Michelin Recognizes CCS Student Talent

Five senior students from the Transportation Design Department of the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit have won prestigious design awards at the 21st Annual Michelin-CCS Design Competition.

The creative brief for the competition theme "Electrifying - Beautiful, Innovative and Radiant" required the students to submit electric vehicle design solutions they could realistically envision driving in the year 2020, as well as designs which addressed a specific transportation problem or opportunity. Each student also submitted a separate tire/wheel assembly based on Michelin's Active Wheel technology.

CCS student Kao Chun Rau was awarded first place in both the exterior vehicle and tire-wheel concept categories. His winning entry, titled ‘Kabuto' or Japanese for ‘man with armor' earned him two scholarship checks totaling $2,500.

Second place positions went to Philip Muscat in the exterior vehicle category, and Jenny Kubinec for her tire-wheel design. Each received a $1,000 scholarship check. Third place winners, Abhinandan ‘Sing' Saini (exterior vehicle) and Travis Clark (tire-wheel) each took home a scholarship check worth $750. All participants received $350 for entering the competition, and Michelin also made a $22,000 donation to the school for financial aid to CCS students based on need and merit. 

A total of 15 CCS students participated in the competition and presented their renderings to a jury of professional designers that included Pat Schiavone and Adam Ebel from Ford Design, Tom Peters from General Motors Design, and Kyle Evans from Chrysler Design.

At the Detroit Auto Show in January, the CCS students of the five winning projects joined 36 other electric vehicle designs from 18 countries and featured in the Michelin Challenge Design exhibition display (as the CCS competition theme mirrors the global Michelin Challenge Design contest).

"The Michelin-CCS Competition and Michelin Challenge Design are important forums for engaging the next generation of designers around real-world transportation challenges," commented Tom Chubb, Michelin North America's Vice President of Marketing. "You only have to look at the [Detroit] auto show floor to see the impact electrification is having on the future of transportation and global design."

Double first-place winner Kao Chun Rau has also been invited as Michelin's special guest at the 10th Michelin Challenge Bibendum environmental rally being held 30 May to 2 June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Pre-registration for the 2011 Michelin Challenge Design contest is currently open. The new theme, ‘PLUS 10', The Best is Yet to Come!' is your opportunity to "predict, or even influence, the vehicles that will be driven ten years from now in the year 2021". Go to www.michelinchallengedesign.com to find out more information.

Related Article:
Michelin Challenge Design 2011 is open for pre-registration

By Joanna Scott