The BMW GINA Light Visionary Model

Friday, 7th November 2008 in Design by Simon | No comments

What do we need the skin of a car for? What’s its purpose? Does it need to be made of metal? In reality we don’t. Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a car with a human like skin that covered all the essential mechanical and structural components of the vehicle. These questions were addressed by the BMW Group design team behind the GINA project.

The key to affecting the development of tomorrow’s mobility lies in our readiness to challenge what is established and in the ability to present new options.

The design team was not just interested in answering the question of how the car of the future will look but primarily wished to explore the creative freedom that it has to offer. Both of these aspects are affected by the requirements that future cars are expected to meet. All ideas that the GINA presents were therefore derived from the needs and demands of customers concerning the aesthetic and functional characteristics of their car and their desire to express individuality and lifestyle. The GINA has an almost seamless outer skin, a flexible textile cover that stretches across a moveable substructure. Individual functions are only revealed if and when they are needed.

(Click on the images to see a larger view)

GINA produces dramatically different solutions that affect the design and functionality of future cars. The GINA Light Visionary Model is an optical expression of selective, future-oriented concepts which provide an example of the manner and extent of this transformation.

You can see more of the GINA on BMW’s web-tv website.

Phoenix concept eco-car by Sergio Loureiro Da Silva

Tuesday, 9th September 2008 in Design by Simon | No comments

Vehicle design at the Royal College of Art has a global reputation for nurturing up-and-coming car designers, boasting an alumni that reads like the who’s who of the car design world.

It includes highly influential figures like Peter Horbury who turned Volvo around, and the maverick designer of Ford of Europe, Martin Smith, as well as Jaguar design chief, Ian Callum. Other graduates include the original Audi TT designer and current head of Kia design, Peter Schreyer and Aston Martin’s design director Marek Reichman.

Competing for the 2008 Pilkington Automotive Vehicle Design Award, the Phoenix concept eco-car is a fresh take on eco-design by the Spaniard Sergio Loureiro Da Silva.

Sergio Loureiro Da Silva wants to regenerate lost energy through movement. The Spanish designer explains: It’s about improving sustainability by designing every element to aspire to less energy consumption. His Pheonix concept car aims for a similar driving sensation as riding a motorbike with a sidecar. Da Silva has also incorporated the technical elements in the design. The beauty of a vehicle comes from the contrast of a fluid shape with precise technical elements, he says.

(Article source IPC wallpaper.com web site)