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Innovative Medical Technology as Visual Highlight

"Originally, we were only supposed to refresh an existing supply unit a bit, make a quasi update. Soon the scope of our work changed however," remembers Dietmar Dix—one of the 4 proprietors of the design office "Deck5". Together with his colleagues, Dix is responsible for the TRILUX LED OT luminaire and the new BS 800 supply system, including the LED patient luminaire.

During a trade fair in 2006, they showed up at the TRILUX stand and, according to Dix, "cheekily" presented the drafts for a new supply unit: "Those were nice sketches", he says with a smile. "The BS 800 in its current form looks nothing like our first drafts". On his computer Dix clicks through the first drawings. Bold curves and futuristic forms suggest the direction which the designers originally wanted to pursue And this direction was completely new at that time. The cornerstone for the collaboration was laid, even though the first drawings actually had nothing in common with the actual luminaire.

The collaboration has been rather good since the very beginning, as co-proprietor Marcus Frankowski remembers: "The rule of thumb that the technician is the foe of the designer who fails in terms of feasibility with his ideas, did not prove true in the collaboration with TRILUX". According to Frankowski, he got to know the TRILUX employees in Arnsberg as people "who like to try things and who quickly lead to good results."

With regard to the OT luminaires in particular, the creative newcomers relied on the suggestions of experts: "Of course, we talked with medical practitioners, after all, they would have to work with the luminaires later on." During the design, they had to bring the requests made by the experts in line with their own ideas: "With a team of four Deck5 members, we worked on the OT luminaire. This approach resulted in the incorporation of 4 different technical backgrounds." According to Frankowski, this is the formula to success: "By doing so, it is impossible to be blind."

Not only the co-operation turned out to be especially pleasant in the eyes of both designers. The "Deck5" employees enjoyed the work more and more with every new drawing and design and in particular when the first models were created. The Essen-based designers not only enjoyed the design phase but the entire project: "The development of a reading luminaire for a medical supply unit with LEDs - which did not yet exist at that time", Dix recalls. "The BS 800 is extremely innovative, and the more we innovate, the more exciting the project becomes."

In any case, the "project" was exciting. That is also confirmed by the large number of customers at the Medica 2006. The interest was immense, the OT luminaire and the BS 800 with its 2 mast-top luminaires were the uncontested stars at the Medica. The work is still not done yet: "Luminaire bodies are becoming flatter, and possibly even a bit wider", Dix adds. "Those are just odds and ends, since we are now in the fine-tuning phase." After the market launch of the first 2 luminaires for the BS 800, the collaboration with "Deck5" is not over. 2 more models will follow in the near future.