2007 Interior Motives Design Awards

Now in its fifth year, the annual design awards ceremony hosted by Interior Motives magazine was held on the second press day of the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. The awards are open to design students from around the world and are judged by senior designers from the world's leading carmakers and suppliers.

The competition encourages students to submit their work in any of nine different categories, with the emphasis on interior design. These categories are:

Best Use of Ambient Lighting
Best Conceptual Exterior
Best Eco Design
Best Lifestyle Interior 
Best Personalisation
Best Production Interior
Best Safety Innovation
Best Use of Technology

Julien Cueff from the Royal College of Art won the award for Best Conceptual Interior for his 'Phemtom' concept vehicle which features sleek removable seats that transform into home furniture and a high-end home entertainment system. The Phemtom features non-symmetric components and materials that give the interior a futuristic yet classic look. Julien was also awarded the Interior Motives Student Designer of the Year award.

The award for Best Conceptual Exterior was won by Matus Prochaczka for 'Mag', a three-wheeled city car that uses magnetic repulsion to make the vehicle feel up to fifty percent lighter. The smooth contours of the body and interior, along with it's giant central rear wheel gives the vehicle a striking insect-like appearance.

Ed Stubbs, Kaz Inomata and Mujammil Khan-Muztar from Coventry University won the award for Best Lifestyle Interior for the 'Rebel' concept vehicle, which focuses on personalisation and takes inspiration from internet and urban youth culture. Described as 'MySpace on wheels', the car features OLED panels that can display downloaded wallpapers and allows passengers to play multiplayer games in the flexible and spacious interior. 'Rebel' also took the award for Best Personalisation.

Jaesang Lee from Hongik University in South Korea won the Best Safety Innovation award. His Nissan 'Uno' personal mobility transporter consists of a people carrier that interfaces with single seater transportation vehicles. The transporter charges the individual city vehicles when they are docked inside. As passengers approach their destination, the transporter slows and the single seater vehicles detach from an internal rail to continue their journey.

The award for Best Use of Ambient Lighting went to Ismail Ovacik of Umea Institute of Design in Sweden. His design concept 'flo', based on the Toyota RAV4, features an elegant interior space inspired by modern architecture and the fluid-like behaviour of ribbons, with digital projections used on the transparent roof to simulate a variety of environments.

The Best Use of Technology award was won by Ho Young Kihl and Jeong-Chae Yoon from Hongik University. IPSE VW Concept is a single seater city vehicle with the ability to project virtual environments on the inside of the cabin, which responds to the outside world. For example, in 'underwater' mode, other vehicles appear to the driver as sea creatures, while in 'wildlife' mode vehicles appear as animals such as horses and goats, no doubt making for some interesting driving experiences.

The award for Best Eco Design was won by John McDougall from the College for Creative Studies. His solar powered vehicle uses natural fibres and bio-composites to create a flexible vehicle that can fold to save space when parking. The solar panels that power the car are removable and can be used to power the home, and the vehicle can be stacked for shipping, reducing environmental impact along the product supply line.

Ryan Cambell from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco won the award for best Production Interior. Cambell's Ford interior concept features a dashboard panel that can become opaque at the touch of a button and uses an ergonomic roating knob in place of a traditional gear stick.

This year's entries showed trends toward personalisation, environmental awareness, and a focus on creating insprational design experiences rather than simply products that look good.

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Interior Motives Design Awards 2006

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