Olympic data server, with the LED façade configured to receive new tallies in real time — two seconds from result to visualisation. That technical foundation made the rest of the design possible: up to 30 live dancers, choreographed by Monika Graf, interpreted the running count against the façade in shows that ran several times a day across the Games. **** — The animation system was built in Ventuz. Other tools could have carried the real-time data, but Ventuz's timeline allowed more sophisticated synchronisation between live data animation and music-driven choreography — which is what the show needed and what most real-time engines aren't structured for. **** — The content set had to be simultaneously extensive and adaptable: every show varied with the latest results, and the animation library had to cover every possible state without overnight reworking. Software adaptations were made live on set during rehearsals — a Luxoom crew operated on-site at a Moscow film studio setup, modifying behaviour in real time as the production company refined the show. **** — The integration between data feed, animation engine, choreography and architecture was the work. None of those elements stood alone; the show only existed in the moment they synchronised. The Living Medal Count ran daily across the Games to a 500-seat audience that filled to capacity for each performance. Real-time updates landed within two seconds of new results coming through the Olympic feed. The project established live data, real-time animation and choreographed performance as one combined capability for Luxoom — a way of working that still has few comparable examples in phygital production at this scale. ### Ai for Mobility Design Luxoom and HVV used AI to generate 500 design variants for a modular bus stop in just 2 weeks—showcasing how AI in urban infrastructure design accelerates workflows, improves feasibility, and redefines public mobility planning. **** — The decision was to make the early phase hybrid and parallel rather than sequential. Generative tools, 2D precise drawing and 3D modelling ran simultaneously, each feeding the others in continuous loops. Together with AI, the team explored on the order of 500 spatial and material configurations across a two-week window — circulation, visibility, modularity tested in parallel — while drawing and modelling refined the volumes and functions in tandem at the level of detail engineering would later need. **** — The point wasn't volume. 500 mediocre variants are no use to anyone. The point was that the explored space, the drawn space and the modelled space stayed in sync from day one. Conventionally these phases are stacked: concept first, then drawing, then 3D, then industrialisation. Stacking them creates handoff loss at every transition. Running them in parallel removed the handoffs, and the AI layer made the pace sustainable — pulling in detail at a rate that drawing and modelling alone couldn't have matched inside the deadline. **** — Modularity and deployment logic were built into the concept itself, not retrofitted in industrialisation — which is where most touchpoint projects lose their schedule. By the time engineering started, the deployment system was already implicit in the design. The tools sat under the process. Decisions stayed with the team; the generative layer accelerated iteration but didn't make selections. Where the workflow was new, the editorial standard wasn't — every variant taken forward was evaluated against the same questions a manual process would have asked, just faster. The touchpoint went live at UITP 2025 on the schedule the project was scoped to hit. Concept, prototype, design and industrialisation were delivered inside a window that would not typically accommodate all four. Because the explored, drawn and modelled spaces stayed in sync from the beginning, form, message and content arrived aligned — which is what made the client review fast, and the project recognisable to HVV from first look. The workflow that made this possible is now a Luxoom capability, not a one-off response to one deadline. It carries into projects where the schedule and the scope wouldn't otherwise meet. ### Get the DNA BMW i Get the DNA is an exhibition that aims to deepen customer connection to the BMW i brand by building on the design and store elements created for the 'Meet the future' theme. The exhibition features a broad portfolio of design partners that fit with the BMW i DNA and includes an interactive installation that invites each visitor to become part of BMW i's DNA. Visitors can record their BMW movements, cheering, and dancing, along with a selection of keywords, to become part of a huge digital DNA animation shown in the stores and online. By accessing the website, visitors can share their sequence of the animated DNA with others via social media platforms. **** — The exhibition extended the Meet the Future visual system, so visitors who recognised the design language from the store environment arrived already inside the brand, not in a separate exhibition about it. Around the cars, a curated programme of design partners pushed the brand's territory outward — 3D-printed lightweight objects from ESA, sound installations from the University of Art and Design Offenbach, smart-home technology from Samsung, eco design from Essent'ial and Studio Cheha, among others. The proposition was that BMW i belonged in conversation with space-agency engineering, art-school research, consumer tech and sustainable design, not only with other cars. **** — The conversion device was an interactive installation built around a single proposition: become part of BMW i's DNA. Visitors danced in front of a recording setup against a selection of brand keywords, and the captured movements were composited into the brand's large DNA animation — appearing in place of the amino acids that link the two outer strands of the helix. The animation wasn't a brand asset that visitors watched. It was a brand asset they had become part of. **** — A companion web platform extended the participation beyond the room. Visitors could access their own sequence of the DNA animation after the fact and share it through their own channels — the experience didn't end when they left the exhibition, and the content the brand needed for digital reach was generated by the visitors themselves rather than commissioned separately. Get the DNA ran for six months across four flagship locations, with the DNA animation displayed both in-store and online. The installation made an abstract sub-brand tangible — beyond the cars on the floor — and gave many thousands of visitors a talking point to take with them. The project also became an idea-giver for further BMW i initiatives, several of which adapted the exhibition guideline that started here. ### Intro Rooms At Stiftung Humboldt Forum, we designed the Visitor access to the exhibitions by four Welcome Rooms in the second and third floor of the museum. Goal was to create an introduction to the collections and selected objects. **** — Each of the four rooms received a layered screen installation tuned to its specific geometry — six screens per room, arranged along curves rather than walls. The curves were drawn so that, followed past the edges of each room, they connected visitor, museum and the wider world beyond the building. The architecture of the installation was a statement before any content played: nothing here is square, fixed, or self-contained. **** — The screens' visual programming alternated short welcome sequences in more than ten languages with object chapters, each chapter placing one piece from the collections — the Luf boat from the South Seas, the Mandu Yenu throne from Cameroon, among many others — inside its historical, social and artistic context, including provenance and collection history. The chapters were short trailer-like sequences, around 45 seconds each, ten to fourteen per room, with the welcome sequences structuring the loop. Across all four rooms, more than 40 sequences were produced. **** — The layering of the screens meant visitors couldn't see all of it from a single position. To read an object fully, you had to move around it — and that physical movement was the design's argument made tangible. The shift in viewing habit the curators were asking for was rehearsed in the body before it landed in the head. **** — The mirrored backs of the screens carried that further. Each mirror gathered the room, the window views beyond it, and other visitors into the same visual field as the projected content — the strongest connection between what was on screen, where the visitor stood, and the world outside the museum. **** — A multi-channel sound installation extended the principle into another dimension. Object-specific sound came from the screens themselves; an atmospheric composition came from six ceiling speakers, deliberately asynchronous to the visuals. The two layers behaved independently, so a visitor's acoustic experience also shifted with their position in the room. Sight and sound both rewarded perspective change; standing still rewarded nothing. **** — The design workflow had to match what was being designed. The four rooms were reconstructed in the Unity 3D engine with a parametric design component layered on top, which meant screen positions and animated visual content could be edited together — moving a screen and seeing the content respond in real time, at eye height, walking through the room. Without that workflow, the relationship between architecture and content would have been impossible to tune at the precision the rooms needed inside a project running just over a year. **** — The project sits inside Luxoom's longer-running practice of Mediatektur — designing media, space, sound and visitor movement as one — which Andrea Rostásy and Tobias Sievers set out in book form in 2018 and revisited in detail for this project in 2025 (see citation below). The four Intro Rooms opened in autumn 2021 and are now permanent installations inside the Humboldt Forum, marking the beginning of every visitor's encounter with the collections on the second and third floors. They continue to set the interpretive frame the museums chose to lead with — that the objects on display hold multiple readings, and that seeing all of them is the visitor's work as well as the institution's. ### Trade Show Global Guideline Luxoom crafted an immersive trade show experience for CLAAS, combining digital and physical elements to engage visitors and showcase CLAAS’s cutting-edge agricultural solutions. **Visual language** — The visual language starts from where the customer starts. A single perspective lane runs through a field, marked in CLAAS seed green. White lines attach to that lane, duplicate it in a second perspective, and connect upward to the cloud. The agricultural ground and the digital layer are drawn as one continuous system — the same lines running across the same image. Anyone in CLAAS's customer base recognises the field before they recognise the data. **Smart Area** — The Smart Area is where that idea takes physical form. A central zone between the machines, defined by satin-matte dark grey flooring below and a low ceiling truss above, sized so it reads as a room within the booth rather than a side attraction. The Smart Area hosts the digital story — the EASY experiences (a separate Luxoom project that makes the EASY system tangible on the floor), customer-benefit messaging, the interactive product touchpoints — and is positioned so visitors can't move between machines without passing through it. The hierarchy on every CLAAS floor is now: machines around, digital at the centre. **Hanging banners** — Hanging banners do the visual stitching. Each banner is double-sided printed on transparent foil, layered so rotation around the element reveals both layers and the print shows through from behind. The effect is three-dimensional rather than flat: the banners read as objects in the space, not signs on it, which lets them connect machines and Smart Area without dividing the room. The top of every banner carries either the "Hard Work. Smartly Done." claim or a machine-category icon — never both, never anything else. **Messaging in three tiers** — The messaging system runs in three tiers. "Hard Work. Smartly Done." stays as CLAAS's top-level claim. "Smart because…" — completed in local language at each market, "Smart weil…" in German, and so on — operates as the second-tier line, paired with one specific benefit per machine or solution. EASY experiences carry the deepest layer, interactive and in-depth. A visitor walking past gets the claim; a visitor pausing gets the benefit; a visitor engaging gets the experience. The system is built to be read at three different attention levels without requiring any of them. **Scaling across markets** — Scalability sits inside the guideline rather than as an afterthought. The full system is specified for A-shows — the largest international fairs — with the ceiling truss and flooring mandatory. Smaller events can reduce the configuration without losing coherence: the same visual language, fewer elements, same recognisable CLAAS. The guideline is explicit that matching the look and feel is the spirit, not deploying every component every time. The guideline is now CLAAS's global trade show standard, in continuous deployment across international fairs and smaller market events since 2022. Every CLAAS booth — regardless of market or scale — works from the same design system, with the Smart Area, hanging banner network and three-tier messaging behaving consistently across continents. The structural outcome is the one farmers see at the booth: digital products no longer compete with the machines for attention. They share the room with them. ### Kinetic Pixel Curtain - Car Reveal With the introduction of the BMW X7 we created and designed a product launch strategy on par with the innovativeness and premium material language of the model. Lightweight yet powerful, aesthetic yet communicative – the kinetic pixel curtain came to life. Large discs that associate the BMW icon shape create a choreography of moving patterns, displaying projected content and reflecting light, heightening the dramatic anticipation – then finally, magically, the curtain rises and reveals the brand new model. Da capo! **What the curtain is** — The Kinetic Pixel Curtain is a modular kinetic installation. Each module carries up to four disc-elements suspended beneath a truss; modules combine in straight lines, curves or gaps. The discs rotate freely and move vertically, which lets the curtain form continuously changing patterns rather than holding a single state. Each disc has two sides: a gold-mirrored face that catches and throws light, and a silver-matte face that takes video projection. The same surface is mirror or screen depending on which side is turned to the room. **What it does in the room** — The car is behind the curtain. As visitors enter, the curtain is closed and shows the gold-mirrored side — sparkling, reflective, opaque to what's behind it. Choreographies of motion, light, colour and projected content play across the discs, with audio and RGB spotlights tuned to the same sequence. Visitors can influence the choreography from an interaction dashboard — a Leap-sensor stand with a screen, designed to be slim enough not to block sightlines to the curtain itself. Sequence and speed respond to hand movement, so the unveiling is partly the visitor's own. When the curtain finally rises, the integrated light ceiling dims up and the car is alone in the room. **How it scales** — The stylebook specifies the system at three sizes. The full L-scale configuration belongs in a BMW Brand Store; M-scale fits a Driving Center or a brand section within a Niederlassung; S-scale runs in an Urban Store without the vertical disc movement. The modules connect to standard event truss systems and daisy-chain over DMX512, so the same units can serve permanent installations and event-based temporary setups. Same system, three scales, multiple geometries. **Realisation in Zurich** — The system was realised in the Zurich BMW brand store, where the KPC, the interaction dashboard, the interior elements and the partner-curation programme came together as one operational installation. Zurich is the implementation against which the stylebook was tested — the place where the choreography, the reveal sequence, and the visitor flow stopped being specifications and started being an experience. The Kinetic Pixel Curtain went into operation as the centerpiece of the GKL 2018 program at Zurich, and the stylebook became the reference for how the program could be deployed across the wider brand store network. BMW's "Own the Moment" claim — that the visitor choreographs their own encounter with the car — was made operational rather than rhetorical: visitors aren't shown the car, they bring the car into view. ### Show Smart SHOW SMART is a mixed reality tool for presenting CLAAS agricultural machinery at trade shows, events, and 1:1 sales meetings. It can be used live, hybrid, or streaming-only. At any time, the functions of a real machine can be viewed and virtually demonstrated in operation. It is especially tailored to the agricultural target group due to its distinct tool nature. The simple hardware used allows for multiple, global applications. **What the audience sees** — A real CLAAS machine is on the stage. The presenter holds an iPad with the camera pointed at the machine, and the iPad's screen shows the same machine — augmented in real time with data overlays, animated technical layers and explanatory content placed exactly where they belong on the physical object. The audience sees the iPad's view on a large LED behind the stage, in a live video stream, or both. The presenter can switch from the augmented real machine to a 1:1 fully virtual version of it — and the virtual machine can be taken apart on the stage. The threshing system can be pulled out of the combine, the audience taken inside it, the grain flow shown with the flaps in motion, and the behaviour varied across different harvesting situations — all fully animated, scaled however the explanation needs. The same tool moves between augmenting the visible machine and opening up the parts that are normally enclosed, depending on what the audience needs to understand. **Why it's a handheld tool** — The iPad is the deliberate choice. It is small enough that the presenter holds it the way they'd hold any other tool, and gestures with it the way they'd point at the machine without it. All gestures and selections register on the audience-side display, so the audience can see what the presenter is doing to control the visualisation — the controls and cues are visible alongside the result. Watching a presenter use Show Smart looks like watching a craftsperson use a tool: the action is legible, not hidden inside a complicated stack of media technology. **Where it runs** — Show Smart runs as a self-contained system on the iPad for smaller settings — a sales conversation on a farm, a one-to-one demonstration — and offloads rendering to a connected workstation for larger shows where the visual quality has to match a full stage production. CLAAS product experts were part of the development as users, not just reviewers, so the gestures and the workflow match how the team actually presents. HowTo videos cover setup and operation, which lets the team deploy and run the system independently across markets. Show Smart is in continuous use across CLAAS's presentation programme — press conferences, trade-show stages, and one-to-one farm visits — wherever the smart and mechanical layers of a machine need to be opened up for the audience. The tool puts the invisible side of agricultural machinery in front of an audience that prefers to evaluate by touch, and does it without removing the presenter from the conversation. The presenter is still the one explaining the machine; the iPad is what lets