Electrical housing

Electrical housings are not known for their beauty or good-looking finish. In this case, however, the housings are intended for prominent places in the public space, so an appealing and luxurious look is desirable.

This is a housing for an innovative type of electrical circuit for a tram line. The design interacts with the environment in three different ways. Unique texts or figures are depicted on each group of housings by means of hole patterns. These patterns literally and figuratively provide a glimpse into the operation of the system on the inside. In addition, there is a color gradient in the various housings. If you see a number of housings, the difference does not stand out, but as soon as you enter another area, the color will have changed slowly. Finally, there is the indirect lighting inside the housing, which lights up quietly when a tram passes, and then dims again.

A sturdy frame and a sole plate with clever locking mechanism ensure that the housing is resistant and safe. It is easy to install, maintain and replace.

Client Gemeente Utrecht
Start Project 2015

The electrical housing in summary

This is a housing for an innovative type of electrical circuit. The appealing design ‘tells’ something about the area in which it is located, the functioning of the electrical circuit and what happens in the surroundings. A sturdy frame and a sole plate with a clever locking mechanism ensure that the housing is resistant and safe. It is easy to install, maintain and replace.

This project

Industrial design

Product engineering

Prototyping

Production support

Industrial Design

An appealing look for a normally average product

Electrical housings normally do not have a special design. In this case, however, the housings will be placed in prominent locations that will receive a lot of attention. An appealing design is then suddenly important. The housing is designed for interaction with the environment. Indirect lighting has also been incorporated into the design to depicted unique texts or patterns. Besides the appearance of the electrical housing, the functionality is also very important. Maintenance must be easy to carry out and the housing must also be safe. Furthermore, the durability is an important aspect, since the electrical housings are in the public space and suffer a lot from the weather and possible attempts at vandalism.

Identify requirements and wishes
Form study
Concept development

Frank Westland, Industrial engineer

New interpretation of an average product

“An appealing design is not the first thing to come to mind when you think about an electrical housing. Electrical housings are normally purely functional and actually just quite ugly. With this project it was a great challenge to develop an electrical housing that appeals to people and integrates seamlessly with the environment.”

Contact

Product Engineering

Easy to maintain and safe

Thanks to a solid frame, weather influences and attempts at vandalism should not create any problems. By means of the smart locking mechanism, the inside of the housing is well protected from the outside world. The electrical housing is equipped with sustainable lighting. The electrical housing only lights up when it is dark and a tram passes by, only to dim again when the tram has passed. The housing is equipped with special coatings for polluting environments and an anti-graffiti coating. To keep it completely vandal-proof, a great deal of attention has been paid to the elaboration of both strength resistance and the materials to use. The weight must remain within ergonomic guidelines. The design has been developed in such a way that material costs remain low and yet high strength is achieved. The color progress of the electrical housings is made possible thanks to a collaboration with the responsible party for the coating.