Waterfall Lighting
Client
Bentley
Description
Dynamic ambient interior lighting
Date
2021
Activities
- Colour, Material and Finish
- Electronics Engineering
- Industrial Design
- Prototyping
- Software Development
- Testing and Evaluation
- Mechanical Engineering
Developing an integrated User Experience
As Bentley’s preferred UX partner, DCA has been collaborating with the Bentley team on an ongoing basis to develop a cohesive vehicle user experience combining both digital and physical interfaces.
As part of this collaboration, we created a full-scale interior buck as a flexible test bed for trialling new ideas and technologies, allowing potential front and rear passenger interaction solutions to be rapidly prototyped and assessed. This approach extended far beyond traditional HMI, integrating touchpoints, displays and ambient systems into a unified, brand-led driver and passenger experience.
One key feature explored within the buck was Waterfall Lighting, which was subsequently developed further by the Bentley team. The technology was later featured in the virtual interior of Bentley’s EXP 15 concept car and is showcased for the first time in physical form in the Torcal, Bentley’s first fully electric production vehicle.
Projecting LED light through textured glass
Using patterned and textured glass to generate lensing and diffusion effects, the system projects light softly across interior surfaces, treating light as an interior material rather than a source of illumination. Addressable LEDs enable the colour and behaviour of the light sources to be modified dynamically, creating a controllable, refined and immersive visual effect.
Patterned glass projects light softly across interior surfaces, treating light as an additional interior material.
Atmosphere and meaning
The intent was to create an interior lighting solution that feels natural and unobtrusive, avoiding the potential harshness and uniformity of existing systems in favour of soft, flowing gradients. Closely controlling the behaviour of the LED sources allowed us to use light to shape the atmosphere in the vehicle cabin as well as conveying information to the occupants. Waterfall Lighting forms an integral part of lighting modes such as Relax, Invigorate and Enhanced Drive that were developed to convey different emotional states and driving contexts throughout the entire cabin.
The intent was to create lighting that feels natural and unobtrusive.
Showing the door interior Waterfall Lighting on the Bentley Torcal
An integrated responsive lighting system
Lighting behaviours were developed to “bring the outside in” by reflecting the surrounding environment, thereby creating continuity between exterior and interior. In parallel, algorithmic approaches inspired by fluid dynamics were used to generate evolving light patterns driven directly by instantaneous vehicle performance data. In this way, the Waterfall Lighting becomes a fully integrated, responsive system in tune with the vehicle’s behaviour, its occupants’ emotions and the external environment in which it exists.
Interior lighting in tune with the vehicle’s behaviour, its occupants’ emotions and its external environment.