them show, not just tell. ### Naga Land. Voices from Northeast India In the context of ethnological exhibitions, it is still a challenge to speak not about, but with people. The temporary exhibition Nagaland – Voices from Northeast India masters this challenge in a presentation that combines a wide variety of themes, eras and perspectives. As Luxoom, we conceived and implemented the design and media production of this exhibition. **Design as the argument** — The exhibition's design language deliberately departs from the permanent ethnological displays elsewhere in the building. Openness and transparency are the organising qualities: semi-transparent materials in the showcases, layered viewpoints that combine historical objects with contemporary photography, temporary suspension structures that hold their elements visibly rather than fixing them. Visitors find new perspectives in the layering as they move; an object seen from one angle reads differently from another. The aesthetic elevation that any vitrine performs on what's inside it is countered by the surroundings the vitrine sits in — living social and cultural context, not isolation behind glass. **Refusing the reduction** — The exhibition does not follow pre-formulated headlines. It places incentives and prompts in the room for visitors to draw their own conclusions, and it explicitly refuses to reduce the Naga to historical objects and the colonial chapter that brought those objects to Berlin. Visitors are invited to overlay the historical-colonial image with the Naga self-image, to bring their own cultural experience into contact with Naga cultural experience, to trace how tradition shows up in everyday life now — both there and here. Old and new are deliberately juxtaposed because both are equally part of present-day Naga cultures. **Structuring the story space** — For the visitors, the exhibition is divided into two entrance areas, which offer basic information and place historical photos, and a building structure with an adjoining open space. The structure, made of steel and semi-transparent materials, is characterized inside by object showcases, whose abundance and transparency overlap with the surroundings. On the quieter side of the structure is a media track that invites visitors to linger and observe. In contrast, the Botanical track addresses the materials and skills used in the objects. The open space, which is accessed by various visitor paths, brings several contemporary elements to the visitor experience: a collection of private photographs paired with newspaper clippings and an art installation that address the Naga political-social situation. An open display case on fashion design and popular culture fits into this contemporary framework, bringing the aesthetics of the historical objects into the present and linking to the question of Naga identity. **** — The dual position the exhibition holds is articulated most clearly by Zubeni Lotha herself, looking at the Naga objects in the Berlin collection: **** — "On one hand, it's very sad to see this here, because it's dislodged. It's dislocated from its place of origin. But at the same time, it's also very interesting to see this here, because I see how the curator who is in the museum here, who is not a Naga, who is from Germany, looks at this object — and there is a cultural contact going on between these two very different cultures. These are pieces in the museum that are looked at as just pieces and objects. Whereas for me, coming from Nagaland, I see this as part of my Naga heritage, and it is a culture that is very much alive even today." > — Zubeni Lotha, curator, photographer and artist from Nagaland **The space** — The exhibition is entered through two areas that introduce basic information and historical photography. Beyond them, a structure of steel and semi-transparent materials carries the main object showcases — abundance and transparency overlap with the surroundings, the structure and its contents reading as part of one another. An adjoining open space brings contemporary voices into the experience: a collection of private photographs paired with newspaper clippings and an art installation that address the Naga political-social situation, and an open display case featuring contemporary Naga makers — fashion designer Imcha Imchen, Instagram presence and mekhala advocate Theyie Keditso, and tattoo artist Mo Naga — bringing the aesthetic of the historical objects into the present and tying to the live question of Naga identity. **** — Two lanes inside the exhibition do specific, particular work. The Botanical lane — curated by a botanical curator from the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin — addresses the materials and substances behind the objects: dyes, fibres, plants. The recurring observation it makes is that the materials are not always what they appear, and not always local. The dominant red across the exhibition, for example, comes from several different sources — native Himalayan dye plants, but already in the 19th century commercially grown European madder, and later synthetic dyes once those became affordable. The iridescent inner surfaces of certain pieces of men's jewellery are the elytra of a beetle that was caught in large numbers in the Naga Hills, threaded onto necklaces, and later exported to Europe to be sewn onto textiles as an early forerunner of the sequin. The colonial-era economy and the visual culture of the objects turn out to be the same story, told from two sides. The Media lane is deliberately set apart from the main visitor flow, with seating, so that visitors who want to watch the longer media pieces have a safe space to do so without other visitors having to pass through. Both lanes are particular to this exhibition; neither defines its overall structure. **Named voices, not anonymous institutional voice** — The exhibition has named curatorial counterparts behind it — Roland Platz at the Ethnologisches Museum as lead curator, Zubeni Lotha as Naga curator and artist, the Botanischer Garten curatorial team, and the Stiftung Humboldt Forum exhibition leads. The point of naming is structural: this exhibition has senders, not just an anonymous institutional voice. The collaboration that produced it is open-ended and visible inside the rooms. Naga Land. Voices from Northeast India* opened on the third floor of the Humboldt Forum in 2022 and ran until May 2026. The opening was attended by Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture, whose remarks took up the same dialogue the exhibition was built to enable. Over its full run, the exhibition held the dual position it was designed to hold: drawing on a colonial-era collection without letting that period speak for the present, and giving named Naga voices structural place inside an institution that has been part of the contested history. This exhibition is one project inside Luxoom's longer working relationship with the Stiftung Humboldt Forum — alongside *250 Years Young!* (2019), the Intro Rooms (2021), and other commissions across the building. ### BMW Active Tourer Brand Stores The BMW Active Tourer Exhibition was the first in a series of Brand Store concepts. It brought the outdoors inside by using natural materials and sporting gear to create a refreshing setup. The exhibition also included an engaging installation featuring a robot with a chainsaw that cut stools from tree trunks, fusing elements from car production with the outdoor theme. This eye-catching installation was a collaboration with ETH Zurich, Echtwald, and Kuka, and the finished stools were given to customers as giveaways. **BRINGING THE OUTDOORS INSIDE.** — In cooperation with ETH Zürich, Echtwald and Kuka, a special engaging installation took place: a robot with a chainsaw cut stools from tree trunks. This concept combines elements from car production with the outdoor theme, creating an absolute eye-catcher. And additionally, the finished stools could be handed over to customers as giveaways. **FUSING TECHNOLOGY AND NATURE.** — The BMW Active Tourer Exhibition for the BMW Brand Stores was the first in a long row of Brand Store concepts we made. With a strong focus on outdoor activities, the concept brought the Outdoors into the store, working with natural materials and sporting gear in a refreshing setup. **DISCOVER** — The BMW Active Tourer Exhibition for the BMW Brand Stores was the first in a long row of Brand Store concepts we made. With a strong focus on outdoor activities, the concept brought the Outdoors into the store, working with natural materials and sporting gear in a refreshing setup. The BMW Active Tourer Exhibition for the BMW Brand Stores was the first in a long row of Brand Store concepts we made. With a strong focus on outdoor activities, the concept brought the Outdoors into the store, working with natural materials and sporting gear in a refreshing setup. In cooperation with ETH Zürich, Echtwald and Kuka, a special engaging installation took place: a robot with a chainsaw cut stools from tree trunks. This concept combines elements from car production with the outdoor theme, creating an absolute eye-catcher. And additionally, the finished stools could be handed over to customers as giveaways. ### Future Energy Space Experience the Siemens Future Energy Space, an interactive and engaging room-scale experience created by Luxoom. From design and data visualization to hardware integration, our long-term partnership with Siemens extends into live-presentation environments. The 'SIEMENS ZUKUNFTSRAUMENERGIE' project offers a diverse range of meaningful presentations, from simple household devices to the complexities of German energy consumption since reunification. Whether you're an expert or novice, the Siemens Future Energy Space has something for everyone. Join us and step into the world of energy management. **Four simulations, one room** — The room runs four simulations that share one interface but move across very different levels of complexity — from reading the energy profile of a single household device to explaining Germany's combined energy consumption since reunification. The same table serves a visitor who has never thought about energy management and one who works in it professionally. **** — Each simulation lets visitors change the parameters of a system and see how it behaves. Turn off sunshine and wind and watch the response; adjust settings and look for a more optimal balance. Understanding a complex system by manipulating it, rather than being told about it, is the core of the experience. **Interaction through physical tokens** — Visitors control the room with physical tokens placed on a 65-inch interactive table. A start token launches each simulation and sets its conditions — summer or winter, basic or advanced — and the simulation then builds up step by step, guiding the visitor through what to do next. A separate visualizer token controls the wall projection: depending on where it sits on the surface, it calls up the standard image, mirrors the touch surface, or brings up selected detail information. **** — The tokens are designed as a consistent family — laser-cut graphics, short German or English labels, and a colored outer ring that ties each token to its application. Discrete, color-coded loading positions on the table make it clear which token belongs where and where each simulation begins. **Wall projection and space** — The wall projection is set into the architecture rather than dropped onto a wall: a WUXGA 16:10 surface framed by RGBW light above and below, with the surrounding wall lit to match the projected content. The interface, the token system and the projection were designed as one visual language — a recurring grid of crosses, derived from the UI, that reads as a surface to experiment on and aligns with Siemens' own graphic and color language. **An office turned into a showroom** — From concept to visualization to on-site supervision, the whole space and its furnishings were designed for presentations and team workshops. A dark carpet with a bright inset defines the floor; curtains in Siemens Stone Dark carry the grid as a white silk-screen print; the same grid is cut in vinyl on the window panes. A workshop table in Corian Deep Titanium with brushed-steel elements sits alongside the interactive table. Lighting, paint and print did the rest, turning an ordinary office into a coherent, brand-consistent room. The showroom opened in 2019 and went into regular use for presentations and workshops, holding the attention of audiences as different as school classes and energy specialists with the same set of tools. Delivered by three companies working as one — with Luxoom as the single point of contact — it gave Siemens a durable, flexible space where an abstract subject can be handled, changed and understood by the people in the room. ### XR Showcase at Drupa Experience the next generation of presentation technology with Kolbus XR, a groundbreaking extended reality application developed by Luxoom, showcased at Drupa 2024. This innovative tool highlights Kolbus's machinery capabilities, transforming the way the printing industry engages with technology. **Overcoming Physical Barriers** — By leveraging mixed reality, Kolbus not only showcased their high quality machine but also reduced the environmental and economical impact associated with shipping large equipment.Furthermore, the approach drew substantial visitor attention, positioning Kolbus as an industry innovator at Drupa. The Mixed Reality Show effectively demonstrated Kolbus’s engineering prowess, engaging the audience and making a memorable impact at the event. **Crafting an Engaging Product Story** — Using REVELATE XR as a tool, Luxoom extended a physical machine part virtually, allowing visitors to delve into the machine’s complex processes and features. This interactive show provided a comprehensive view of the machine’s operations, highlighting its most important benefits. Luxoom crafted a compelling product story, wrote a detailed script for two presenters, and managed the show's logistics, including sending a dedicated presenter to support the Kolbus team on-site. **Impact and Results For Kolbus** — Using REVELATE XR as a tool, Luxoom extended a physical machine part virtually, allowing visitors to delve into the machine’s complex processes and features. This interactive show provided a comprehensive view of the machine’s operations, highlighting its most important benefits. Luxoom crafted a compelling product story, wrote a detailed script for two presenters, and managed the show's logistics, including sending a dedicated presenter to support the Kolbus team on-site. **RELATED PROJECTS** — Using REVELATE XR as a tool, Luxoom extended a physical machine part virtually, allowing visitors to delve into the machine’s complex processes and features. This interactive show provided a comprehensive view of the machine’s operations, highlighting its most important benefits. Luxoom crafted a compelling product story, wrote a detailed script for two presenters, and managed the show's logistics, including sending a dedicated presenter to support the Kolbus team on-site. Using REVELATE XR as a tool, Luxoom extended a physical machine part virtually, allowing visitors to delve into the machine’s complex processes and features. This interactive show provided a comprehensive view of the machine’s operations, highlighting its most important benefits. Luxoom crafted a compelling product story, wrote a detailed script for two presenters, and managed the show's logistics, including sending a dedicated presenter to support the Kolbus team on-site. By leveraging mixed reality, Kolbus not only showcased their high quality machine but also reduced the environmental and economical impact associated with shipping large equipment.Furthermore, the approach drew substantial visitor attention, positioning Kolbus as an industry innovator at Drupa. The Mixed Reality Show effectively demonstrated Kolbus’s engineering prowess, engaging the audience and making a memorable impact at the event. ### Meininger Hotels, ITB 2026 We took the existing concept apart at the detail level — proportions, materials, lighting, the way the upper floor reads from the aisle, how the meeting areas sit inside the open floor plan. None of it was a redesign. All of it added up to a stand that read as a step up from the year before, and that gave Meininger's hospitality character a clearer presence on the floor. **Design refinement** — Detail-level review and revision of the client's stand concept — proportions, materials, lighting, the way the upper floor reads from the aisle, how the meeting areas sit inside the open floor plan. Focused on aesthetic resolution and brand fit, not redesign. **Production coordination** — Steering of Smart Design Expo (Poznań) through fabrication, logistics, and on-site assembly across the production phase. A reliable partner held to the level of finish the new detailing called for. **On-site delivery** — Delivery oversight at ITB Berlin — ensuring what was promised on paper was delivered on the floor, on budget, on time, despite a project window that left little room for slippage. The Meininger stand design grew up this year — more composed, more confident, recognisably the same brand but pitched at a different level. Full scope delivered, on budget, on time. The result on the floor matched what was promised on paper. ### BMW 2 Series Brand Stores Inspired by Palm Springs and Mid-Century Design, this concept draws on vibrant colors and luscious patterns as part of a lifestyle. In partnering with the furniture company VITRA we developed a large wall of colorful Panton Chairs to create a backdrop. The centerpiece is a large rotating mirror kaleidoscope, powered by twitter messages and part of a competition with the chance of winning Panton Chairs. This brand store concept was a massive hit for the brand communication. **COLORFUL ENGAGING LIFESTYLE.** — The kaleidoscopic mirror reflection inspired many visitors to take a photo of the BMW 2 Series. Even more so, since with a simple twitter message, this kaleidoscope was set into motion – a real eye-catcher. An intelligent software determined the duration of rotation based on how nice the tweet was (really!) and following a return tweet by BMW, visitors could register for the sweepstakes. Measured by the amount of people who partook, it was a full success **TWEET ABOUT THE NEW BMW 2 SERIES MODEL.