The milab teacher-student team has won the Red Dot Concept Design Award of Germany in 2025
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- Oct 19
- 3 min read
Recently, the work "LumiStitch (Flowing Light and Landscape)" by the milab teacher-student team won the Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2025 in Germany in 2025. This work was created by Lu Yao, Wang Xuezhu and Yao Zhihao, under the guidance of Professor Mi Haipeng. As one of the scientific research cooperation achievements of the Tsinghua University - Mercedes-Benz Joint Research Institute for Sustainable Transportation, it showcases the cutting-edge exploration of the design discipline by milab and Tsinghua University.
The integrated expression of intelligent materials and Eastern aesthetics
"LumiStitch (Flowing Light and Landscape)" takes Chinese landscape aesthetics as its inspiration, combining smart luminescent fibers with traditional embroidery techniques to explore new human-machine interaction experiences of smart materials in automotive interior scenarios.
The work, through capacitive sensing and ambient light sensing technology, can respond in real time according to the gestures of the driver and passengers and changes in ambient light, making the embroidery patterns come alive in the flow of light and shadow. It reinterprets the warmth of traditional craftsmanship with the language of technology, leading "embroidery" from cultural memory to the future context of smart cabins, presenting a design vision where technology and art coexist and rationality and poetry blend together.
A model practice of collaborative innovation between schools and enterprises
This project is one of the joint exploration achievements of Tsinghua University and Mercedes-Benz in the direction of "future intelligent cockpit design". Since the establishment of the cooperative relationship between the two sides in 2012, the joint research institute has continuously promoted the collaboration among industry, academia and research in fields such as electrification, intelligence and sustainable design.
Under this framework, "LumiStitch (Flowing Light and Landscape)" not only demonstrates Tsinghua University's research strength in the fields of intelligent materials and interaction design, but also showcases Mercedes-Benz's open vision in the integration of automotive design aesthetics and cutting-edge technologies.
Through close industry-academia cooperation, teachers and students have been able to delve into the front lines of international automotive design and research and development, combining design thinking with engineering practice to form innovative achievements that are both academically profound and have industrial influence.
The integrated growth of teacher guidance and student exploration.
Professor Mi Haipeng, the instructor of the work, has long been dedicated to the research of intelligent interaction design, intelligent materials and cross-media art. Leading his team, he has continuously produced internationally influential achievements in the fields of intelligent manufacturing and future interaction design. Its research achievements have been published many times in top international conferences and journals in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI), including CHI, UIST, SIGGRAPH Asia, HRI, etc., representing the cutting-edge level of domestic design and interaction research.
He emphasized: "LumiStitch (Flowing Light and Landscape) is not merely a piece of work, but also a way of exploration." We hope that through cross-border design, traditional culture can continue to thrive in the new technological context, while allowing students to experience the social value of design in real research and development scenarios.
Under the guidance of Teacher Mi, the three students respectively conducted research in the directions of intelligent material experiments, interactive system design and visual language integration, integrating knowledge from multiple disciplines and demonstrating the educational philosophy of the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, which is "using design as a bridge to connect culture and technology". The completion of the project not only demonstrates the students' cross-disciplinary innovative practical ability, but also reflects the systematic advantages of the college in scientific research guidance and talent cultivation. Scientific research and education jointly promote design innovation.
This award not only marks another recognition of milab on the international stage, but also further validates the research strength of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University in the fields of intelligent interaction, intelligent materials and cultural innovation design.milab will continue to promote the deep integration of design with technology, humanities and industry with an open academic attitude and an international perspective, and cultivate more future design talents with innovative thinking and a sense of social responsibility.
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