A new interior icon

Philips’ Aurea: A new interior icon for a seamless viewing experience

June 2007
Philips Aurea represents a new interior icon that offers a truly seamless viewing experience whilst blending into the home interior. Featuring an active frame, Aurea eliminates the barrier between the picture and Ambilight to provide a next-generation immersive entertainment experience. In addition, it has been assiduously designed to blend into the home environment, whether on or off.

Today, picture quality is no longer a differentiator in the television market. As a result, Philips’ goal is to establish a recognizable television brand identity that claims a more emotional/minimal aesthetic space. It is seeking to offer a holistic viewing experience, by reducing the break between content and experience, that incorporates superb picture quality, invisible sound, and the creative use of lighting, all in a minimalist design. The Aurea achieves this using an active frame in which light has been integrated via the use of built-in reflectors imbuing it with a floating feeling when in an on state. In addition, it is symmetrical both horizontally and vertically and provides great sound with no visible speakers.

A reflection of research

The design of the Aurea calls on a number of insights that have arisen from Philips Design’s immense research capabilities over recent times in order to fulfill consumers’ expectations for a next-generation television. Philips’ consumer research finds that a television should have multiple experience states. Its form should be minimal, radiate high value and have a close fit to the home environment when off. When switched on, it should also belong to (not match) the interior whilst providing a pure immersive entertainment experience. This was one of the most significant challenges in the design of Aurea.

Interior Architecture

Specifically, in 1999 in La Casa Prossima Futura, Philips Design introduced the vision of the possible future qualities of life in the western home, predicting that the home of the future will look more like the home of the past, than the home of the present. Oscar Pena, Creative Director at Philips Design reported that "people are ready for technology to be less obtrusive. They want to surround themselves with attractive objects with personal meaning or that contribute to the harmony of their environment." The design of the Aurea picks up cues from the home interior to enable it to blend into the environment, whether on or off, whilst still representing a status symbol.

In addition, as an integral part of the Philips Group, Philips Design has developed a prominent design language for the new CE product. This language moves away from the more masculine design (hard and angular) toward more feminine design elements (calm and soft). The Aurea is a first step in the direction of this new language.

A seamless viewing experience

Following research into the effects of light on our moods, Philips discovered that people have a need for more advanced lighting solutions, which are attractive and emotionally stimulating, which they can adjust to their wishes. As a consequence, the innovative Ambilight concept was born.

Whilst feedback from Philips Design consumer research offers evidence that Ambilight is highly appreciated, the surrounding black frame and speakers of the current design of televisions do not fully maximize the viewing experience. Aurea’s active frame solves this issue, taking the focus of Ambilight off the wall and placing it directly next to the content to provide a totally involving continuous flow between picture and Ambilight. This represents a major step forward in Philips’ goal to offer a more immersive viewing experience. In addition, the creation of a 3mm sound gap creates invisible sound so that no speakers are visible from the front of the Aurea.

For more information on Philips Design

Ingrid Bal

Philips Design/Communications Press Officer

Tel:  + 31 40 27 59 342

Email:  ingrid.bal@philips.com

About Royal Philips Electronics

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a global leader in healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle, delivering people-centric, innovative products, services and solutions through the brand promise of “sense and simplicity”. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 123,800 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of EUR 27 billion in 2007, the company is a market leader in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring systems, energy efficient lighting solutions, as well as lifestyle solutions for personal wellbeing. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.