** — Inspired by Palm Springs and Mid-Century Design, this concept for BMW brand stores draws on vibrant colours and luscious patterns as part of a lifestyle. In partnering with the furniture company VITRA we developed a large installation wall of Panton Chairs to create a magical and colorful backdrop. The centerpiece is a large rotating mirror kaleidoscope, powered by twitter messages and part of a competition with the chance of winning Panton Chairs. **DISCOVER** — Inspired by Palm Springs and Mid-Century Design, this concept for BMW brand stores draws on vibrant colours and luscious patterns as part of a lifestyle. In partnering with the furniture company VITRA we developed a large installation wall of Panton Chairs to create a magical and colorful backdrop. The centerpiece is a large rotating mirror kaleidoscope, powered by twitter messages and part of a competition with the chance of winning Panton Chairs. Inspired by Palm Springs and Mid-Century Design, this concept for BMW brand stores draws on vibrant colours and luscious patterns as part of a lifestyle. In partnering with the furniture company VITRA we developed a large installation wall of Panton Chairs to create a magical and colorful backdrop. The centerpiece is a large rotating mirror kaleidoscope, powered by twitter messages and part of a competition with the chance of winning Panton Chairs. The kaleidoscopic mirror reflection inspired many visitors to take a photo of the BMW 2 Series. Even more so, since with a simple twitter message, this kaleidoscope was set into motion – a real eye-catcher. An intelligent software determined the duration of rotation based on how nice the tweet was (really!) and following a return tweet by BMW, visitors could register for the sweepstakes. Measured by the amount of people who partook, it was a full success ### Excellence for Life Having proven excellence of film production with the contents of the BIOTRONIK corporate exhibition and being quite knowledgeable in BIOTRONIK’s product portfolio through many years of collaboration, we produced and designed the company’s image film EXCELLENCE FOR LIFE. Filmed in all of BIOTRONIK’s global production facilities, the film takes a very close and precise look at the technology that performs with excellence, simply. **A film without a voice-over** — The film is built as a single, unbroken move through BIOTRONIK's world, held together by cuts and camera turns rather than narration. A quiet heartbeat opens it and becomes the rhythm of the soundtrack; facts appear only as short on-screen graphics — testing hours, production steps, devices implanted worldwide — surfaced at the moment the image earns them. The restraint is the point: precision shown, not claimed. **Shooting across BIOTRONIK's world** — Luxoom scripted the storyboard from MetaDesign's concept and shot at BIOTRONIK, moving from the welding of a pacemaker and the movement of robot arms to quality assurance, stent production and the physicians who use the devices. Much of it was shot inside medical clean rooms, where crew, lighting and camera all work under the same contamination and access constraints as production itself — a demanding environment to film in without disrupting the line. **** — Getting the smallest components on screen was its own problem. Capturing microscopic detail — welds, struts, the placing of parts measured in fractions of a millimetre — called for specific lenses and camera speeds, chosen so those extreme close-ups sit at the same quality and in the same visual language as the facility and people shots rather than reading as a separate register. Alongside the on-site shoot, footage from BIOTRONIK's international locations built the film's global chapter — German engineering, American ingenuity, Swiss precision, Singaporean sophistication — read as one connected world rather than a list of factories. **Editing, animation and sound** — Post-production carried most of the film's language. A white "interface" world and thin graphic lines run through the edit; 2D and 3D animation lifts products like the Orsiro stent off the screen and turns figures into motion. Colour grading, sound design and an original score — composed in step with the edit — were all handled within the same production, so image, graphics and sound resolve together. **A person at both ends** — The film opens and closes on the same technician at her workbench — a human thread that frames the technology between two moments of one working life, and lands the closing line, *from vision to impact. The film was scripted, shot, cut and scored on a tight schedule and delivered in November 2018, with a public screening at BIOTRONIK at the end of that month. It gave the company a brand film that presents an abstract, highly technical subject as something continuous and human, and it left BIOTRONIK with a library of footage from its sites worldwide — material that went on to feed installations in the BIOTRONIK i-Lab in Berlin. ### BMW 5 Series Brand Stores The BMW 5 Series Brand Store exhibitions required a unique combination of business and sport designs. The result was the Business Athlete design, which featured signature blue light stripes that conveyed speed and agility. The same stripes continued up the walls and allowed for modular concepts. The design was implemented worldwide with a sophisticated style guide that defined all elements, from materials to interactive installations and media. This ensured a unified presentation across different countries, including Brussels, New York, and Paris. **BUSINESS ATHLETE.** — Like all the Brand Store exhibition designs, the Business Athlete designs and creative content had to flexibly work everywhere that BMW is on the market. We created a sophisticated style guide that is the basis for all adaptations worldwide, defining all structural elements and materials, as well as interactive installations and media to achieve a unified presentation – in the BMW Welt (above) as well as for instance in Brussels, New York and Paris (below). **DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. ONE BRAND.** — As part of our ongoing work on BMW Brandstore exhibitions, the BMW 5 Series asked for a creative combination of business and sport designs. Signature blue light stripes embedded in the tarmac below the model references speed and agility. The same light stripes continue up the presentation walls, partly covered by black glass, allowing for flexible and modular concepts. This all is dominated by the numeral ‘5’ to make evident who’s the hero in this setup. Like all the Brand Store exhibition designs, the Business Athlete designs and creative content had to flexibly work everywhere that BMW is on the market. We created a sophisticated style guide that is the basis for all adaptations worldwide, defining all structural elements and materials, as well as interactive installations and media to achieve a unified presentation – in the BMW Welt (above) as well as for instance in Brussels, New York and Paris (below). ### Grand Opening Beijing The opening of the new Four Seasons hotel in Beijing was a glamorous affair, with the stage media contents designed and animated by our team. The evening was a celebration of luxury, combining dynamic elements with brilliant visuals. Avantgarde Beijing led the opening event, which was attended by a host of high-profile guests. **GLAMOUR ALL THE WAY.** — The opening of the Beijing Four Seasons was led by Avantgarde Beijing. **DISCOVER** — For the opening event of the New Beijing Four Seasons our team designed and animated the stage media contents, combining dynamic with luxury brilliance. A beautiful evening with a great show and even greater guests. For the opening event of the New Beijing Four Seasons our team designed and animated the stage media contents, combining dynamic with luxury brilliance. A beautiful evening with a great show and even greater guests. ### Trion Launch A new generation of combine harvesters – you would expect it to be launched in the fields harvesting. But it was neither the right season for harvest nor would have many people joined due to Corona hygiene considerations. We helped CLAAS to bring the field to the TRION and create an impactful show mixing the real huge harvester with its virtual twin harvesting in an Unreal-generated landscape. To make this happen, we setup a gigantic temporary virtual production studio at CLAAS HQ in Harsewinkel. **TRION. Fits Your Farm.** — Meticulous planning was necessary to create a virtual stage at the CLAAS HQ in Harsewinkel that was big enough but at the same time efficient and flexible. An impactful show brought together the real huge harvester on stage with its virtual twin harvesting in an Unreal-engine-generated environment. **IMPACTFUL PRODUCTION** — In a combination of live camera tracking and cue based Unreal rendering three different language versions were produced as base for 22 different language versions being streamed globally. **DISCOVER** — A new generation of combine harvesters – something you surely would expect to be launched out in the fields harvesting. Yet this launch had to happen indoor: CLAAS combined the necessity of a virtual launch due to CORONA pandemic with the objective of sending a message: here comes a high-tech product with a lot of smart features that fits your farm. Together with CLAAS we created a launch event that brought the field to the TRION and intelligently showcased the technology inside. A new generation of combine harvesters – something you surely would expect to be launched out in the fields harvesting. Yet this launch had to happen indoor: CLAAS combined the necessity of a virtual launch due to CORONA pandemic with the objective of sending a message: here comes a high-tech product with a lot of smart features that fits your farm. Together with CLAAS we created a launch event that brought the field to the TRION and intelligently showcased the technology inside. Meticulous planning was necessary to create a virtual stage at the CLAAS HQ in Harsewinkel that was big enough but at the same time efficient and flexible. An impactful show brought together the real huge harvester on stage with its virtual twin harvesting in an Unreal-engine-generated environment. In a combination of live camera tracking and cue based Unreal rendering three different language versions were produced as base for 22 different language versions being streamed globally. ### Exiderdome World Tour **An Immersive Mediatecture Experience with Global Reach** — Central to the Siemens Exiderdome experience was an engaging welcome show that featured a groundbreaking 34-meter-wide projection screen. This immersive mediatecture element surrounded visitors, drawing them into a world where Siemens technology actively shapes our daily lives. Tailored introduction films on a 12,000-pixel-wide screen, adapting to regional distinctions, effectively positioned Siemens as an essential local entity. This immersive approach highlighted the seamless blend of technology and daily living, a core principle of mediatecture. **Shaping the Future: Reflecting on the Siemens Exiderdome’s Legacy and Innovations** — The Siemens Exiderdome World Tour stands as a monumental achievement in the realm of mediatecture, showcasing Luxoom's ability to craft creative concepts that resonate on a global scale. This partnership with Siemens Automation and Drives Division is a testament to Luxoom's ingenuity in transforming intricate technological narratives into captivating, immersive experiences. The project set a new industry standard for how technology exhibitions connect with international audiences, reinforcing the transformative power of mediatecture. **TOOLS AND PLATFORMS** — The Siemens Exiderdome World Tour, an embodiment of mediatecture marvel developed by Siemens Automation and Drives Division and meticulously brought to life by Luxoom, marked a new era in traveling exhibitions from 2005 to 2008. This mediatecture masterpiece showcased the profound impact of Siemens technology on daily life, representing a journey through the fusion of media, architecture, and interactive storytelling. **TOOLS AND PLATFORMS** — The Siemens Exiderdome World Tour, an embodiment of mediatecture marvel developed by Siemens Automation and Drives Division and meticulously brought to life by Luxoom, marked a new era in traveling exhibitions from 2005 to 2008. This mediatecture masterpiece showcased the profound impact of Siemens technology on daily life, representing a journey through the fusion of media, architecture, and interactive storytelling. The Siemens Exiderdome World Tour, an embodiment of mediatecture marvel developed by Siemens Automation and Drives Division and meticulously brought to life by Luxoom, marked a new era in traveling exhibitions from 2005 to 2008. This mediatecture masterpiece showcased the profound impact of Siemens technology on daily life, representing a journey through the fusion of media, architecture, and interactive storytelling. Central to the Siemens Exiderdome experience was an engaging welcome show that featured a groundbreaking 34-meter-wide projection screen. This immersive mediatecture element surrounded visitors, drawing them into a world where Siemens technology actively shapes our daily lives. Tailored introduction films on a 12,000-pixel-wide screen, adapting to regional distinctions, effectively positioned Siemens as an essential local entity. This immersive approach highlighted the seamless blend of technology and daily living, a core principle of mediatecture. The Siemens Exiderdome World Tour stands as a monumental achievement in the realm of mediatecture, showcasing Luxoom's ability to craft creative concepts that resonate on a global scale. This partnership with Siemens Automation and Drives Division is a testament to Luxoom's ingenuity in transforming intricate technological narratives into captivating, immersive experiences. The project set a new industry standard for how technology exhibitions connect with international audiences, reinforcing the transformative power of mediatecture. ### Luxury Closed Rooms As part of our work of bringing the Luxury car segment to BMW‘s worldwide Brand Stores, the arrival of the new BMW 7 Series involved creating a ‚Closed Room‘ within the BMW Welt Munich for specially invited guests. For those VIPs who get to see the new car before its official launch, BMW’s understanding of Luxury had to be showcased in the redesign of this presentation space. And yes, you won’t see the 7 Series model in the photos because at this point it wasn’t officially launched. Based on this successful Closed Room concept, such preview facilities were additionally established in Paris and Brussels for the BMW 7 and later models. ### Panamera Launch **THRILLING CONTRADICTIONS.** — The concept rested on a single staging decision. Two LED walls were placed where the car needed to enter — close together, dominating the audience's view, leaving no physical room for a vehicle to appear. For most of the launch film, they behaved as content surfaces: a luxury narrative on one, a performance narrative on the other, two separate worlds running in parallel. **OPENING THE SPACE.** — In the final seconds of the trailer, both walls moved backward in unison and parted. The space they vacated was the stage. The Panamera was already there. **DISCOVER** — The reveal worked because it was earned by the staging itself. The audience watched the room reorganise to make the car possible, and the contradiction the film had been building resolved into one object. The mechanical move and the narrative move were the same move. The launch ran as the official China unveiling of the new Panamera, presented to Porsche's press and dealer network. The kinetic LED configuration was developed for this event specifically — every wall cue and motion sequence timed to the trailer rather than assembled from stock staging. ### BMW i Ecosystem We started with the concept referencing the BMW i pentagonal identity pattern which has been part of the BMW i brand identity from the earliest days. We decided to bring it alive as a spatial and interactive installation. Built as a curvilinear structure of transformable light sticks, it reacts to the environment and simultaneously integrates a wealth of BMW i topics. By playing around the BMW i3 and i8 models, the Ecosystem illustrates all the qualities of BMW i that cannot be immediately discerned on the physical models themselves. **ALIVE AND INTERACTIVE.** — Our innovative approach involved constructing a dynamic curvilinear structure comprised of transformable light sticks. This meticulously designed installation not only adapts to its surroundings but also seamlessly integrates a wealth of BMW i topics, creating an immersive and engaging environment. By seamlessly incorporating the BMW i3 and i8 models, this interactive Ecosystem serves as a powerful medium to showcase the remarkable qualities of BMW i that may not be immediately apparent on the physical models themselves. **TALKING TO YOU.** — Visitors can discover the captivating world of BMW i through this interactive installation, where the iconic pentagonal pattern and the innovative design language of the BMW brand come together to create an unforgettable showroom experience. They can immerse themselves in the fusion of technology, sustainability, and sheer driving pleasure that defines BMW i, as the Ecosystem brings to life the essence of the brand in a way that goes beyond the physical realm. **DISCOVER** — The interactive toolbox of the Ecosystem relies on proximity. Once it detects a visitor, it starts interactively sending light impulses into the grid and playfully showcases visual content around the captured silhouette. Our innovative approach involved constructing a dynamic curvilinear structure comprised of transformable light sticks. This meticulously designed installation not only adapts to its surroundings but also seamlessly integrates a wealth of BMW i topics, creating an immersive and engaging environment. By seamlessly incorporating the BMW i3 and i8 models, this interactive Ecosystem serves as a powerful medium to showcase the remarkable qualities of BMW i that may not be immediately apparent on the physical models themselves. Visitors can discover the captivating world of BMW i through this interactive installation, where the iconic pentagonal pattern and the innovative design language of the BMW brand come together to create an unforgettable showroom experience. They can immerse themselves in the fusion of technology, sustainability, and sheer driving pleasure that defines BMW i, as the Ecosystem brings to life the essence of the brand in a way that goes beyond the physical realm. The interactive toolbox of the Ecosystem relies on proximity. Once it detects a visitor, it starts interactively sending light impulses into the grid and playfully showcases visual content around the captured silhouette. ### The Next Stop Experience A multilingual, motion-driven brand experience for HVV at UITP 2025—The Next Stop combined identity, storytelling, and real-time interaction to engage global audiences and showcase the future of public transport. **Branding & Experiential Media** — Alongside the full UX design and booth architecture for HVV’s presence at UITP 2025, Luxoom was responsible for creating an expressive media and branding layer that turned the booth into a living narrative. Across screens, signage, digital platforms, and branded takeaways, we built a system that spoke to the future of mobility in color, rhythm, and motion. **A New Visual Language for Future Public Mobility** — Alongside the full and for HVV’s presence at UITP 2025, Luxoom was responsible for creating an expressive media and branding layer that turned the booth into a living narrative. Across screens, signage, digital platforms, and branded takeaways, we built a system that spoke to the future of mobility in color, rhythm, and motion. **Extending the Experience into Motion Design** — We reimagined HVV’s identity as a more dynamic and expressive system—one that reflects movement, transformation, and inclusion. **Big Picture to Detailed Information: From Sky Screens to Info Displays** — logo and naming were introduced to , anticipation, and HVV’s ongoing role in guiding people forward. Glass-like layering, an expanded color spectrum, and light-based textures were developed to evoke clarity, diversity, and across all touchpoints. Guidelines for tone, typography, and iconography were crafted to ensure —whether in digital, motion, or physical spaces. The Next Stop wasn’t just a booth or a brand—it was a unified experience that resonated across audiences, from everyday commuters to transport experts. By integrating identity, design, and storytelling, we created a platform that felt both immediate and expansive—grounded in the needs of the city, yet open to the future. Luxoom’s media production unified branding, storytelling, and communication into a seamless, expressive layer. Screens, surfaces, and signals became part of the narrative—animated by purpose, designed for connection. This was media with momentum: crafted to reflect the city in motion, and the people it serves. wasn’t just a booth or a brand—it was a unified experience that resonated across audiences, from everyday commuters to transport experts. By integrating identity, design, and storytelling, we created a platform that felt both immediate and expansive—grounded in the needs of the city, yet open to the future. Luxoom’s media