Precise Visualization at Munich University of Applied Sciences

Digital media has become an integral part of academic life and influences students’ decisions when choosing their educational institution. Schools and universities are increasingly looking for collaborative solutions to create a future-proof learning environment. The Design Department at Munich University of Applied Sciences faces the same challenge. With its century-long history, it is the largest public institution for design research and education.

Until recently, the department relied on individual projectors to display content, but these no longer met the needs of the Transportation Design program. Under the direction of Professor Dr. Othmar Wickenheiser, the program has a successful track record with numerous collaborative projects in the automotive industry. Nearly 95 percent of graduates are now experts in automotive design.

“This continued success called for a professional solution that would give students the chance to develop their full-size vehicle products,” says Prof. Dr. Wickenheiser.

In 2022, they were looking for technology that could display highly detailed vehicle designs at a scale of 1:1 on an area of just over 6 by 2 meters.

The Challenge

Excellent Visualization with Limited Budget

The necessary setup required a robust system that would perform reliably under demanding use, provide easy access to stored designs, and facilitate collaboration between teams. The department also needed to constrain the budget and seamlessly integrate the new technology with the existing AV infrastructure in the Transportation Design Studio.

“An LED solution would have actually been the ideal forward-looking technology given these constraints. However, that was not feasible due to the university’s limited budget and the desired graphic resolution at this size,” said Manuel Kienzler, corporate sales manager at Sharp/NEC. “Instead, together with our partner Concept International, we opted for the less expensive alternative: the installation of NEC MultiSync® UN552V LCD displays, each with FHD resolution.”

The Solution

A Sophisticated 8K Video Wall

MultiSync® UN552V displays offer several notable features, including a frameless design and easy installation and operation with smart features. They also require minimal maintenance. With a large digital surface area, these displays offer an immersive visual experience with minimal spacing of just 3.5 millimeters between each display. The S-IPS panel provides superior image quality and exceptional color performance in both portrait and landscape modes, and enables perfect viewing from extreme angles. With a brightness of 500 cd/m², students can easily see design details even in well-lit environments.

“After we had decided on the right products, we were still missing a special floor construction, a frame as well as an appropriate facing for the 15 displays for the installation,” adds Susanne Martini, Business Development Manager at Concept International. “For this, we got the perfect system integrator on board the project in the form of presentation solutions specialist AHA-Systeme.”
“We wanted to deliver the most immersive and detailed learning and working experience possible to the students at Munich University of Applied Sciences with our design,” summarizes Andrea Häussler, CEO at AHA-Systeme. “That’s why the 15 Sharp/NEC displays had to be installed as seamlessly as possible next to each other.
We managed to do that: today, the Transportation Design focus at the Design Faculty has a completely flat digital video wall surface without any distracting transitions, on which a completely uniform image can be displayed. On the composite width of six meters, we even get to an impressive 8K experience with the NEC UN552V!”

The Result

The video wall at the Munich University of Applied Sciences went live in June 2022 and has been very well received by students and professors.

“We couldn’t have wished for a better outcome to the project! We were able to significantly increase the visual impact of the design content created by the students with the new solution and improve the learning and practical environment,” said Prof. Dr. Othmar Wickenheiser, Professor of Transportation Design at Munich University of Applied Sciences. “After 27 years of teaching, the solution now makes it possible for us to display our vehicle designs in life-size and 8K quality for the first time. As a result, industry representatives at Munich University of Applied Sciences also experience an environment that is on par with their own professional design environment and allows for excellent effective communication!”
“In the project, the trusting cooperation and extremely positive collaboration of the partners involved should also be emphasized,” Wickenheiser continued. “Due to our tight budget, everyone was willing to implement the educational project in the most budget-sensitive way possible and to pay attention to robustness and durability already during product selection. This plays a significant role in our cost-saving device management. In addition, economically related delivery bottlenecks were communicated openly and transparently right from the start, so that we were not inconvenienced in any way.”

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