ENBW XMAS EXPERIENCE
When the days got shorter and the leaves turned colorful, german electricity company EnBW commissioned ART+COM to give their showroom a winterly atmosphere for the time around christmas.
Contrary to the loud and hectic christmas mood our team decided to create a contemplative space in which people could recreate from their shopping stress and learn something about christmas aside from its economic implications.
Facade Design
The exhibition was located in EnBW’s company showroom on Berlin Friedrichstrasse. A LED Ribbon on the curved facade would attract the attention of pedestrians. Quaint facts about christmas displayed in a typographic way showed a glimpse of what is going on inside the showroom.
Outside view of the showroom with LED ribbon
The words were generated computationaly by Tim Knapen’s custom software and were assembled out of small snowflakes. Thus, the words would emerge and disappear from time to time in a snow flurry.
On the windows we applied silhouettes of a winterly landscape. Trees, birds and deer create a winterly mood and conceal the interior of the showroom in a dreamlike fashion. To catch a sight of what was happening inside the showroom, passers-by would have to peek through the leaves of a tree.
The silhouttes even casted fake shadows on the sidewalk. Using large-format stencils, they were spraycanned by Tine Päch and project manager Kerstin Ameskamp.
Interior design
We divided the experience in the showroom into two topics. First we exhibited strange facts about christmas from around the world. Second we created a quiet and contemplative area to relax.
Inside the showroom. The space is not decorated yet.
For people who are more curious in what christmas is all about we collected around twenty quaint stories about christmas from all over the world. These stories were silkscreened on many translucent banners. Like icicles they hung from the ceiling and structured the whole space — imagine a ice cave in a boxy room.
People who would need relaxation would enter the contemplative space. Using the huge LED wall in the showroom we bathed the room in a warm bright light. The LED wall was not used as a display in the first place, but rather as a giant light source.
A closeup of the giant LED wall inside.
The abstract imagery reminded of the flickering fire in a fireside. Sitting in huge white cushions the visitors would enjoy the flickering light or have one of the oranges we distributed over the place.
To generate the light patterns on the LED wall Patrick Kochlik and Andreas Schlegel wrote a custom software using Processing. It would extract color information out of different images.
View from outside to the inside. Note the LED wall.
The underlying images show winterly and christmassy scenes. They form a color sequence which would define the ambience of the room. In the beginning the space would look bright white then change over a more colorful sequence until it is bathed in a glaring red.
A single pixel line was extracted from an image and stretched all over the LED surface. By moving the extracted line a dynamic pattern was generated.
Print communication
The whole christmas event was accompanied and advertised by many print products.
Sketches for advertising postcards
One of several postcard designs. Note the visual “smear” effect also used on the media wall.
Two of four final designs for A0 posters.
I used the elements and aesthetics of the images and dynamic patterns to design corporate identity compliant flyers and posters which were distributed all over Berlin and published in several magazines and newspapers.
Credits
This project description courtesy of Patrick Kochlik. Project management by Kerstin Ameskamp. Coding by Dennis Paul, Patrick Kochlik, Tim Knapen, Andreas Schlegel. Production support by Tine Päch.
Filed under Commercial , media