Umea Institute of Design degree show 2010

Earlier this month, Car Design News attended Umea University's annual degree show. Covering student work from the MA Interaction Design, Advanced Product Design and Transport Design programs and the BA Industrial Design program, it was the first exhibition overseen by Umea's new Rector, Anna Valtonen, formerly head of Design Research & Foresight at Nokia.

In a departure from the show's traditional format, this year saw keynotes and workshops spread over two days. As part of this, students were required to present their projects to the assembled guests in five-minute slots. No doubt a daunting prospect for students, the design professionals we spoke to agreed that it was a fantastic opportunity to more broadly assess key employability criteria of the graduating students.

Projects from the MA Transportation Design program, headed by Demian Horst, included:

Porsche for Busy Career Women
Boram Yoo
In recognition of the fact that many high-achieving career women - despite projecting an externally tough appearance - still crave to be nurtured, Yoo set out to create a vehicle that reflects this psychological dichotomy and acts as a shield for its occupant. Completed while on internship with Volkswagen, the car presents a tough, chiseled exterior that encases a womb-like, single-seat interior space, with real delight to be found in the way Yoo, a former mechanical engineering student from Hongik University in South Korea, suspended the single seat in a web of synthetic and metal cables. These allow the car to cradle the occupant, isolating her from the forces of everyday driving or actively drawing her away from a potential impact.

Volvo Twin Zero
Luis Camino
The outcome of a project to design not one but three Volvos, the Twin Zero projects the Volvo estate idiom forward to 2028 via iterations for 2014 and 2021. Recognizing that Volvo's core V estate identity has become confused with the arrival of XC variants, Gonzalez-Camino Celleja proposed a long-term design strategy that will allow Volvo to separate the two models once more. Built on a full electric package, the car is designed around Volvo's desire to eliminate fatalities from its vehicles by 2020, using the liberties offered by crash avoidance and other safety technologies to define a new interior package, exterior aesthetic and consequently, a new estate icon for Volvo. Presented as a virtual model, its creator made sensational use of video to describe the vehicle and the strategy behind it. 

Audi One
Jason Battersby
Inspired by the Stanley Cup, a North American hockey trophy that - unlike most others - is not remade every year, Battersby proposed the Audi One "to symbolize and promote human achievement". Recipients would have their names engraved on one of the expressive fins cloaking the main volume and be given the Grand Tourer for the period of one year. At the conclusion of the year, the recipient would retain the Zaha Hadid-inspired steering wheel as a memento and hand the car on to the next recipient of the award. Gibing well with Kenny Schachter's recent presentation at the Royal College of Art on the potential relationship between the car and high culture, the Audi One seeks to elevate the car to the status of cultural icon in a world where its everyday role is increasingly called into question.

Voyage on Land
Yong Bang Ho
In reinterpreting the notion of the land yacht, Yong Bang Ho envisages a flightless future where international travel is accomplished via a network of inductively-powered expressways. Presented as a tourer in the grandest sense, Ho's vehicle conceals an asymmetric, flexible living space for eight people, a feature reflected externally in the asymmetric surfacing of the rear deck. The incorporation of a rear sun deck recognizes the need for people to stop and rest during their journey. 

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By Drew Smith