BMW Design Night in Beijing took place Friday evening as the grand finale of the first press day of Auto China in Beijing. And what a grand finale it was. Not only was it the world premiere of BMW's Gran Coupe concept, but it was also an interesting and educational look at how BMW approaches design.
The event took place at the opulent Park Hyatt Hotel in the Chaoyang District of Beijing. Local and international media, gathered with BMW engineers, designers and board members under the soaring ceilings of the Hyatt’s moodily styled ballroom.
BMW's development chief (and member of the board) Dr. Klaus Draeger kicked off the evening with some insight into how important design is to BMW. "Design is access to the customer," said Draeger, before describing how over 10,000 engineers work hand-in-hand with 300 designers at BMW Group’s headquarters in Munich.
Draeger then called upon BMW's director of design, Adrian von Hooydonk (AvH) to elaborate on the fundamentals of BMW design. For those who love cars, this was an excellent primer into how car designers think and an opportunity to see the world through the eyes of one the industry’s most import taste makers.
BMW Design DNA is comprised of three elements: proportions, surfaces, and details. Using the ballroom's large video screen and some animated elementary shapes (boxes and circles), AvH artfully illustrated how simply moving a cars' boxy greenhouse backwards can create forward-moving tension and how stretching the wheelbase gives an appearance of stability.
To highlight the importance of surfacing and details, AvH discussed some of the principles of BMW design -- design icons he called them. Most of them you already know, like the double kidney grille in combination with double round headlamps. Body-length crease lines and the signature Hofmeister kink of the greenhouse are additional reasons why "a five-year old can recognize a BMW in traffic," says AvH.
But when you really start to look at the differences in the surfacing and details between BMW models, it becomes clear that designers are not just carrying over things like headlights and grilles for brand identity, but as a way to highlight the individuality of the specific model as well.
Take the 7 Series, or as AvH called it, "the CEO sedan." With its balanced proportions and upright grill, the 7 Series is more about standing tall and being in control. The 7 Series crease line sits higher on the shoulder, emphasizing stability. In contrast, everything about the new 5 Series is tighter and more dynamic. It is "the tailored suit" says AvH. You can see it in the way the LED-lit eyebrows of the headlamps are more focused and how the 5 Series grille is lower, wider, and closer to the road. Even the 5 Series' lines are more aerodynamically styled and aggressive, creating a wedge shape in the shadows as they move from front to rear.
The quick comparison between these two models served to highlight one of BMW's design tenets: "One family, different characters."
The importance of another tenent was made clear by AvH's frequent references to the style BMW's iconic 3.0 CS. That car showcased BMW’s signature long wheel base proportions and Hofmeister kinked greenhouse, two themes that continue to resonate today. Indeed, AvH believes BMW must be "rooted in history, moving forward in design."
To help illustrate how BMW designers put this theory into action, AvH then got onto a video chat with his design team as they worked in a studio -- apparently far away in Munich. The team quickly took us through parts of the design process, showing how they turn paper sketches into clay models and 3D computer models. It was a cleverly executed whirlwind tour, but the big surprise would come only moments later, after AvH told the audience that we would be able to directly question his team later on in the evening.
Then AvH summoned Draeger back to the stage and they introduced the Gran Coupe concept in dramatic fashion. The wall holding the screen upon which much of the presentation and video chatting took place slowly split to reveal not only the coupe, but the entire design studio.
Not your run-of-the-mill concept car reveal and an excellent end to day one of Auto China in Beijing.
Source: MT!
night/index.html#ixzz0qxgYCq8i