production unified branding, storytelling, and communication into a seamless, expressive layer. Screens, surfaces, and signals became part of the narrative—animated by purpose, designed for connection. ### Hannover Fair Booth Media **Crafting Siemens' Monumental Booth: A Fusion of Vision and Technology** — Tasked with creating an unforgettable experience for the Hannover Fair 2005, Luxoom delved deep into Siemens' ethos to conceptualize a showpiece that embodied progress and innovation. Through creative brainstorming and strategic execution, we designed a booth that not only highlighted Siemens' cutting-edge technologies but also their commitment to driving forward industrial innovation, marking a pivotal moment in media-infused fair design. **TOOLS AND PLATFORMS** — Over the years, Luxoom has been at the forefront of transforming the Siemens presence at the Hanover Fairs into a beacon of innovation and engagement. The 2005 fair was a landmark year, featuring a standout installation of a fully operational bottling plant. This exhibit, set against the backdrop of an impressive LED curtain, offered fairgoers a unique, interactive demonstration of Siemens' prowess in integrated automation. **TOOLS AND PLATFORMS** — Over the years, Luxoom has been at the forefront of transforming the Siemens presence at the Hanover Fairs into a beacon of innovation and engagement. The 2005 fair was a landmark year, featuring a standout installation of a fully operational bottling plant. This exhibit, set against the backdrop of an impressive LED curtain, offered fairgoers a unique, interactive demonstration of Siemens' prowess in integrated automation. **INTERNATIONAL** — Over the years, Luxoom has been at the forefront of transforming the Siemens presence at the Hanover Fairs into a beacon of innovation and engagement. The 2005 fair was a landmark year, featuring a standout installation of a fully operational bottling plant. This exhibit, set against the backdrop of an impressive LED curtain, offered fairgoers a unique, interactive demonstration of Siemens' prowess in integrated automation. Over the years, Luxoom has been at the forefront of transforming the Siemens presence at the Hanover Fairs into a beacon of innovation and engagement. The 2005 fair was a landmark year, featuring a standout installation of a fully operational bottling plant. This exhibit, set against the backdrop of an impressive LED curtain, offered fairgoers a unique, interactive demonstration of Siemens' prowess in integrated automation. Tasked with creating an unforgettable experience for the Hannover Fair 2005, Luxoom delved deep into Siemens' ethos to conceptualize a showpiece that embodied progress and innovation. Through creative brainstorming and strategic execution, we designed a booth that not only highlighted Siemens' cutting-edge technologies but also their commitment to driving forward industrial innovation, marking a pivotal moment in media-infused fair design. ### Berlin Global At Stiftung Humboldt Forum, we formed the Visitor access to the exhibitions by four Welcome Rooms in the second and third floor of the museum. Goal was to create an introduction to the collections and selected objects. **Reduction, not addition** — The first work was filtering. Co-creation workshops with the curatorial team took the abundance of proposed interactions and moves and pared them back until what was left was small, clear, and welcoming enough for a first-time visitor with no instruction. What survived went into a service architecture that treated every visitor moment as a service design question: what has to be here, how does this station relate to what came before and what's next, what can be removed. Reduction was the design act. Anything left in the system had to earn its place. **TOOLS AND PLATFORMS** — With thousands of ideas pouring in from the curators, our task was to carefully filter and distill them into a select few, easily accessible invitations to interact. **One visual language across many surfaces** — The Visual Styleguide sits under the whole exhibition. Theinhardt Pan is the primary typeface, with Chinese, Japanese and Arabic families scaled to match visually. A tight colour palette carries fixed meanings — pink for anything the visitor can interact with, yellow for backgrounds and highlights, red and grey and black and white each with a defined role — so the same colour cue means the same thing whether the visitor is at a 5-inch touch display or a 43-inch video screen. Icon language, button behaviour, text hierarchy, and readability rules are calibrated per screen size and pixel density, from 10.5 PPI on the largest wall projections up to 267 PPI on the smallest touch devices. A visitor doesn't need to notice this; they only need to arrive at any station and know where they are. **Accessibility as a design pressure, not a checklist** — Accessibility shaped the system rather than being added to it. German Sign Language (DGS) video content is documented in the styleguide as a first-class interaction path — not an alternative, an equivalent — with its own layout rules across the visitor's journey (Check-in, Mein Talent, Webstuhl, Check-out). Contrast ratios, minimum type sizes, ergonomic heights (186 cm at 95th percentile as reference), 60% opacity overlays where brand colours would compromise readability — the design rules exist because the exhibition has to work for the visitor who needs them, not because a standard was cited. The in-house accessibility office at the Humboldt Forum reviewed the work at every stage; nothing goes live in the building that isn't fully accessible. **Building the software, not only integrating it** — Berlin Global is more Luxoom-built software than most visitors would guess. Not all of it — the exhibition has multiple software contributors — but substantial parts of the interactive layer were developed by Luxoom: the systems that calculate each visitor's wristband results, several of the interactive stations themselves, and the integration work that ties the whole visitor journey together across hardware and content. Much of that interactive layer runs on Unity, and the visitor's individual journey — every vote cast, every talent selected, every station response — has to be captured, carried, and finally printed as a personalised ticket at the Check-out station. Getting Unity to talk cleanly to the ticket-printer hardware wasn't a solved problem when we started; Luxoom wrote printer drivers to close that gap. Fitting the technical integration to the visitor experience — rather than the other way around — is what makes the printed personal result feel like the natural end of a conversation, not the output of a machine. Berlin Global opened in 2021 and has been in continuous daily operation since — touched by visitors every day, cleaned every night, refreshed every week. The service, UX and UI system Luxoom built holds up across the range of stations, hardware and languages the exhibition runs on, and across the millions of visitors who have moved through it. What visitors experience as "the exhibition" is, from the design side, a lot of individual decisions about what stays, what goes, what belongs where, and how the visitor is always told — clearly and quickly — what they can do next. ### Headhunters' Paradise HUMBOLDT LAB Headhunters’ Paradise is an intercultural exhibition that offers a temporary and multilayered approach to the controversial topic of headhunting. Curated by Zubeni Lotha and Dr. Roland Platz, this exhibition showcases a combination of story, interviews, artefacts, videos, and images to create a unique perspective on the topic. The exhibition aims to showcase the fluidity of the discussion and to create a result that everyone involved can identify with. This exhibition is part of the Humboldt Forum and was highly regarded by Der Tagesspiegel as one of the six most unforgettable parts of the last of the ‘rehearsal stages.’ **** — Curation was led by Zubeni Lotha from Nagaland and Dr. Roland Platz from the Ethnological Museum Berlin — an intercultural team rather than a single curatorial voice, which set the editorial logic for everything downstream. Two perspectives in the room meant the exhibition couldn't default to a single thesis; it had to make space for both. **** — Luxoom designed the exhibition as a multilayered presentation rather than a linear argument. Story, interviews, artefacts, video and image were treated as parallel sources rather than supporting evidence for a single throughline. Visitors moved through a snapshot of an ongoing discussion, with the layers visible as layers — the curatorial structure made part of the visitor's reading rather than hidden underneath it. **** — The design discipline was to stay temporary in tone. Nothing in the staging suggested permanence or institutional finality. The exhibition presented itself as a position taken at a particular moment, by particular people, on a subject that would continue to shift after the visitor left the room. Headhunters' Paradise ran as part of the Humboldt Forum's final rehearsal stages programme before the building's full opening. Der Tagesspiegel named it among the six most unforgettable parts of that programme. The exhibition closed having produced what its co-curators set out to produce: a result the participating communities could identify with — measured not by attendance but by ownership. ### Easy Experience **Playfully combine analogue and digital elements for higher impact** — The EASY experiences tell their stories using a combination of print walls and precise projection, unfolding small stories that always show a strong benefit with a twinkle in the eye. They stay close to common farming work challenges, showcasing ways how to get to the result faster and more efficient. CLAAS staff uses the stories as dialog starters, the first step to successful sales. **** — The CLAAS claim 'Hard work. Smartly done.' suggests a wealth of digital products and services that make hard agricultural work easier. The digital products and services are quite complex and it is not easy for the farmer to decide what to use and for what benefit. We developed the EASY experiences to visualize the customer journeys that make up 'Smartly done. Placed in such a way that it catches the eye of the trade show visitor, and with the support of CLAAS staff, it becomes the easy access to CLAAS' digital offers and services. ### Smarter World NXP partnered with us and Rethink Berlin to rework their MWC booth design, incorporating dynamically generated content and a discussion forum with programming and live-media. This allowed NXP to set the agenda at the trade show and reach a broad audience both onsite and online. Vertical media stripes were created to display dynamic content and show schedules at eye-level and attract attention from far distances, providing impactful visibility. **BRINGING LIVE-CONTENT-GENERATION TO THE MWC BOOTH** — Luxoom partnered with Rethink Berlin to integrate a discussion forum into the booth as a programmed venue rather than a meeting room. Sessions ran on a published schedule across the days of the fair, with live media production turning each one into shareable content while it was happening. The booth stopped functioning as a static display and started functioning as a small broadcast operation — onsite audience in the room, online audience downstream. **IMPACTFUL VISIBILITY** — The visibility problem was solved with vertical media stripes distributed across the booth. The stripes worked at two reading distances simultaneously: high enough to be legible from across the hall — so visitors at neighbouring booths could see what NXP was programming and decide to walk over — and dropping to eye-level for schedules, session details and contextual content for people already inside. One element, two jobs, no separate signage layer needed. **DISCOVER** — The discussion programming and the media architecture were designed as one system. The stripes existed to make the forum visible; the forum existed to give the stripes something to say. NXP ran the booth at MWC as both a physical presence and a content engine, with discussion sessions extending the brand's reach beyond the hall through live media coverage. The format shifted the booth from a place visitors entered for product information to one they entered for conversations already in progress. ### Exidertrain Siemens Exidertrain is an innovative and engaging showcase of Siemens' automation and drives, brought to global fairs and customers via a storyline that takes visitors from one carriage to the next. **BRINGING YOUR STORY RIGHT TO THE AUDIENCE.** — The show was built as a sequential narrative, one carriage at a time. Visitors moved through the train rather than circulating in it, which turned the constraint of the format into the structure of the story — each carriage was a chapter, and the transitions between them were part of the pacing. **DISCOVER** — The opening carriage carried the heaviest design load. Mirror reflections and holograms were used to dissolve the visual boundary of the interior, so the first impression wasn't of stepping into a narrow space but of stepping into one that didn't end where the walls did. The effect was technical rather than decorative: the room had to read as larger than it was before the content about Siemens automation could land at the scale Siemens needed. **** — From there, the carriages stepped through the portfolio in sequence, each tuned to the technology it housed. The Exidertrain ran as an active travelling showcase, visiting trade fairs and Siemens customer sites across multiple markets. The project led directly to a global follow-up commission — the Siemens Exiderdome, a worldwide media architecture tour built on the same logic at larger scale. ### Flying Spur Launch **** — The decision was to push the LED surface past the size at which it still reads as a screen. Below a certain scale, an LED wall is content — viewers see the frame, then the image inside it. Above that scale, the frame disappears and what is left is environment. The wall becomes a room. We designed the launch around that shift. The Flying Spur stayed at the geometric centre, the still point of the staging; the surrounding architecture carried the narrative, scaled and timed so the car never had to compete with it. Image and space stopped behaving as separate things. The launch ran as a press and VIP programme across five-star hotel venues in China, introducing the Flying Spur to the market under the same staging logic at each stop: car at centre, room as image. Highteam China led the production end-to-end; Luxoom's scope was artistic direction, multimedia and stage design. ### Virtual Gallery App **RECREATING ART AND SPACE FOR VIRTUAL VISITS.** — The tour was built for Oculus Quest, with digitised works installed in a virtual reconstruction of the gallery space. Around each object, contextual zones surface video, images and audio — the kind of background a gallerist would talk through in person, made available in the same place as the object itself. **THE UNINTRUSIVE UI.** — The harder design problem was how the gallery team appears inside the VR session. Two principles set the direction. First, gallery staff conduct sessions from their normal work computers — no headsets required on their side. The threshold to host a tour had to match the threshold to take a call. Second, team members appear inside the VR environment as video-call windows that follow the visitor and can be turned toward, the way a person turns to someone walking beside them in a physical gallery. **Technology** — That second decision did most of the heavy lifting. The video-call metaphor was already familiar to every collector by 2020; importing it into VR meant the unfamiliar part of the experience — the headset, the virtual room — was scaffolded by something the visitor already knew how to use. UI elements were held back accordingly, appearing only in contextual zones around objects, leaving the rest of the space to the art and the conversation. The platform launched as a working gallery tool: Esther Schipper's team could schedule and guide collector sessions from their existing workstations, with collectors joining from anywhere on Oculus Quest. The system was designed to outlast the conditions that prompted it — a permanent extension of the gallery's reach rather than a pandemic-period workaround. ### WineX - Winning Concept WineX Competition Winner – The project combines an immersive educational experience with a commercial objective – and allows for countless instagrammable moments to drive recognition. **** — The exhibition was structured as a single ascending storypath. Visitors enter at the fundamentals — hands, soil, tools — and move outward into the vineyards before stepping into the making process itself. The architectural decision sat at the aging stage: visitors rise to the second storey alongside the wine, the building's geometry doing the metaphor without having to state it. **** — Upstairs, the exhibition opens into four regional sections covering Italy's main wine territories, with grape varieties anchoring each one and connected topics — aroma, glassware, pairing — woven through. The regional sections deliberately intersect with marketplaces showcasing partner wineries, so the educational content and the commercial content are never in separate rooms. The exhibition is the catalogue. **** — The connective device is the WineX card. Visitors collect aromas and wines of interest as they move through the storypath; by the time they reach the tasting room, the sommelier has their preference profile in hand and can recommend against it rather than from scratch. The card then links directly to the online store, so the tasting room isn't the end of the relationship — it's the calibration point for it. The exhibition trains the customer, the card carries the training out of the building. The project won the WineX competition for the San Giustino Valdarno site. The brief asked for a concept capable of turning an off-route location into an epicentre for Italian wine; the judging selected this proposal against that question. ### Hanover Fair The SIEMENS showcase at the Hanover Fair has become one of the most iconic and exciting displays of German industry shows, and for many years, our team has been at the forefront of designing and executing the show and media aspects of this showcase. With a focus on integrating architecture, showmanship, lighting, and storytelling, we have created a welcoming and engaging experience that stands out from the crowd. Our expertise in stand design and showcase production has helped SIEMENS to deliver some of the most successful and memorable displays at the Hanover Fair, leaving a lasting impression on visitors and industry professionals alike. **THE BIG SHOW.