Louwers, G.L.M. MSc

Gijs Louwers is a PhD candidate at the HCD department within the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. Having worked as an interaction- and lighting designer before his appointment as a design researcher, he has developed a profound interest for the way in which people interact with their environment. Gijs prefers to work on the fringes of arts and sciences, using an evidence based approach to design meaningful products that are context-driven, and attuned to the needs and wants of people in said contexts. To facilitate these designs, he aims to explore the possibilities of designing with sound and light. Raoul Dufy's words are appropriate here, as "...we need something more than just that satisfaction of vision. We also have to create the world of things that we do not see.". 

Within the field of human-centred design, Gijs currently works with the Erasmus Medical Centre, Philips Healthcare and the Critical Alarms Lab to transform a dehumanised intensive care unit into a restorative, people-centred environment. In his PhD project VitalSounds: sounds for clinical wellbeing, he aims to improve long-term psychological outcomes for the critically ill by designing immersive sound and light interventions tailored to supporting the fundamental values that make us human.

Academic Background

With the guidance of prof. dr. Sylvia Pont, Martin Havranek and dr. Mitchell van Zuijlen, Gijs completed his master thesis in the field of perceptual psychology, pursuing this project in the direction of lighting design research. In close collaboration with the Dynamic Light Lab, he developed a passion for both the scientific- and the creative and innovative side of research. During his thesis this came to expression in using his creative potential to generate visualisations based upon natural phenomena as stimuli for researching the impact of dynamically changing light patterns on the perception of atmosphere. His affinity for light, lighting design and perceptual psychology motivated him to seek this out in his choice of career. 

Having worked at Atelier LEK, a respected lighting design firm, he was involved in numerous projects. In these projects, he gained a deeper understanding of the field of lighting design and the way in which light impacts perception, not only from a scientific point of view, but also in the applied context.

Education

• 2017 – 2019
  MSc Design for Interaction, Delft University of Technology
• 2018 – 2019
  MSc Ingeniería en Diseño Industrial y Desarrollo de Productos, Universitat Politècnica de València
• 2012 – 2016
  BSc Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology

Experience

• 2021 – present
  PhD Candidate, Critical Alarms Lab, Delft
• 2019 – 2020
  Trainee Lighting Designer, Atelier LEK, Rotterdam
• 2016 – 2018
  Product Designer, UpReach GmbH & Co. KG

Media coverage:

• Podcastluisteren.nl: #24 Gijs Louwers - Human-centered Design in ziekenhuizen, Dichtbij jezelf blijven en Hobbies