Cloud-Like Ceiling Could Brighten Cubicle Worlds

German researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO in Stuttgart designed a luminous ceiling that looks just like clouds moving over a sunny sky. The ceiling is made from 20-inch square tiles that each have a board containing nearly 300 LEDs. These red, blue, green, and white lights in combination make millions of hues. The LEDs are all hidden under a diffuser to make the light spread out evenly.

"The lighting might distract people from their work," Matthias Bues, the head of Fraunhofer's visual technologies department said in an announcement about the project. "But it does need to fluctuate enough to promote concentration and heighten alertness."

Currently the group has a prototype of the virtual sky containing more than 34,000 LEDs. The Fraunhofer team will be showing it off at a trade fair in Germany this March.