** — For many years SIEMENS Industry has had the most exciting, huge and vibrant show booth of the Hanover Fair – architecture, show, light and story tightly integrated into a welcoming experience. For many years we have led the show and media part of this showcase contributing to some of the most iconic and successful stands of German industry shows. **DISCOVER** — For many years SIEMENS Industry has had the most exciting, huge and vibrant show booth of the Hanover Fair – architecture, show, light and story tightly integrated into a welcoming experience. For many years we have led the show and media part of this showcase contributing to some of the most iconic and successful stands of German industry shows. For many years SIEMENS Industry has had the most exciting, huge and vibrant show booth of the Hanover Fair – architecture, show, light and story tightly integrated into a welcoming experience. For many years we have led the show and media part of this showcase contributing to some of the most iconic and successful stands of German industry shows. ### Brand Launch for fluidX.digital **A DESIGN-LED XR PLATFORM** — Together with a network of partners, we transformed this insight into a scalable, independent business. We didn’t just imagine a solution—we built it from the ground up. From product strategy to naming, platform architecture to go-to-market planning, fluidX became a living proof of what design-led innovation can deliver. **FROM INSIGHT TO VENTURE** — This wasn't a theoretical exercise. Every step was fast, testable, and actionable. We aligned brand identity, user experience, and technical delivery around a single goal: lowering the barrier to real-time, browser-based XR and video streaming—without compromising on quality. **STRATEGY THAT BECOMES REAL** — fluidX shows what happens when strategic design thinking meets real-world application. More than a service or campaign, it’s a venture that stands on its own—rooted in our experience and shaped for market impact. **DESIGN THINKING WITH MARKET POWER** — Want to see how we designed the brand? Explore fluidX in our Brand & Identity practice . This wasn't a theoretical exercise. Every step was fast, testable, and actionable. We aligned brand identity, user experience, and technical delivery around a single goal: lowering the barrier to real-time, browser-based XR and video streaming—without compromising on quality. fluidX shows what happens when strategic design thinking meets real-world application. More than a service or campaign, it’s a venture that stands on its own—rooted in our experience and shaped for market impact. Want to see how we designed the brand? Explore fluidX in our Brand & Identity practice . ### fluidX.digital – XR Streaming We created the brand, website, and launch strategy for fluidX.digital—a human-first, browser-native XR streaming startup. **NAMING A FUTURE-READY TECH BRAND** — The name fluidX expresses flexibility, simplicity, and forward motion. We paired it with the .digital domain to place the brand in a contemporary tech space—clearly digital, yet open enough to scale across future use cases and sectors. **DESIGNING FOR CLARITY AND FLOW** — We created a visual identity that centers around approachability and usability. A soft, modern color palette and the Quicksand typeface set a tone of clarity and human experience—even in industrial or technical contexts. No gloss, no jargon—just clear, clean design that works. Beyond design, we built a launch-ready website and structured content around real-world use cases. Messaging was crafted to appeal to both decision-makers and technical professionals, with a benefit-led tone that focuses on actual performance gains—like reduced service deployment and streamlined workflows. The result is a brand positioned for long-term traction in a fast-evolving market. Clear, credible, and ready to grow, fluidX delivers a seamless tech experience with a human-first touch. ### Safety Center The Mercedes Benz Sprinter is full of safety technology, but that’s hard to see from its outside. So, we created a safety center for the Beijing Motorshow where those features could be experienced in full immediacy. Take the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) for example: In an interactive experience, the curving city road is formed into the silhouette of the visitor; While leaning the body left and right the visitor could challenge a Sprinter and another non-ESP van in a race – while the Sprinter stayed safely in the lane, the non-ESP vehicle started breaking out. After this short test drive, a quick explanation followed about ESP and why the Sprinter fared so much better. All in all, a quick and successful delivery: 30 seconds from start to finish. The Mercedes Benz Sprinter is full of safety technology, but that’s hard to see from its outside. So, we created a safety center for the Beijing Motorshow where those features could be experienced in full immediacy. Take the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) for example: In an interactive experience, the curving city road is formed into the silhouette of the visitor; While leaning the body left and right the visitor could challenge a Sprinter and another non-ESP van in a race – while the Sprinter stayed safely in the lane, the non-ESP vehicle started breaking out. After this short test drive, a quick explanation followed about ESP and why the Sprinter fared so much better. All in all, a quick and successful delivery: 30 seconds from start to finish. ### CMATIC EQ220 **Creating Realistic Simulations with User-Focused Design** — To tackle this challenge, Luxoom focused on developing detailed user stories and a concept, followed by designing an intuitive UI/UX. Leveraging the open .USD data format, we built a conversion pipeline from CAD to .USD, ensuring seamless integration of .USD data into the Apple Reality Kit. This allowed for precise and realistic simulations in both AR and VR modes. Using the REVELATE XR tool and platform, we further enhanced the development process, enabling robust simulation capabilities and user interactions. The solution also included adaptive environment shading and occlusion in AR mode, enhancing the realism and immersion of the simulation. **Enhanced Training and Presentation Capabilities** — The implementation of this advanced simulation brings significant benefits to CLAAS. It provides an immersive and interactive tool that enhances training and presentation capabilities. Users now can experience the gear shift system in a highly realistic virtual environment, with the flexibility to explore different operational modes and understand the underlying power flow. The integration of AR and VR modes makes training sessions more engaging and informative, leading to better knowledge retention. **TOOLS AND PLATFORMS** — The CLAAS CMATIC EQ220 application aims at having users interact with, explain, and understand the EQ220 continuously variable power-split transmission. The primary challenge is to create a realistic and interactive simulation that can be used both for presentations and training purposes. The simulation needs to support AR and VR modes, allowing users to experience the system with or without a physical gearbox model. Additionally, it requires the ability to display various speeds and driving modes, along with a comprehensive visualization of hydraulic and mechanical power flows. **TOOLS AND PLATFORMS** — The CLAAS CMATIC EQ220 application aims at having users interact with, explain, and understand the EQ220 continuously variable power-split transmission. The primary challenge is to create a realistic and interactive simulation that can be used both for presentations and training purposes. The simulation needs to support AR and VR modes, allowing users to experience the system with or without a physical gearbox model. Additionally, it requires the ability to display various speeds and driving modes, along with a comprehensive visualization of hydraulic and mechanical power flows. The CLAAS CMATIC EQ220 application aims at having users interact with, explain, and understand the EQ220 continuously variable power-split transmission. The primary challenge is to create a realistic and interactive simulation that can be used both for presentations and training purposes. The simulation needs to support AR and VR modes, allowing users to experience the system with or without a physical gearbox model. Additionally, it requires the ability to display various speeds and driving modes, along with a comprehensive visualization of hydraulic and mechanical power flows. To tackle this challenge, Luxoom focused on developing detailed user stories and a concept, followed by designing an intuitive UI/UX. Leveraging the open .USD data format, we built a conversion pipeline from CAD to .USD, ensuring seamless integration of .USD data into the Apple Reality Kit. This allowed for precise and realistic simulations in both AR and VR modes. Using the REVELATE XR tool and platform, we further enhanced the development process, enabling robust simulation capabilities and user interactions. The solution also included adaptive environment shading and occlusion in AR mode, enhancing the realism and immersion of the simulation. The implementation of this advanced simulation brings significant benefits to CLAAS. It provides an immersive and interactive tool that enhances training and presentation capabilities. Users now can experience the gear shift system in a highly realistic virtual environment, with the flexibility to explore different operational modes and understand the underlying power flow. The integration of AR and VR modes makes training sessions more engaging and informative, leading to better knowledge retention. ### Bosch – Roger App Luxoom created a playful and interactive experience for BOSCH Sensortec's trade show and showroom demo. This experience effectively brings sensor performance to life and introduces visitors to the capabilities of BOSCH sensors. **BRINGING SENSOR PERFORMANCE ALIVE** — Inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novel ‘Le Petit Prince,’ we created Roger and his tiny planet to explore and visualize the functionality of BOSCH sensors, which are normally hidden in mobile phones, household devices, for instance. Breathing on the sensor for example makes it rain on Roger’s planet due to the increased humidity, lifting the sensor makes him fly. Users of this trade show and showroom demo are invited to explore the planet with Roger, playfully introducing them to the wealth of functionality, accompanied by Roger’s ideas and emotions. **DISCOVER** — Inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novel ‘Le Petit Prince,’ we created Roger and his tiny planet to explore and visualize the functionality of BOSCH sensors, which are normally hidden in mobile phones, household devices, for instance. Breathing on the sensor for example makes it rain on Roger’s planet due to the increased humidity, lifting the sensor makes him fly. Users of this trade show and showroom demo are invited to explore the planet with Roger, playfully introducing them to the wealth of functionality, accompanied by Roger’s ideas and emotions. The target was an itinerant tradeshow exhibition. Users of this trade show and showroom demo are invited to explore the planet with Roger, playfully introducing them to the wealth of functionality, accompanied by Roger’s ideas and emotions. ### Luxury Pop-Up Store, Moscow For the Launch of the new BMW 7 Series, BMW Russia temporarily set up shop in the renowned GUM mall of Moscow, right next to the Red Square. Having previously developed much-lauded designs for the BMW Luxury Brand Store Exhibitions in other major metropolises, we developed a concept that also convinced and suited the Russian luxury market. A fast and fun cooperation that led to a beautiful and successful result. **Adapting the guideline to GUM** — Working from BMW's luxury store standard, Luxoom developed the Moscow design against the actual measurements and conditions of the GUM space — the floorplan, the window frontage onto the mall, the door and access constraints, and the ceiling and services already in place. The result keeps the guideline's identity intact while resolving it to a specific, historic room rather than a generic shell. **Materials and light** — The material language is built on a few precise choices: vertical brass elements and brass-framed panel walls, high-gloss lacquer surfaces in NCS 8500N, and a glossy-polished high-quality stoneware floor laid to carry the weight and movement of the cars without cracking. Glass vitrine "cubes" and the BMW 7-pattern wall structure the room; mirrored acrylic and backlit imagery extend it. Because the panel walls and floor are glossy and reflective, the lighting and ceiling were planned so that nothing unfinished shows in the reflections — spot-based iGuzzini lighting for the cars, pictures and vitrines, and concealed LED lines detailed to avoid mirrored "dots" in the polished floor. Seating and tables were specified from B&B Italia, with Sabrina Landini floor lamps and a fragrance bar completing the lounge. **Full design and detailed planning** — Luxoom carried the project from concept through to all the detailed drawings and floorplans needed to build it — spatial and interior design, material and finish specification, lighting design, and furniture selection — and it was realised on site in Moscow. **From late-September design to a December opening** — The store was designed and delivered on a short schedule: the design was set at the end of September 2015 and the store opened in the GUM that December. The store opened in December 2015 and drew 24,000 visitors between 3 December and 10 January, on BMW Russia's first evaluation. Beyond the launch itself, Moscow stands as one instance of a consistent luxury-retail language Luxoom took across eight locations — London, Seoul, Shanghai, Manhattan, Brussels, Paris, Munich and Moscow — each adapted to its own building while holding to the same standard. ### Expo 2020 Concept Together with Vietzke & Borstelmann Architects and under the lead of Exponential Group Germany we developed this concept and design for the country pavilion of Kazakhstan for the EXPO 2020 in Dubai. The trail through the pavilion follows four young Kazakhs who with their professional engagement in science, culture, sport and society will shape Kazakhstan for the future. **A COUNTRY DRIVEN BY ITS YOUNG GENERATION.** — Together with Vietzke & Borstelmann Architects and under the lead of Exponential Group Germany we developed this concept and design for the country pavilion of Kazakhstan for the EXPO 2020 in Dubai. The trail through the pavilion follows four young Kazakhs who with their professional engagement in science, culture, sport and society will shape Kazakhstan for the future. **GOOD WAY** — Together with and under the lead of we developed this concept and design for the country pavilion of Kazakhstan for the EXPO 2020 in Dubai. The trail through the pavilion follows four young Kazakhs who with their professional engagement in science, culture, sport and society will shape Kazakhstan for the future. **Title** — Create a compelling presentation for the two new BMW 5 Series models, displaying the synthesis of modern and luxurious workmanship with powerful and durable engineering. **“NICE QUOTE FROM A VERY INSPIRED PERSONS”. CIT** — Create a lasting customer impression with topmost emphasis on user experience and engagement. To achieve these objectives, a key part of the presentation was the development of a multi-sensory “Dynamic Wall,” which featured several elements visitors could engage with via built-in iPads, headphones and haptic experiences. Sound, scent, and touch via leather and other material samples were integrated to provide a unique and engaging experience of the new BMW interior design. Create a compelling presentation for the two new BMW 5 Series models, displaying the synthesis of modern and luxurious workmanship with powerful and durable engineering. Create a lasting customer impression with topmost emphasis on user experience and engagement. To achieve these objectives, a key part of the presentation was the development of a multi-sensory “Dynamic Wall,” which featured several elements visitors could engage with via built-in iPads, headphones and haptic experiences. Sound, scent, and touch via leather and other material samples were integrated to provide a unique and engaging experience of the new BMW interior design. Inspired by a Kazakh yurta, the shell is round and has the characteristic opening on the top. It's a contemporary version of a yurta, interpreting the many climatic benefits of the original with a structure of blades that can close and open – to generate shading in daytime and emit light at nighttime. ### Expo 2017 – Europe Tour **IMMERSIVE CINEMA ON THE JOURNEY.** — The EXPO 2017 Astana Europe Tour was led by Exponential Group Germany. **DISCOVER** — How to generate excitement for the EXPO Astana 2017 in major European cities? A mobile pavilion traveled to central locations in seventeen European capitals, showcasing a cinema and an exhibition space presenting the upcoming Expo. For this we had to develop with a cinema design featuring minimal setup and fast dismantling times, and yet still make a strong impact with the audience. A story of light and images gives a very personal link to ‘Future Energy’ – the main theme of the 2017 EXPO – and inspires visitors to join the event in Kazakhstan. How to generate excitement for the EXPO Astana 2017 in major European cities? A mobile pavilion traveled to central locations in seventeen European capitals, showcasing a cinema and an exhibition space presenting the upcoming Expo. For this we had to develop with a cinema design featuring minimal setup and fast dismantling times, and yet still make a strong impact with the audience. A story of light and images gives a very personal link to ‘Future Energy’ – the main theme of the 2017 EXPO – and inspires visitors to join the event in Kazakhstan. ### BMW i Worlds BMW i is a complex product, with many integrated services and benefits – and it is tough to convey in an engaging and playful way. As a solution we made the BMW i topics accessible by just walking into them using AR. By passing through physical portals installed throughout the brand stores one directly steps into the story. And once inside, the well-known BMW host Chris Brow greets and accompanies the visitors throughout the experience. A story leading from 360° Electric, to route planning, charging stations, and exploring the range and capabilities of the BMW i3 and i8 cars. **THIS IS TOMORROW. NOW.** — By installing physical portals throughout the brand stores, we created a seamless transition into the BMW i story. As visitors pass through these portals, they are instantly transported into a captivating digital realm where the BMW i experience unfolds. **DISCOVER** — To guide and enhance the journey, the renowned BMW host, Chris Brow, greets and accompanies visitors throughout the entire AR experience. With his expertise and charisma, Chris brings the BMW i topics to life, ensuring that every visitor feels immersed and connected to the brand. The AR experience takes guests on an immersive narrative, leading them through the various facets of BMW i. Starting with the 360° Electric experience, visitors gain insights into the sustainable and cutting-edge electric technologies that power BMW i vehicles. They learn about the innovative features, benefits, and the environmental impact of driving electric. Moving forward, the AR journey explores route planning, showcasing the intelligent navigation systems designed specifically for BMW i owners. Visitors are introduced to the extensive network of charging stations, demonstrating how easy it is to maintain the charge and explore new destinations confidently. Highlighting the range and capabilities of the BMW i3 and i8 cars, the AR experience enables users to explore the design, performance, and unique features of these groundbreaking vehicles. From the futuristic interior to the eco-friendly materials used, visitors gain a comprehensive understanding of the unparalleled driving experience that BMW i offers. ### XR Experiences **BORN OUT OF THE NECESSITY TO VISUALISE OUR DESIGN.** — Working for museums, galleries and exhibitions, the requirement rose to digitize complex art pieces and cultural artefacts – 'digital preservation' is a key word for conservators, but even beyond this in today’s day and age there can be many reasons for digitizing as a way to provide digital access to something physically out of reach. We developed a set of digitizing, modelling and shading processes that enable us to transform virtually every three-dimensional art object into an VR optimized dataset. **DIGITIZING REALITY.** — An application is limited by the amount of people that have the devices to experience it. Thus, we build on flexible platforms like UNITY XR that allow us to export to multiple platforms like Oculus and Vive headsets, Android and iOS devices. However intuitive reality is, we bring this intuitiveness into the virtual world. **BUILDING FLEXIBLE APPLICATIONS THAT RUN ON DIVERSE PLATFORMS.