Sharp NEC Display Solutions Client Installation, Higher Education
The Munich University of Applied Sciences, Department of Design
Precise visualisation on a small budget
Digital media has long been part of the everyday work and instructional life at schools and universities. The use and availability of audiovisual equipment is even used as a criterion for today’s students choosing where they wish to study. Educational institutions are increasingly trying to address the growing demand for collaborative solutions to create a future-proof learning environment for students.
The Department of Design at the Munich University of Applied Sciences is no different. It is the largest public institution for academic design research and instruction with a history dating back 100 years. Until recently, the department primarily used individual projectors to display content but this arrangement no longer suited the purposes of the degree program in transportation design.
The program is directed by Dr. Othmar Wickenheiser, a professor who has worked on more than 60 collaboration projects with all German automotive manufacturers and international OEMs since 1996. Nearly 95% of the almost 250 students who graduated from Professor Dr. Wickenheiser’s transportation design program are valuable experts in the automotive design industry today.
“This continuous line of success requires a professional solution to give students the opportunity to refine their vehicle products at full scale,” Professor Dr. Wickenheiser said. The new solution required in 2022 was a device that could display exceptionally high-resolution images of vehicle designs at a scale of 1:1 on a surface measuring slightly more than 6 metres x 2 metres.
The Challenge
A visualisation excellence on a small budget
The backbone for the required setup was a robust system that could function reliably during demanding usage, enable stored designs to be easily accessed and facilitate collaboration among teams. A separate challenge was presented by the department’s limited budget.
What’s more, the new technology needed to be linked as seamlessly as possible to the existing AV infrastructure used by the department’s Transportation Design Studio.
“Based on these requirements, an LED solution would have been the perfect future-proof technology,” said Manuel Kienzler, Corporate Sales Manager at Sharp/NEC. “But it was impractical due to the university’s limited budget and the image resolution that the department wanted to use in this space. Instead, with our partner Concept International, we opted for NEC MultiSync® UN552V LCD displays, a budget-friendly solution achieving FHD resolution.”
The Solution
A detailed 8K video wall
The MultiSync® UN552V displays stand out in a number of ways, including their bezel-free design and the easy way that they can be installed and operated with the help of numerous intelligent functions. The UN552V also requires very little maintenance.
Thanks to the large digital surface, these displays provide an unrestricted visual experience with minimal content gaps of just 3.5 millimeters between the individual displays. The S-IPS panel provides first-class image quality and exceptional colour performance, both in landscape or portrait orientation. The image content can be perfectly seen from extreme viewing angles. With a brightness level of 500 cd/m², students can easily see design details even in very bright settings.
“Once we had selected the right products, we had to turn our attention to the installation, a job that required a special floor design, a framework and a customised overframe for the 15 displays,” said Susanne Martini, Business Development Manager at Concept International. “To get the job done, we brought the perfect system integrator on board, presentation solution specialist AHA-Systeme.”
Andrea Häussler, CEO of AHA-Systeme, added: “We wanted our design to provide students at the Munich University of Applied Sciences with the most immersive and true-to-life learning and work experience as possible. This is why the 15 displays made by Sharp/NEC had to be placed as closely as possible next to one another.
The transportation design degree program at the Department of Design now has a completely flat digital video wall that has no disruptive transitions and can be used to project a completely uniform image. With the help of the NEC UN552V series, we can even create a striking 8K experience on the combined width of 6 metres!”
The Result
The video wall at the Munich University of Applied Sciences went into operation in June 2022 – and both students and professors are extremely satisfied with it.
“We could not have wished for a better result from the project,” said Dr. Othmar Wickenheiser. “Thanks to the new solution, we have been able to increase the visual impact of designs created by students and improve the learning and practical environment.
Twenty-seven years after I began to work here, we now have our very first way to display 8K vehicle design in real-life dimensions. As a result, industrial representatives at the Munich University of Applied Sciences can also now enjoy an environment that is equivalent to their own professional design environment and facilitates exceptionally effective communications.”
“I would also like to point out that the project was completed through a trusting and extremely positive partnership. Given the tight budget involved, all team members were willing to carry out this educational project in the most budget-sensitive manner possible and selected products that were robust and had long service lives. This will play a key role in our cost-saving device management. In addition, supply bottlenecks created by business conditions were openly and transparently communicated from the very beginning to prevent any inconvenience to us.”
NEC Products
| LCD 55" Video Wall Display | |
| Size | 55inch |
| Haze Level | Pro |
| Operating Hours | 24/7 |
| Brightness | 500 cd/m² |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1080 |