CDN - Opel/Vauxhall Interactive Competition - Exterior Phase Update
Tue, 01 Feb 2011
There are less than two weeks left for European design students to submit their exterior entry to the Car Design News - Opel/Vauxhall Interactive Design competition. The competition, which closes to entries on Friday February 11th, asks students to design a lounge exterior, based around the design of one of the three finalists of the interior competition. To register and view the brief go to www.cardesigncontest.com
Students must base their exterior design around one of the designs by either:
Victor Uribe and his ‘Opel City Lounge' - a maglev-inspired, levitating lounge in which users can sit in a variety of position thanks to the reconfigurable maglev interior surfaces.Pierin Giacomo, whose ‘Interior Revolution' is based around natural, flower-like forms and imagines a fairly compact, reconfigurable, social space.
Chiayuan Lu's ‘Lounge to be Together with Your Child' which features a large, practical space designed around the needs of small children, and their stroller/buggies, which can be docked into the interior.
Once you've chosen your interior, the judges are looking for you to develop your ideas with the following requirements in mind:
The Opel Vauxhall brand You should analyze the brand's long and illustrious heritage, understand its characteristics and cues. We've included a photo gallery of many Opel/Vauxhall products from the last 100 years for you to analyze and be inspired by. Today, features like the blade in the surface down the side of the car are signatures for the brand. But you should think about the future - how might Opel/Vauxhall's design language evolve and be reflected in your design?Consistency of design theme between interior and exterior Each of the three interior finalists was chosen, in part, because their designs had strong themes. Victor's ‘Opel City Lounge' plays with new material and technology, creating long, fluidic surfaces and forms. Pierin's ‘Interior Revolution' has been heavily inspired by natural forms, and to a degree, his design imitates nature's behavior. Meanwhile, Chiayuan's design is designed around a very a-typical car user; everything is centered on the needs of young child. But that doesn't mean that his interior is - or your exterior should be - childish or childlike in any way, but it should impact on certain elements of the design if you chose his design as a basis. The judges will be looking to understand how you have worked with your chosen interior, so make it clear which interior you are working on.
Innovative use of materials The judges want you to use this phase of the competition to look at and understand how materials can be used in different contexts. Perhaps you might want to explore the use of a particular material that you wouldn't normally associate with the steel, aluminium, chrome and plastic of a car exterior. Or perhaps there's a new technology you've recently been researching which you could include.
Whatever you do, we encourage you to show your development - the judges are looking for thoughtful, powerful research work, not just a great final design! We wish you the very best of luck, and can't wait to see what you come up with.
To register and add your entry go to www.cardesigncontest.com
By CDN team