** — In order to streamline our own spatial design pipeline, we started feeding our 3D design data into VR and AR headsets. What began as a mere experiment led us to a profound expertise in visualisation of live-communication installations and environments. As a fixed asset in our design process we now can visit our creations together with our clients, enabling a better and more objective discussion and decision-making regarding the project at hand. Co-creation and collaboration is at the core of this process. **DISCOVER** — In order to streamline our own spatial design pipeline, we started feeding our 3D design data into VR and AR headsets. What began as a mere experiment led us to a profound expertise in visualisation of live-communication installations and environments. As a fixed asset in our design process we now can visit our creations together with our clients, enabling a better and more objective discussion and decision-making regarding the project at hand. Co-creation and collaboration is at the core of this process. In order to streamline our own spatial design pipeline, we started feeding our 3D design data into VR and AR headsets. What began as a mere experiment led us to a profound expertise in visualisation of live-communication installations and environments. As a fixed asset in our design process we now can visit our creations together with our clients, enabling a better and more objective discussion and decision-making regarding the project at hand. Co-creation and collaboration is at the core of this process. Working for museums, galleries and exhibitions, the requirement rose to digitize complex art pieces and cultural artefacts – 'digital preservation' is a key word for conservators, but even beyond this in today’s day and age there can be many reasons for digitizing as a way to provide digital access to something physically out of reach. We developed a set of digitizing, modelling and shading processes that enable us to transform virtually every three-dimensional art object into an VR optimized dataset. An application is limited by the amount of people that have the devices to experience it. Thus, we build on flexible platforms like UNITY XR that allow us to export to multiple platforms like Oculus and Vive headsets, Android and iOS devices. However intuitive reality is, we bring this intuitiveness into the virtual world. --- ## How We Work — full articles ### A Disclosure Worth Reading [{"kind":"section","text":"Article 50 of the EU AI Act gave hvv mia an obligation. Design turned it into a claim the user can believe."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/a-disclosure-worth-reading/images/upload-1787584958892.jpg","caption":"Mockup of hvv mia an AI conversational service hub prototype Luxoom is developing together with the hvv and Synergeticon","size":"large"},{"kind":"section","text":"The user's first question is not if it's any good"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"When a public-facing AI system with a human face starts to speak, the user's first question is not whether it is any good. They are asking whether it is trustworthy and reliable or not."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Trust is a reasonable question. Synthetic faces and voices are now common enough in ordinary media channels. Often realism has become more of a warning sign rather than a reassurance. AI systems have been implicated in security and data privacy incidents that read to a general audience as machines behaving badly on their own account. The public has drawn a reasonable conclusion from all of this: when something looks human and isn't, someone probably wanted you not to notice."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"We do quite a bit of interface and interaction design for AI-based systems, and this question now arrives in most of them. It arrives earliest and hardest in public-facing work, where the user did not choose the tool, has no stake in its success, and can simply walk away. This article works through how we're answering it on one such project—hvv mia, a conversational AI mobility assistant for public transit, currently in development and prototype testing—and why the answer turns out to be one key in making the system usable at all.\n"},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/i-want-to-make-sure-im-building-the-right-thing-the-hvv-mia-piece-in-the-reference-material-is-finished-and-complete-if-i-generate-a-draft-now-id-just-be-rewriting-what-you-already-have/images/upload-1787572934677.jpg","caption":"User interface in a passive (idle) mode","size":"small"},{"kind":"section","text":"The article 50 regulation, and the way it is read"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Article 50 of the EU AI Act has been applicable since August 2nd, 2026. It requires that a person has to be informed, not later than first contact, that they are interacting with an AI system or with AI-generated content, especially in public information context. [1]"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"It is widely discussed as a labelling obligation and a compliance burden that interface designers must accommodate without degrading the experience they are building. That perception and framing mistakes the instrument for its purpose. We say that Article 50 is an anti-deception rule wearing a labelling rule's clothes. What it specifies is an outcome: a person knows what they are dealing with, and knows it early enough for the knowledge to matter."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"What it does not specify is a layout. The EU's icon set containing a generic basic symbol for any AI involvement, an \"AI generated\" label for content produced without human editorial control, an \"AI modified\" label for human-made content that AI has altered is a suggestion, not a compliance guarantee. [2] There is no detailed guidance on how the icons must be applied in a real interface, and sensibly there cannot be: the range of design situations this rule will land in is not foreseeable, and premature specificity would do more harm than good."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"So the regulation hands over a goal and leaves the application part to design judgment. The rule says a disclosure must be clearly perceptible. It does not, and cannot, say where on a busy screen perceptibility is actually won or lost."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/a-disclosure-worth-reading/images/upload-1787573778613.jpg","caption":"EU AI Act Article 50 labels suggestions","size":"mid"},{"kind":"section","text":"Two ways to receive a requirement"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The first way is to satisfy it. A badge in the lower right corner, a line of speech before the session starts, a checkbox somewhere in the release process. This is legally clean, cheap, and in an environment that already distrusts AI, actively counterproductive because a minimal disclosure is legible as such. Users can tell the difference between a system that is informing them and a system that is covering itself, and they draw conclusions accordingly."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The second way is to ask what the requirement is trying to produce and then ask whether that outcome is something the project wants anyway.\nFor hvv mia the answer was yes, and emphatically. The rule wants a user who knows they are talking to a machine. We want a user who knows they are talking to a machine, because everything else about the product depends on it. That alignment is not automatic. Plenty of obligations serve interests other than the project's. But where it exists, the job changes. The requirement stops being a box to check but becomes material to work with: a reason and a vocabulary for saying something we needed to say regardless.\n"},{"kind":"section","text":"Why the face makes this acute"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"hvv mia uses a photorealistic human face. The reason is interaction mechanics, not humanization or building trust. Human dialogue works efficiently because it follows established patterns, and those patterns set our expectations for how an exchange should run — which means a face recruits a set of expectations users already hold, and they apply them to a conversational interface without deciding to. [3] That improves the usability of a spoken exchange regardless of whether a human face makes a system seem more credible. "},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"But the same realism that makes the exchange legible as conversation is what reads, in this environment, as an attempt to pass. The face is the element a user would point to if asked what felt deceptive about the system. Which means it is a liability right up until it is flagged, and an asset immediately afterwards. The usability benefit we chose the avatar for is not collectable until the suspicion it creates has been paid off."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"This is the specific risk Article 50 does not fully avert on its own. An interface can be correctly labelled and functionally invisible at the same time, and the difference between the two is a design decision."},{"kind":"section","text":"Say it twice"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"There is a long evidence base on the gap between a notice existing and a notice being registered. Nouwens et al. scraped 680 real-world cookie-consent implementations across the most-visited UK sites, and in a companion field experiment found that layout choices alone moved measured consent by double-digit percentage points regardless of what the notice said. [4] The subject is cookie banners, not AI disclosure, and it is one example among many in a literature that has been consistent for two decades. The general finding can be translated: a notice can satisfy a rule about what must be disclosed while its placement determines whether the disclosure is registered, dismissed, or effectively unseen. Banner blindness is not a failure to see. [5] It is a learned inference, and usually a correct one."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Applied to hvv mia, this points somewhere more specific than \"make the badge bigger.\""},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The screen has two centres of attention, not one. The avatar is one. The live transcript of the dialogue is the other, and it competes with the face rather than losing to it. They fail differently. The face is what reads as human but it is the element that could be mistaken for a person. The transcript is what reads as authoritative and it is the element whose statements about departure times and disruptions will be acted on."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Those are two different implicit promises, and one disclosure cannot cover both. So hvv mia places the generic Basic Symbol directly beside the avatar, at the point where a gaze arrives first—together with mentioning being an AI assistant in the first spoken sentence. And it places the \"AI Generated\" tag on the overall UI frame below the transcript, where the content claim is being made. Each label focuses a different the risk, together they tell the user: we want you to know."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/a-disclosure-worth-reading/images/upload-1787585115769.jpg","caption":"User interface in active mode","size":"mid"},{"kind":"section","text":"What a stance costs"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Most interfaces are mostly furniture. Legal text, cookie notices, the small print at the bottom of a form. A user has learned that these elements are addressed to no one, put there because something required them. Users have learned that a badge in a corner is furniture, and they are usually right."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"A stance is different. A stance is addressed to you, it can be disbelieved, and it costs the system something to take. That is what makes it worth reading because a claim that could be tested is a claim someone chose to make.\n"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"A disclosure, placed where disclosures go, is furniture. Two disclosures, placed where the user is already looking, are a position: we would rather you were certain than comfortable. Nothing about the second one adds information the first did not carry. What it adds is evidence of intent. A system trying to pass as human does not tell you twice.\n"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"This is the whole mechanism. The user arriving at hvv mia is not asking first whether it is good. They are asking whether it is trustworthy, and until that question is settled they will read everything the system does as evidence for or against it. A disclosure they register as furniture leaves the question open. A disclosure they register as a stance frames the question and having the question framed, every question they have about the transit network is available to be asked. Being outspoken about AI-generation of contents, trust is manageable.\n"},{"kind":"section","text":"What we cannot answer: how does this affect AI-literacy?"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"One question this work raises and cannot settle: if disclosure becomes reliable and ubiquitous, does people's own unprompted ability to tell an AI system from a human one begin to erode? And do people have that ability to begin with?"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Research on automation complacency shows that operators' monitoring of automated systems degrades once that automation has proven reliable, that the effect appears in novices and experts alike, and that it resists correction through practice. [6] That work concerns supervisory attention to task-performing automation, not the perceptual judgment involved in recognising an artificial interlocutor, so it is not direct evidence. But the analogy is fair enough to state: if a labelling regime consistently does the noticing for you, the noticing may atrophy, with consequences for the cases where a label is missing, delayed, or false."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"This is not an argument for disclosing less, and it is not a question a single project working under the AI Act can answer. It belongs to politics and to public debate, where the trade-off between a protective regime and the capacities that regime displaces is properly argued. Our obligation is narrower: to design well inside the regime that exists, and to say plainly where its long-run effects are unknown. "},{"kind":"section","text":"Sources:"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"1.\tRegulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act), Article 50 — Transparency obligations for providers and deployers of certain AI systems. Applicable from 2 August 2026."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"2.\tEuropean Commission, Digital Strategy, \"EU icons for labelling AI-generated content.\" The framework distinguishes a generic Basic Symbol for any AI involvement, an \"AI Generated\" label for content produced without human editorial control, and an \"AI Modified\" label for human-made content that AI has altered. Article 50 requires that whichever applies be clearly perceptible and distinguishable at first contact, and permits that requirement to be met through interface treatment rather than only by embedding a mark in the content itself. → digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-icons-labelling-ai-generated-content (Retrieved August 2026.)"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"3.\tRostásy & Sievers, Handbuch Mediatektur, transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2018, pp. 218 ff. The section's conclusion (p. 221): \"Menschlicher Dialog funktioniert effizient, weil er bestimmten Mustern und Abläufen folgt. Diese Muster und Abläufe definieren somit auch unsere Erwartungen daran, wie Dialog und Interaktion ablaufen sollten. Zusätzlich zu einem effizienten Ablauf muss ein Dialog für uns relevant sein, damit wir diesem folgen.\" — Human dialogue is efficient because it follows particular patterns and sequences; those patterns in turn define our expectations of how dialogue and interaction should proceed; and beyond efficiency, a dialogue must be relevant to us if we are to follow it."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"4.\tNouwens, Liccardi, Veale, Karger & Kagal, \"Dark patterns after the GDPR: Scraping consent pop-ups and demonstrating their influence,\" Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Of 680 consent implementations sampled across the ten thousand most-visited UK websites, only 11.8% met a minimal legal baseline. A companion field experiment found that removing an opt-out button from the first screen raised measured consent by 22–23 percentage points, while presenting granular choices on that same first screen reduced it by 8–20 percentage points."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"5.\tBenway, \"Banner blindness: The irony of attention grabbing on the World Wide Web,\" Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 42(5), 1998, 463–467 — the first usability reporting of the pattern. Nielsen's original eyetracking work established it qualitatively, finding almost no fixations within advertisements: \"Banner Blindness: The Original Eyetracking Research,\" Nielsen Norman Group, 20 August 2007. The quantification came a decade later: in Pernice's revisit, a single fixation out of 148 landed in a right-hand rail occupying roughly a quarter of the content area — 0.8% of attention for 25% of the space, an undershoot of more than thirtyfold. → Kara Pernice, \"Banner Blindness Revisited: Users Dodge Ads on Mobile and Desktop,\" Nielsen Norman Group, 22 April 2018. nngroup.com/articles/banner-blindness-old-and-new-findings"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"6.\tParasuraman & Manzey, \"Complacency and bias in human use of automation: An attentional integration,\" Human Factors 52(3), 2010, 381–410. "}] ### Controlled Ai Hybrid Imagery [{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/controlled-hybrid-imagery-why-ai-is-the-wrong-word-for-what-we-do/images/upload-1782146479413.jpg","caption":"","size":"mid"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"AI image generation is a buzzword, and like most buzzwords it describes an outcome while hiding the only thing that matters: control. Anyone can prompt a model and get something that looks plausible. Almost no one can make a model produce exactly what a brief requires, every time, in every region of the frame. That gap — between plausible and exact — is where most generated imagery falls apart the moment a real client looks closely.","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/controlled-hybrid-imagery-why-ai-is-the-wrong-word-for-what-we-do/images/upload-1782146487428.jpg"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"By Pietro Fantoni, June 2026","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/controlled-hybrid-imagery-why-ai-is-the-wrong-word-for-what-we-do/images/upload-1782146474536.jpg"},{"kind":"pullquote","text":"The point is not that we use AI. The point is that we control it — and we can prove the seam is invisible.","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/controlled-hybrid-imagery-why-ai-is-the-wrong-word-for-what-we-do/images/upload-1782146479413.jpg"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"We were asked to demonstrate the alternative. WE DO communication briefed us, as part of a pitch for BG BAU — the statutory accident insurer for the German construction industry — to produce two exemplary images. The constraint was specific and unforgiving: the images had to be photographic in quality, accurate down to the official tools and certified safety equipment of the construction trades, and produced without a real shoot. In a safety context, \"approximately correct\" equipment is worse than useless. A helmet that doesn't meet standard, a harness worn wrong, an invented tool — any of these turns a campaign image into a liability."