Pictures of the Future    Spring 2007

A Day in the Year 2020

Frank Lee is awakened by a very unusual alarm clock in the form of a light screen on the ceiling of his hotel room that emits a dawn-like reddish light and the sound of chirping birds. He gets dressed, has breakfast and drives off in his rental car to a meeting. It’s still dark and cold outside, and the automated LED traffic lights on the road stay green as long as there are no other vehicles at the intersections. Suddenly the warning "Icy road ahead!" appears on the head-up display on the windshield. This is followed by an infrared image of a pedestrian who is crossing the road some distance away. "Wow, if it wasn’t for that night vision assistant I wouldn’t have seen him," Frank says to himself, and slows down a little. The streetlights are out, which is unusual, given that they’re supposed to switch on whenever someone walks on the sidewalk.

Well, at least the safety lights integrated into the road are working. Frank saw them turn red when his car approached. In other words, nobody should have risked walking onto the road. Frank can now see the beautiful city skyline up ahead. He loves the lighting designs on the skyscrapers and small temples, the blue laser lights that dance across the peaks of the waves on the beach and the fabulous 3D effects that can be seen in different parts of the sky. He’s also often amused by the giant ads that appear on the walls of buildings. Fortunately, however, the city’s Committee on Light Pollution has limited the number of such ads to ensure that they don’t become too distracting.

The cameras in Frank’s augmented reality navigation system have found the building he’s driving to, which Frank can now see marked in green on his windshield—along with the street he has to take to get there. All he has to do is follow the glowing light green path superimposed on the real street that points the way.

Once in the conference room, Frank runs into two colleagues who are preparing a giant wall display for a virtual meeting with Canada and Brazil. Over the next hour, Frank and a colleague from Canada review the current status of a development project for a colleague in Brazil. The project in question involves a personalized interior lighting system for a new vehicle.

Later he tells his girlfriend, Suzy, about the conference when they meet at a karaoke bar. Before doing so, however, he activates a light wall that separates them from the next table in order to give them privacy. These transparent room dividers made of luminescent plastic can also be filled with pictures to make them opaque. The dazzling lights in the bar lend a glitter to Suzy’s jewelry and combine well with the illuminated fibers sewn into her new dress.

Frank and Suzy then go back to Suzy’s new apartment, where she shows off its technical highlights (top picture). Ultraviolet light radiators ensure reliable water disinfection in the kitchen and bathroom, a perfectly aligned combination of spotlights and area lights illuminate the entire apartment. There are also tasteful touches of light in the furniture and floor, a holographic fire in a virtual fireplace and automatic mixing of natural daylight... Frank has to admit that Suzy’s apartment is surely a lighting designer’s dream come true.

He finds the remote control and, after several attempts, transforms the transparent foil in front of the window into a nice hilly landscape complete with horses, a river and sailboats on a lake. Noticing that Suzy is looking at him, he pulls a small package out of his pocket and gives it to her. "Here’s a housewarming present for you," he says. "It’s one of the first electronic newspapers on the market with a roll-up display and Internet connection." Suzy unfurls the display to the length of a newspaper. She then pushes the "Refresh" button, after which the latest news appears. She glances at the main headline and, with a look of astonishment, turns the display so Frank can see it: "Suzy and Frank on their honeymoon—automotive designer treats interior decorator to a week in California’s newest light hotel," says the headline, below which is a picture of the two of them. Frank blushes. "My colleagues must have done that as a gag," he says. "Great job," says Suzy dryly, but she then grins mischievously. Frank hesitates a second, and then grabs the remote, which he uses to transform the ceiling into a night sky filled with thousands of stars…
                                                                                                                        Ulrich Eberl