The Avant-Garde of Light

Mr Muntada, how would you summarise the work of Audi Lighting Design?

We look for what we find exciting and don’t settle for what’s already there. If the technology we want to use isn’t automotive-ready, we will develop it! That’s how we were able to work with LEDs, laser technology, OLEDs, and projections based on the principle of projectors. We don’t limit ourselves to the current state of technology but think in terms of research steps.


But even the current state of technology is more exciting than ever right now, don’t you think?


That’s right. Lighting technology has developed rapidly in recent years. The electronic evolution gives us enormous creative freedom. Meaning that we can now design objects that fit perfectly into the design of a vehicle. Every car conveys a message, and we are part of it, we emphasise it. This freedom, these possibilities came with the LEDs, which we were able to finally put in exact places so that we could describe a shape or a line.

With 120 metres, the Lighting Competence Centre at the corporate headquarters of the Audi Group in Ingolstadt is the largest light tunnel for vehicles in Europe. Inside the matte‑black‑painted tunnel, the development engineers test systems such as adaptive high beam and camera‑based lighting assistance systems. Such systems avoid dazzling drivers of oncoming traffic and enhance safety. At Audi, lighting technology and lighting design are inextricably linked.

What is the common design approach of Audi’s lighting projects?


The light signature of each Audi model is, of course, different. But they all have an extremely sporty, but never imprecise or hectic character in common. We want to convey clarity and calm – whether from a distance or in detail.

Some people perceive LED lights as too cold, especially from a distance.


LEDs can adapt to almost any situation by changing their colour, light temperature or intensity. Said subjective coldness only comes about when they are used incorrectly. So, you may use too much light intensity, although it is not needed. It’s what makes them disturbing or annoying, and we want to avoid that, of course. Incidentally, the usual light temperature of LEDs is by no means artificial or cold but is close to that of daylight. Yet even the temperature of daylight seems unusual to us when we drive our car through the night. At night, we tend to associate light with warm colours.

What trends can you spot in terms of light?


What I find particularly exciting is that a whole new semantics of movement is emerging. I like to compare it to an equaliser, one of those ancient machines that allowed us to see sound because a light was moving along. Now we visualise silence – in other words, electronic impulses that no longer make a sound, but whose function is revealed to the user by means of light signals.

Audi’s lighting design is considered avant-garde. What made you become such a distinctive designer?
My whole family is into design and art. I was always surrounded by creative objects and I often witnessed how something new could be produced, seemingly, out of nothing, with just a few lines on a blank sheet of paper. My studies in vehicle design in Great Britain also pointed the way. At first, my English was so poor that I hardly understood anything in the lectures. We were given the task of designing a telephone, at least I knew that much. I went to the library to get started and ended up browsing books on all kinds of topics. I found everything fascinating. On the day we were supposed to present our works, everybody had made phones that looked like phones. Except me. And I realised: If you have the same perspective as everybody else, you end up doing the same things as everybody else. I decided to push for new perspectives as often as possible, and I still try to do that today. That’s the kind of designer I want to be. 

Where do you find inspiration these days?


I find it in nature, everything in it is more or less based on light. Then there are books. I read a lot, sometimes very slowly, to understand exactly why perhaps this and not that word was chosen. The power of a statement often lies in the details.
But most of all, I value the inspiration I find in conversations with my team. We talk about all kinds of things, the conversations go from one topic to another, but almost always we get to the point when someone says: Can we try this? And I say, ‘Yes, of course, why not?’ This attitude is in us and, in my view, also in Audi. Only when there is no more need for improvement do we leave it as it is.