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"This is exactly the territory where uncontrolled generation fails. So we built a pipeline designed around control rather than around the technology."},{"kind":"section","text":"3D is not the base layer. It is the control dial."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The common assumption is that a hybrid image starts with a 3D scene and adds AI on top. We worked the other way. We pushed generation as far as it would reliably go, and we added 3D only where it began to drift."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Where generation produced confusion or results we couldn't steer, we introduced basic 3D geometry to take control of generic shape, scale and perspective. Where a region had to be exactly right — the equipment that carries the safety message, the parts a client's compliance officer would scrutinise — we modelled it fully in 3D, mastered with photorealistic technique, and let nothing be left to chance."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"So the amount of 3D in any region is a direct function of how much control that region demands. Loose background: mostly generation. Defining shape and pose: light 3D armature. Safety-critical detail: full 3D. The dial moves region by region across a single frame."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The process ran in stages. First, research — the exact official tools and equipment each scene required, established before any image existed. Then base 3D modelling of the two scenes, enough to fix poses, perspective and the elements that mattered. Then many iterations of controlled, region-by-region generation, hybridising the 3D base with prompting tight enough to govern each area of the image. Then a final polish, including generative work in Photoshop, to resolve the whole into a single photograph."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The compliance burden, in this model, moves to the front. On a real shoot, getting the safety gear right is a sourcing and supervision problem solved — or not — on the day, under time pressure, with talent who may wear it imperfectly. In our pipeline, that accuracy is resolved in research and locked into the model. Once it is correct, it is correct in every frame. And it remains fully reversible: we can adjust it during production and after, without reshooting anything."},{"kind":"section","text":"We showed the client the seams — on purpose."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/controlled-hybrid-imagery-why-ai-is-the-wrong-word-for-what-we-do/images/upload-1782146487428.jpg","caption":"","size":"mid"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"We delivered the two final images and, alongside them, a colour-coded version marking which areas were 3D, which were full generation, and which were hybrid."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"In a competitive pitch, revealing your method can look like a risk. We treated it as proof. The overlay showed that each image was a mosaic of different techniques — and that the finished image was nonetheless a single, beautiful, photoreal frame ready for an advertising campaign. The seam between a fully modelled piece of equipment and a generated sky is invisible. That invisibility, demonstrated openly, is the whole argument. It also demonstrated scalability: a method you can see the structure of is a method you can repeat, scale and hand off."},{"kind":"section","text":"The economics, under German conditions."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"For full disclosure: producing these two pitch images took ten days in total. That was first-pass work — building the method while executing it. At full-scale production, with the pipeline established, we estimate the same output at under two days per image, one operator."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Set that against a real shoot for the same brief. A construction-safety scene — one of them aerial — means a photographer, a drone operator, an assistant; several talent dressed in correct, regulation-compliant workwear and PPE; a location, very likely an active or staged construction site, with the access, insurance and safety supervision that implies; roughly a day of preparation, a half to full day of shooting, a day of post-production. Location rental on top. Apply standard German labour and production costs to that crew and that schedule and the contrast is not marginal. One operator across two days does not compete with a half-day shoot — it replaces the entire apparatus around it."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"And the apparatus is where the risk lives. Weather, site access, talent availability, gear that arrives wrong, the discovery in post that a critical detail was incorrect on the day. The hybrid pipeline removes most of those failure modes by resolving them before any pixel is committed."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"There is a further advantage that outlasts the production itself. Because the image is built rather than captured, it stays flexible. Safety standards change — a new helmet certification, a revised harness specification, an updated regulation. A photograph would mean sourcing the new gear, re-staging the scene and shooting again. Here it means an edit: the affected region is regenerated to the new standard while the rest of the frame stays untouched. The image can be brought back into compliance whenever the requirements move, which gives the asset a far longer usable life than anything a camera produces."},{"kind":"section","text":"How this could work for you."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The two images were first-pass work — the method built while it was being executed. The real leverage arrives one step further on, at campaign scale."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"For a sustained programme, we train a dedicated generative model on your specific standards: your equipment, your compliance rules, your brand's visual language. Front-loaded compliance becomes systematised compliance — not \"we got the equipment right this time,\" but a model that knows the rules and applies them across an entire campaign, image after image, with the same accuracy and the same reversibility. When a standard changes, the model changes with it, and every image that follows inherits the correction."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"That is the difference between a clever one-off and an asset you own. A single photograph that was never photographed is a demonstration. A model that produces them on brief and on standard, frame after frame, and stays correct as the rules evolve, is a capability — one that belongs to you and gets cheaper, faster and more accurate the more you use it."},{"kind":"section","text":"The part that matters."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"So set the word \"AI\" aside. The deliverable was not generated imagery. It was two photographs that were never photographed, accurate to a regulated industry's standards, produced for a fraction of the cost and time of a shoot, with the method laid bare so anyone could see it held together. The technology is ordinary now. The control is not."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/controlled-hybrid-imagery-why-ai-is-the-wrong-word-for-what-we-do/images/upload-1782146474536.jpg","caption":"","size":"mid"}] ### What Mixed Reality Actually Does [{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Most discussion of XR — augmented, virtual, mixed — focuses on the technology. Headsets, tracking, rendering quality, latency. The harder question for designers is what these technologies actually *do* to perception, and how to use that effect on purpose rather than by accident."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"This is a piece about a specific finding from our practice: mixed reality's strongest effect is not immersion. It is the transition between real and virtual — and that transition, designed deliberately, deepens the impact of an experience rather than diluting it."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The argument rests on the four soft criteria — Relevance, Immediacy, Efficiency, Elegance — that we use to judge mediatecture designs. Those are introduced in a separate piece in this section. Here we apply them to a single question: what does mixed reality let us do that other media cannot?"},{"kind":"section","text":"A finding from our own studio"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"We first noticed the effect in our own building. At the time, our Berlin studio occupied a decommissioned funeral hall — today we occupy a decommissioned church, but the relevant building here is the Luxoom Lab as it then was: a single brick-walled room with strong architectural character. When we were asked to open the studio for a public design week, we built a VR showcase that linked several of our projects into a single guided tour."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"We needed a lobby for the tour — a space where visitors unfamiliar with VR could orient themselves before navigating into the projects. Rather than build a generic virtual lobby, we replicated our actual hall in VR. In the physical room, we projected a large portal onto one wall. In VR, the same portal appeared in the same position, leading into the projects. The visitor put on the headset standing in the real hall, and the first thing they saw was the same hall, with the same portal, now functional as an entry point."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The staff supervising the showcase noticed something unexpected. Visitors did not take off the headsets when they finished. They navigated back through the portal, returned to the virtual replica of the lobby, and only then removed the headset to find themselves standing in the real version of the same space. They had treated the virtual lobby as the place to *land* before leaving, even though removing the headset at any point would have returned them to physical reality."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Something had bonded the two spaces in their perception more tightly than the technology, on paper, should allow."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/what-mixed-reality-actually-does/images/upload-1782721452655.jpg","caption":""},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/what-mixed-reality-actually-does/images/upload-1782721463666.jpg","caption":"The Luxoom Lab with the projected portal as starting point for the VR journey. The hall existed in the real and virtual."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/what-mixed-reality-actually-does/images/upload-1782721654505.jpg","caption":"One of the showcases that was part of the journey – a real-time visual environment designed for the National Museum at Astana, KAZ for Exponentialgroup."},{"kind":"section","text":"Why this happens"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"When we wrote *Handbuch Mediatektur*, we drew on a constructivist account of perception to explain effects of this kind. The short version: what humans perceive is not a direct readout of the world but a construction the brain assembles from sensory input and prior expectation. The brain treats this construction as stable and reliable, and most of the time it is.[^1]"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Cross-referencing between senses is one of the brain's main tools for deciding what is real. A brick wall is reliably solid because vision, touch, and prior experience all agree. In a virtual environment, those cross-references are partly broken — but they are still active in the background, looking for matches."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"What happened in our lab was that those cross-references found matches where they should not have. The physical room and its virtual replica shared the same proportions, the same brick walls, the same portal in the same position. The brain registered a match, treated the two as continuous, and stopped flagging the transition between them as a category boundary. Removing the headset abruptly broke that continuity — so the brain looked for a way to return to it before exiting."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The effect required no special technology. It required only that the real and virtual environments share enough perceptual anchors for the brain to treat them as one continuous space."},{"kind":"section","text":"The distinction worth drawing"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"This is a different proposition from how augmented and mixed reality are usually framed. Augmented reality is typically described as adding information to reality — a layer on top of the world. Useful, but additive."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"What we did in the lab is closer to what the term *mixed reality* can mean when it is taken seriously: a transition between real and virtual in which elements of the environment stay continuous across the boundary. The real and the virtual are not stacked. They are stitched together at carefully chosen points."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"When the stitching holds, the experience is no longer two experiences glued at the edges. It is one experience that happens to use two media to deliver itself. That is what makes the transitions worth designing rather than minimising."},{"kind":"section","text":"Testing the finding"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"We pitched the same idea to CLAAS, the agricultural machinery manufacturer. The product was a combine harvester — a machine whose engineering strengths are entirely hidden inside its structure. From the outside, one combine looks much like another. What distinguishes a CLAAS combine is what happens inside it: how the threshing mechanism handles the crop, how the flow of material is managed through the body of the machine, how the engineering choices translate into yield and reliability in the field. None of that is visible when the machine is parked at a trade fair."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Rather than use VR headsets, we used an iPad as a tracked camera connected to a rendering rig. The iPad served as both viewing device and tracking reference. The screen — at larger venues, a substantial LED wall — showed what the iPad's virtual counterpart was looking at. The whole setup was mobile, scaled to audiences from small product workshops to full trade fair stages, and operated by a CLAAS product expert who used the iPad in hand to walk visitors through the machine's features."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The sequence opened with the virtual camera somewhere out in a wheat field, watching the combine at work mid-harvest. The camera then turned and approached the machine, closing distance, until its angle and position matched the iPad's view of the physical combine standing on stage — a stationary, non-operating machine. The transition resolved cleanly: same machine, same perspective, same scale, suddenly real."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"From there, the show moved between modes. The product expert could pull the threshing mechanism out of the machine and let visitors see it operating in isolation, the grain flowing through. They could show the path of the crop from the cutter bar through to the grain tank, with the body of the machine made transparent for the duration. They could return to the field view to show the combine in context, then come back to the physical machine on stage. Real and virtual, operation and stillness, digital and steel — every transition designed to align rather than to call attention to the boundary."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Talking to the audience afterwards, the test held. Visitors did not separate the real machine from its virtual counterpart in their descriptions. They talked about what *the machine* did. The mixed-reality content had been absorbed into their perception of the physical object on stage. I used to put it this way at the time: if we had shown gummy bears flowing through the threshing mechanism instead of wheat, the audience would have come away believing they had seen gummy bears moving through the actual machine. The medium had stopped being readable as a separate medium."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/what-mixed-reality-actually-does/images/upload-1782721783020.jpg","caption":"Using the iPad to take a look into a complex technical machine —here a CLAAS harvester with its hybrid threshing system — and showcase technical USPs in action."},{"kind":"section","text":"How the four criteria played out"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The four criteria gave us a way to read the result."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"**Immediacy** was structural to the approach. Where conventional XR creates immersion by replacing reality, mixed reality of this kind creates immediacy by keeping reality intact and weaving the virtual through it. The visitor does not have to translate between a real thing and a separate representation. The two are one."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"**Relevance** came from what the virtual layer revealed. The internal workings of the machine — the source of its technical advantage — were the actual subject of the communication. The virtual layer was not decoration. It carried the message that the physical object on its own could not."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"**Elegance** sat in the choice of device. An iPad is a familiar object. People understand without instruction what it is and how to look through it. The technological threshold for the audience was effectively zero, even though the rig behind it was complex."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"**Efficiency** followed from the same choice. No headset distribution, no individual VR sessions, no specialised hardware in front of every visitor. One operator with one iPad could address a full audience, with the screen serving as the shared view. The technology stayed out of the way of the experience."},{"kind":"section","text":"What this is useful for"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The approach scales beyond machinery on a stage. Anywhere a brief involves a physical object whose significance lies in something invisible — inside it, behind it, before or after the moment of viewing — mixed reality of this kind has structural advantages over either pure VR or conventional AR. The continuity with the real anchors the experience. The transitions carry the message."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The CLAAS work was developed under the project name SHOW SMART and later productised into a system called REVELATE XR. The product exists, has been used on selected projects, and remains available — though not as a high-volume offering. The more durable contribution is the design principle: that the value of mixed reality is in the seams, and that the seams are something to design carefully rather than hide."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The four criteria, applied to XR, point to the same conclusion they point to in any medium. The technology is not the deliverable. The control over what the technology does to perception is."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"---"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Originally published 2022 on aixr.org. Edited."