The art of car design
The long road from the sketch to the museumIn 1896, Louis H. Sullivan was the first to formulate the idea that "Form follows function". The invariably tight correlation between function and form, technology and aesthetic appeal, and between rational and emotional creativity of all kinds, still today presents a constant and renewed challenge - one that is by no means the exceptional domain of car designers. For them, too, the primary objective beyond the requirements for functionality is to generate tangible emotion.
It's a long and winding road from the first sketch to computer animation and models, and finally to the presentation of a prototype. This complex process can be more readily understood through a specially commissioned installation now on view at the Munich Museum of Modern Art.
People entering the building designed by architect Stefan Braunfels find themselves not only in a temple of modern art, architecture and the graphic arts, but also in the midst of the world's largest collection devoted to design and applied art. "The New Collection" in the Bavarian capital's newest museum currently comprises approximately 60,000 works from the fields of graphic design, arts and crafts and industrial design. Selected objects take the visitor on a brief journey through the history of design - from the beginning of the modern period to the present day, from furniture to computers and jewellery, all the way to motorcycles and automobiles.
"The automobile is ideal for presenting the concept of design", explains Prof. Dr. Florian Hufnagl, director of the collection. "Because the automobile is not simply regarded as a functional high-tech construction built by engineers - not just as something to be driven - it is indeed viewed first and foremost as an object of art experienced with the senses, through the designer's rendering of form, materials and colour". Design ought no longer to be presented merely through the display of articles in everyday use, but as something which can itself be experienced in symbolic form, according to the vision pursued by Hufnagl. After years of in-depth discussions with the BMW Group, his vision has now been turned into reality with the help of the carmaker. The essential task was to come up with a brand-independent statement on the design process which could then be rendered in visual form - an extraordinary challenge that demanded extraordinary teamwork. Designers at BMW did in fact work "hand in hand" with the artists Akiko Sato and Giorgie Cpajak, with master stonemasons, plasterers, engineers, designers, filmmakers and project managers.
The symbolic aspect of car design
This teamwork led to the independent installation now on view in the room devoted to car design at the museum. It in turn comprises two separate installations which, on the one hand, visualise the chronological flow of the development process, and on the other hand, the conflicting interests inherent to car design. The entire work was created in only 50 days and nights. The visitor's first glance falls on a large, protruding wall sculpture. A white curved free-form surface measuring 10 by 14 meters rises out of a marble relief two meters in height. Then gradually you become aware of changing colour pictures and subtle tones; an animated film installation which shows synchronised movie loops on six monitors, accompanied by the beguiling sound of music by a minimalist composer.
The ten-minute film installation was produced by a team consisting of staff from the BMW design department in Munich, the subsidiary DesignworksUSA and producer Joey Forsyte. In a fascinating composition of picture sequences, the many-layered processes of car design are presented: pencils scribble over a sketch pad, hands form models, precision tools etch lines in clay. The sculpture is completed. The early conceptual stages of an automobile. The artistic development process is fittingly accompanied by the accelerating rhythms and rising and falling crescendos of Philip Glass's "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra".
"Cars are the sculptures of our everyday lives," according to Chris Bangle, BMW Group Chief Designer. And it's true that the sculptural element always takes centre stage during the design process, in the form of a clay model. Every BMW Group vehicle starts out life as a unique hand-shaped sculpture - the clay model - which is eventually reproduced thousands of times over. The film installation shows both: the sculpture as an original work of art and its industrial reproduction.
The large-area wall surface visualises the statement of the "Art of Car Design" in another, very specific manner. In this case, the sculpture is not formed from clay. In homage to the great masters of art history, the design is conceived in statuary marble, a material that represents the long tradition, solidity and quality of classical art. The forms and lines which are embedded in and grow out the marble are seductive: they want to be touched and caressed. The emotional content can be experienced with the senses, and visitors are deliberately encouraged to place their hands on the marble relief: stimulating emotional contact.Even before the 30-tonne block of raw marble was transported from Italy to Germany, the BMW designers and modellers had already brought their ideas and images to paper, sketched out the basic forms and refined them using CAS (computer-aided styling) software. The blocks, pre-milled in Leipzig, were assembled and bolted together on location in Munich in the museum's vehicle design room. With the assistance of a specially developed, extremely high-load-bearing suspension system, the solid marble slabs were finally secured to the wall of the exhibition room. The extraordinary team applied the finishing touches to the roughly milled shapes. The central focus of the sculptural work is a "perfect curve", lying on the free-form surface like a nude, seductively drawing the viewer's attention. The white surface flexes and arches itself upwards as if acquiring energy from a rational world. Hidden behind the arched surface on both sides one finds the technical world: an assemblage of vehicle parts, inferences to technology and development, to power transmission and steering forces. To the observer, this arrangement of vehicle parts is only visible from the side. The installation carries the title "Art of Car Design". The only evidence of the creator's identity is the marble inscription "BMW Design 2002".
The design process is a never-ending process. "Design never sleeps" is the designer's credo. Even in the Museum of Modern Art, the design process never ceases. When nightfall comes, images and words flashes are flashed by projectors onto the large free-form surface as part of a five-minute film produced specifically for this purpose. The Art of Car Design is available for everyone to see, at anytime: Passers-by can peek through the window from outside and experience design by day and night.
No criticism, no art
To create a harmonious unity that resolves the differences between artistic design and industrial feasibility, the development and manufacturing experts work in tandem with many different specialists, including exterior and interior designers, modellers, ergonomic specialists and engineers. The new proposals from the creative department absorb input from a multitude of other sources. The designers work to specifications that include input from sales and marketing, the results of market research and trend analysis and on-going target group analysis - not to mention the preferences of automobile buyers in various countries.
During this intense process, the original design proposals are repeatedly reviewed and redefined. It is only much later, when hundreds of sketches and proposals have been perused, that the most preferred clay models are presented to the members of the management board who, together with representatives from the design department, are ultimately responsible for deciding on the final appearance of the new automobile or motorcycle.
The secret favourite of the designers and modellers does not always make it to the final selection round. However, "joys and disappointments are an intrinsic part of the life of a designer," says Chris Bangle. For Bangle and his team, the constant challenge consists of continuously redefining the bounds of their creative freedom, a fine balancing act between the pragmatically essential (business and economic factors) and artistic desire.
And the winner is ...
Even for students and young designers, it is never too soon to confront the competition and the critical eye of the experts. In 2002, the BMW Group announced the first BMW Design Modelling Competition (DMC), which is open to all graduates of design schools and design-oriented technical colleges in Germany. The first part of the competition required that the participants transform an already prepared two-dimensional automobile design sketch into a 3D model. The candidates could choose to produce a 1:4 scale model in clay or a computer-based visualisation. 83 students accepted the challenge of placing their abilities before the critical eyes of the jury by submitting entries for the BMW Design Modelling Competition. The creativity and quality of the entries highly impressed the top-calibre jury led by Christopher Bangle as well as the patron of the competition Dr. Burkhard Gˆschel, Member of the Board at BMW AG responsible for Development. Consequently, it has been decided to widen the scope of this competition, unique in the car industry, and place the search for the car designers of tomorrow on a more international level.
More detailed information regarding the competition can be found on the Internet at: www.bmwgroup.com/dmc
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