ingo maurer completes lighting concept in karlsruher tram stops

ingo maurer’s structured web of lights for karlsruher stops

ingo maurer recently completed a lighting concept for seven stops in the karlsruher city rail tunnel in germany. designed by allman sattler wappner architects, the stations now feature a steel cable structure that supports an organized web of linear LED lights and scattered RGB spots connected by ropes. depending on the passengers’ line of sight, this intricate arrangement nods to the complex networks of overhead trams. ‘passengers have always been unconsciously aware of the complexity of overhead lines — and we wanted to translate this component into a web of light,’ explains sebastian utermöhle from ingo maurer.

all images © brigida gonzález for allmann sattler wappner architects

breaking uniformity with rgb spotlights

the ingo maurer team punctuated the karlsruher rail stops with RGB light spots at irregular intervals. these combine red, blue, and green hues into white light cones that initially project a unified bright accent on the platform floors. but once passengers walk under the spot, their shadows get cast as tricolored shapes — breaking the uniform bright light. as such, platform visitors become active participants in the lighting design. similarly, this apparent random placement of spotlights deliberately contrasts and breaks the uniformity of the ropes that carry the LED tube lights.

a lighting concept elevated by a meditative spatial design

more importantly, ingo maurer’s lighting concept gently complements allman sattler wappner architects‘ sober design of the seven platforms where walls, ceilings, and floors are coated in white. this homogenous coloring of the surfaces, as well as the subtle transition from floor to ceiling, generates an almost meditative spatial effect that blocks out city noise. such subtle transitions are punctuated by large-format artificial stones that clad the floors and reach up to half the wall height. an accoustic drywall construction, meanwhile, forms the upper half of the walls and extends to the ceiling. bench seats and other fixtures equally reflect this joint pattern effect.