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"[^1]: For the constructivist account of perception, see Peter Kruse and Michael Stadler, \"Der physische Apparat des Menschen,\" in K. Merten, S. Schmidt, S. Weischenberg (eds.), *Die Wirklichkeit der Medien*, Westdeutscher Verlag, 1994; and Peter Kruse, \"Stabilität – Instabilität – Multistabilität. Selbstorganisation und Selbstreferentialität in kognitiven Systemen,\" in *DELFIN XI*, Iss. 3 in year 6, 1988."}] ### Four Criteria We Judge Designs By [{"kind":"pullquote","text":"Every studio has taste. Few studios can explain it."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"When a client asks why one concept is stronger than another — or when a team has to choose between three of its own ideas — \"we just feel this one works better\" is not an answer that holds up under pressure. It also doesn't help the next concept get any better."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Over years of practice, and through teaching the subject formally, we arrived at four criteria we use to judge any mediatecture design. They sit on top of the obvious checks — is it feasible, does it meet the brief, does it work ergonomically. Those are necessary but not sufficient. Two concepts can both clear those bars and still be miles apart in quality. The four criteria are how we tell them apart."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"They are: **Relevance, Immediacy, Efficiency, Elegance.**"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"A short note on where they come from. The framework took shape during my years as visiting professor at the China Academy of Art's School of Design in Shanghai, where I had to articulate to students what experienced designers usually leave implicit. It was refined later, in writing, with Andrea Rostásy — together we published it in the *Handbuch Mediatektur* (transcript, 2018), the field's first systematic textbook. The criteria have governed how Luxoom works ever since."},{"kind":"section","text":"Relevance"},{"kind":"pullquote","text":"Does the design break through to the visitor, and hold their attention once it has?"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Relevance has two layers. The first is cognitive — does the work register at all in an environment full of competing stimuli. The second is intellectual — once registered, does it sustain interest, or does the visitor turn away after the first glance."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The BMW 2 Series Cabrio exhibition is a clean example. The car was presented inside a rotating mirror kaleidoscope, three and a half metres across. Cognitively, it broke through by sheer size and motion — it stood taller than the cars and the visitors around it, and the rotation registered at the edge of peripheral vision long before anyone consciously looked at it. The intellectual layer worked differently: most visitors, on first sight, could not immediately classify what they were seeing. A rotating object, mirrored, producing fragmented and shifting views, did not fit any familiar category at a trade fair. That ambiguity is what held them. They stayed because the object asked a question — *what is this* — that the visitor had to resolve by looking longer."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"This is the distinction worth holding onto. Relevance is not the same as volume. A larger screen, a louder speaker, or a brighter light source will register cognitively, but if there is nothing to sustain attention once registered, the visitor turns away. Relevance is the combination of breaking through *and* offering enough substance, ambiguity, or invitation that the visitor chooses to engage further. The work has to be worth looking at, not just hard to ignore."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/four-criteria-we-judge-designs-by/images/upload-1782723403410.jpg","caption":"The BMW 2 Series Cabrio Setup in the BMW World Munich.","size":"mid"},{"kind":"section","text":"Immediacy"},{"kind":"pullquote","text":"Can the visitor experience the core message directly, without translation through generic aids?"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Immediacy is the criterion most often violated. A team has an idea — say, communicating the experience of rain — and reflexively reaches for a screen showing rain footage. The screen works. It is also a generic, themeless aid that adds nothing of the subject itself. The visitor reads the screen rather than experiencing the rain."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The immediate version of the same idea: project rain onto a translucent gauze stretched through the space. The transparency of the medium and the physical lightness of the fabric carry the atmosphere of a rain shower into the room itself. The visitor stands inside the effect, not in front of a representation of it."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Every time a design proposal contains a screen, a vitrine, a wall label, or any other generic display device, the criterion asks whether something theme-specific could do the same work. Sometimes the generic element is the right answer. Often it is the lazy one."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/four-criteria-we-judge-designs-by/images/upload-1782724104109.jpg","caption":"The measuring of the world is reflected in the measuring of the façade of the Humboldt Forum as part of the façade projection for the 250th birthday of Alexander von Humboldt.","size":"mid"},{"kind":"section","text":"Efficiency"},{"kind":"pullquote","text":"Does the design achieve its goal without inflated means?"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Efficiency is widely misunderstood as a budget argument — finding the cheapest solution. It is not. An efficient design can cost twice as much and still be efficient if it produces four times the result. What efficiency asks is whether every element of the concept earns its place, or whether the concept could be reduced without weakening the core idea."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The *Paradies der Kopfjäger* exhibition at the Humboldt Lab Dahlem was constrained from the start. Small museum projects rarely have large budgets, and the design had to be scalable without losing quality. The initial concept included contemporary objects from present-day Nagaland to demonstrate the continuing relevance of the subject. These were dropped early. In their place, photographs, audio, and video brought back from the curator's research trip were used directly — they were more efficient, more contextually accurate, and they let historical and contemporary material sit in direct relation without the logistical apparatus of object loans."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The efficiency test is structural: which elements of this concept are central, and which are decorative? If something can be removed and the core idea still holds, it should be removed — and the resources reallocated to whatever does the heaviest lifting."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/four-criteria-we-judge-designs-by/images/upload-1782724468456.jpg","caption":"Temporary photo displays from the 'Headhunter's Paradise' section of the Humboldt Lab in Dahlem. (Photo: Sebastian Bolesch)","size":"mid"},{"kind":"section","text":"Elegance"},{"kind":"pullquote","text":"Does the design feel inevitable — as if the solution had been there all along, waiting to be found?"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"Elegance is the hardest criterion to operationalise and the most worth pursuing. The philosopher Hannes Böhringer described an elegant solution as one that \"avoids any awkwardness and reaches the goal in a single movement or a few large steps. […] Like the plainness of elegant speech, it surprises through simplicity.\" From a design perspective, elegance is when the work no longer shows the labour that went into it."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The Porsche Panamera launch is a clear case. The brief's core message was *Thrilling Contradictions* — comfort and sportiness held together in a single car. Rather than illustrate this with parallel imagery or split staging, the design derived everything from one translational idea: the two contradictions, staged as opposites, would collide and fuse — and the car would emerge from their fusion. Two large LED walls moved across the stage, pulling apart and pushing back together, until they merged in a final moment that revealed the car in the space they had just opened. Space, narrative, light, sound, and image worked together on a single gesture. Once the car was revealed, the LED walls became background, and light took over to hold focus. The whole sequence resolved in essentially one movement."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The marker of elegance is recognisable in practice. There is a moment in a design process — sometimes hours in, sometimes weeks — when the pieces of a concept fit together so cleanly that the result feels obvious in retrospect. Until that moment, the team is still working with parts. After it, the concept holds as a single idea. The Panamera staging had this quality: from the moment it was proposed, neither the client nor anyone on the implementation team questioned the central move. It looked like it had always been the answer."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The test: does the design proceed in clear, simple, logically connected steps from one central translational idea? Does the finished concept feel so self-evident that it appears to have designed itself? If a concept needs three paragraphs of explanation before anyone can grasp it, it is not yet elegant. The work continues."},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/four-criteria-we-judge-designs-by/images/upload-1782724727327.jpg","caption":"","size":"mid"},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/four-criteria-we-judge-designs-by/images/upload-1782724738418.jpg","caption":"","size":"mid"},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/four-criteria-we-judge-designs-by/images/upload-1782724749737.jpg","caption":"","size":"mid"},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/four-criteria-we-judge-designs-by/images/upload-1782724763722.jpg","caption":"Frames from the presentation animatic that show how the LED walls change from a strong opposition into a fusion of powers while creating the space for the cars to come to stage.","size":"mid"},{"kind":"image","url":"https://luxoomdata.cc/method/four-criteria-we-judge-designs-by/images/upload-1782725260601.jpg","caption":"Porsche Panameras on stage at the final moment of the show.","size":"mid"},{"kind":"section","text":"How the criteria work together"},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The four criteria are not a checklist run once at the end of a project. They run continuously, in parallel, throughout the design process — and they sometimes pull in different directions."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"A highly immediate concept can become inefficient if it requires complex production for a single effect. An efficient concept can lose relevance if it strips away too much to register in its environment. Elegance often requires letting go of features that other criteria would have preserved. The work of design is partly resolving these tensions — finding the version of the concept that scores well across all four, rather than excelling on one and failing on the others."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The criteria also give the team a shared language. When someone says \"this concept is interesting but it isn't elegant yet,\" the rest of the team knows what work remains. When a client asks why we are recommending one of three options, we can answer specifically — this one is more immediate, this one is more efficient, this one is the most elegant of the three, and here is what each trades off."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The full system, with worked examples across every instrument of mediatecture — space, light, sound, image, narrative, interaction — is set out in the *Handbuch Mediatektur* (transcript, 2018). What this short piece can do is name the four criteria and show them in action. The longer argument is in the book."},{"kind":"paragraph","text":"The criteria reappear in every Luxoom project we have published a deep dive on. They are particularly visible in the design of the introductory rooms at the Humboldt Forum, where all four had to be resolved in tight coordination with curators across three institutions. That work is treated separately in its own piece in this section."}] --- ## Blog — full articles ### Heritage as argument, not archive Heritage is easy to display and hard to make matter. A collection can be lit well, arranged cleanly, and explained thoroughly — and still leave a visitor with nothing to reckon with. The recent designboom interview with GUNIA on Ukrainian craft names the right instinct: heritage is not a static archive. But the harder question sits just past that line. If heritage is not an archive, then it is an argument — and someone has to decide, in the present, what that argument is and how a room makes it. That decision is the actual design problem. Most heritage spaces quietly answer it and hide the answer. An object gets one reading — traditional, or aesthetic, or historical — and the other readings are edited out of the room before the visitor arrives. The result looks neutral. It is not. It is a position presented as a fact, which is the least honest thing a cultural space can do. We have worked through this directly with the Stiftung Humboldt Forum, an institution whose ethnographic collections carry contested histories that no amount of good lighting can resolve. When we designed the four Intro Rooms on the second and third floors, the brief was not wayfinding. It was a mindset. Any object in that building can be read traditionally, contemporarily, artistically, and through the colonial frame that brought it to Berlin — and the interpretive choice most museums make is to pick one and write the rest out. The Intro Rooms do the opposite. They set the frame the museums chose to lead with: that the objects hold multiple readings, and that seeing all of them is the visitor's work as well as the institution's. Since autumn 2021 they have opened every visit as a permanent installation — not by answering the question, but by handing it over. The same principle carried into the Nagaland exhibition, *Naga Land. Voices from Northeast India*, which ran on the third floor from 2022 until May 2026. The problem there was authorship. A colonial-era collection could easily be made to speak for a people who never consented to it and are still resisting that history. Instead, the design gave named, contemporary Naga voices — a craftswoman, a weaver, a curator — structural place inside the room, sharing authorship with the institutional team. The exhibition drew on the collection without letting the collection's period speak for the present. That is heritage translated into a spatial position: not decoration, not display, but a decision about who gets to speak, built into where the visitor stands. Brand heritage runs on the same mechanism, even when the stakes feel lighter. When BMW i needed more than awareness of its sub-brand — a deeper relationship, visitors who saw themselves inside it — the answer with *Get the DNA* was not to show the brand's history harder. It was to make the visitor part of it. The installation recorded each person's movements, cheering and chosen keywords into a shared digital DNA animation, running across four flagship locations for six months. Heritage stopped being something the brand owned and displayed, and became something the visitor had to enter. That is the same move as the Intro Rooms, in a commercial register: the meaning of the thing is settled in the room, with the visitor, not before they walk in. So the useful correction to "heritage is not a static archive" is this. The opposite of an archive is not a livelier archive. It is a position — a specific, arguable claim about what a tradition means now, made legible in space, and handed to the visitor to reckon with rather than accept. That is harder than curation. It requires the institution or the brand to decide what it actually thinks, and to accept that the visitor might push back. But it is the only version of heritage that stays alive after the visit ends. Material memory only matters when someone in the present is willing to stake a claim on it — and to build a room where that claim can be tested. ### Wayfinding under pressure: design for the distracted mind A hospital is one of the hardest places to find your way. Not because the building is more complex than an airport or a transit hub — often it is simpler — but because of who the user is in that moment. Anxious. Late. In pain, or accompanying someone who is. Holding a name, a floor, a department, and not much working memory to spare. That is the condition the recent Moorfields wayfinding and signage work brings back into view (The Architects' Journal, 15 June 2026). And it is worth being precise about what the problem actually is. A person navigating a hospital corridor is not reading signs the way a designer reads them in a studio. They are scanning, under stress, with partial attention. The environment either absorbs that pressure or adds to it. This is where most wayfinding goes wrong. It is designed as if the user arrives with full attention available — calm, unhurried, able to parse a hierarchy of information at leisure. They almost never do. So the system that looks considered on a presentation board can still fail at the moment that matters, because looking considered and reducing effort are not the same thing. We met a version of this constraint directly on The Next Stop, the mobility touchpoint HVV brought to UITP 2025. A traveller at a transit point is also operating under split attention: mid-journey, time-pressured, tracking a departure while a dozen other things compete for the same glance. Over fifty years the bus stop had quietly accumulated layers — real-time displays, accessibility provisions, journey planners, ride-hailing and bike connections — each added separately, none designed to be read together. The result was an environment that asked the user to do the integration work themselves. The discipline that project forced is the one that transfers. When attention is the scarce resource, every information layer has to earn its place. Not every piece of information is worth showing, and the ones worth showing are not all worth showing at once. The question is never "what could we tell them here" but "what does this person need to decide their next move, and nothing else". That reframing changes what good looks like. A clean typeface and a consistent colour system are necessary, but they are table stakes. The harder work is sequencing — deciding what a person needs at the door, what they need at the first decision point, what they need only once they are close. Information delivered too early is noise. Information delivered too late is a missed turn. Getting that sequence right is what actually reduces orientation effort, and it rarely shows up in a static rendering. The useful test is not "is this legible" but "is this legible to someone who is barely looking". A system that passes the first test and fails the second is the one that looks finished and still leaves people lost. Clarity in these environments is not a stylistic preference. It is a functional requirement, measured in the effort a stranger spends to make their next decision. Design for the distracted mind, and the calm, attentive user is served as a matter of course. Design only for the calm user, and the person who needs the system most is the one it fails. → Start a conversation