WORKSHOP

FUTURE MOBILITY

SENSING THE FUTURE

SPD Scuola Politecnica di Design, Milan
Car and Transportation Design Program

11-15 April 2016

CONTENT

The workshop aims to create an innovative vision and demonstrate its commitment to shaping the future of mobility in an urban context, emphasizing the journey over the destination. Projects will explore prospective questions about technological and socio-cultural progress and how these advancements might influence the evolution of cars and their intended use, ultimately providing an immersive travel experience. Additionally, the studies will propose design as a method of inquiry, focusing on future transportation systems and programs in relation to emerging mobile subcultures. One of the primary objectives of this workshop is to reflect on the multifaceted aspects of mobility—its symbolic and aesthetic dimensions—and to pave the way for transdisciplinary studies that increasingly assert their role in the social and cultural dynamics of the contemporary world.

The workshop also examines the biotic relationships between humans and machines, as well as the transformation of user interactions, envisioning a future where vehicles enable people to express their senses, feelings, and patterns in a more human-centered context. Parallel to these future studies, projects will analyze contemporary transportation networks as habitats, artificial infrastructures, and organisms, exploring the interrelations and qualities of vehicles in their interactions with inhabitants. The process will encourage collaborative expressions and synergistic approaches, integrating emotional experiences and sensory perceptions to propose a profound reflection on new forms of future mobility. These reflections will consider complex transportation challenges and global issues from a holistic perspective.

The Art of Mobility serves as a sub-topic, creating a space for students to conceptualize how mobility and movement relate to future transportation. Preparatory models that students will be tasked with creating are intended to embody a balanced blend of agile and dynamic volumes while capturing the essence of nature. Moreover, during the workshop, students will engage in close collaborative exploration, dissolving their artistic visions into one another while investigating abstract landscapes and forms to inspire and excite.

Students will also be responsible for documenting and presenting their design process in a final proposal, utilizing diverse communication tools and methods as needed to effectively convey their ideas.

ABSTRACT

The workshop aims to explore how future technologies can be reflected in the configurations between man and machine, particularly in the context of cognitive sensations, spatial perceptions, and imagined emotions, according to mobility patterns and tools. During the studies, the biotic relationship between man and machine, envisioned in the context of ultra-modern life, will be assessed. Furthermore, in order to predict our next steps and understand anthropoid-like relations with future mobility tools, these will be considered in conjunction with life needs, the urge for movement, speed, and freedom.

The workshop focuses on the future mobility paradigm, specifically the transition between physical space and conjectural (simulated) space within the perception of time and space. In this context, vibrant and paradoxical life structures, social patterns and networks, and physical or virtual environmental norms will be considered as essential parameters to reflect the multidisciplinary approach of the workshop. The studies also aim to generate arguments and hypotheses to analyze how future mobility patterns will impact everyday life, in accordance with the eventual lifestyle of global communities.

With regard to future transportation and mobility concepts that involve advanced technologies and new production systems, projects will be assessed within the context of abstract, variable, modular, transformable, transmorphable, programmable, flexible, and adaptable norms. They will be evaluated through a broader sense of spatial perception, incorporating movement, motion, embodiment, velocity, and the concept of driving. Furthermore, projects will be considered in light of social, cultural, ecological, technological, and sustainable aspects, aiming to shift the perception of the structural and functional formation of cars toward an immersive integrity, while broadening their aesthetic and symbolic values.

THE PROJECT

This project aims to monitor the evolution of existing relationships between man and machine, in accordance with potential changes arising from hypothetical, intuitional, conceptual, fictional, and speculative future mobility paradigms. Students will generate a vehicle design project and its reinterpretations, embodied through architecture, urban design, and global constituents, considering future city scenarios. This will involve evaluating the transportation network as both a habitat and an organism, as well as an artificial infrastructure, while embracing the interrelations and qualities of various vehicles in relation to their interactions with inhabitants.

The project seeks to redefine the structural and symbolic characteristics, as well as the aesthetic values, of car typologies, better situated at the intersection of architecture and urban platforms. It will analyze what will shape the future of mobility, with connectivity, efficiency, environmental concerns, and social consciousness as key priorities.

The final proposal will explore concepts such as space, time, embodiment, motion, movement, velocity, and many others, considering contemporary contexts for both utopian and dystopian future transportation scenarios. Therefore, the final project should not be categorically defined as a conventional or technologically hybrid vehicle, but rather one that borrows and expresses different qualities from various types of vehicles.

ADDRESSES

During the workshop, rather than focusing on a one-off proposal, the research phases will aim to facilitate the overall analysis of transportation systems on an urban scale. This is necessary in order to relate to different nations, as well as the qualities and properties of vehicles encountered in an advanced manner. These connections may be visible at certain stages, but all steps should be seen as interventions in the existing transportation conjuncture (or a possible future scenario) to some extent. These interventions should be adaptive, flexible, and innovative.

. Proposing scenarios rather than making predictions about the future of transportation, with a focus on connected car technologies and autonomous vehicles as driving forces in regional mobility solutions.

. Re-programming mobility. Transportation systems and infrastructure projects are increasingly augmented with a range of information technologies that make them smarter, safer, more efficient, and more integrated.

The future will be defined by cellular information networks, private enterprises, alternative energies, electric cars, and connected technologies to manage mobility in hyper-dense cities.

. A step change in material construction processes is needed, as recycling energy-consuming cars is difficult. Advanced technological materials will attract buyers, but not for their power.

. Debating new research to develop what is called the "new future mobility paradigm," which makes previously opaque social phenomena more comprehensible.

. Using a new type of car design methodology (modularity, adjustability, flexibility, self-transformation, self-healing, self-programming, and self-shaping) and changing the assembly process and manufacturing systems (mostly individual) to introduce an innovative driving experience that can adapt its morphology to the number of passengers and variety of needs.

. Examining technologies to monitor human senses, feelings, and patterns, exploring human reliance on and relationships with machines. Transforming human-to-machine interfaces to better connect the driver and passengers to the vehicle emotionally, safely, and comfortably.

. Considering future mobility solutions or systems, with increasing function and the goal of addressing a variety of global transportation issues such as congestion, pollution, safety, and sustainability. Helping to improve both transportation and operational efficiency for future urban ecological systems.

. Observing mobility, which conjures a multitude of meanings, such as passing through physical and virtual space. This draws on many disciplines, such as architecture, art, and design.

. Pro-activating the "Life on the Move" concept. Exploring how complex mobility systems are transforming everyday lives by developing arguments through the analysis of various sectors of mobile life.

. Designing a car for a sustainable and ecological future means considering key themes that will take center stage, as manufacturers have solved the function of the car; design is now crucial.

METHODOLOGIES

Beginning with brainstorming, the concepts will follow different methodological steps outlined below. These steps, derived from a variety of creative experiences, aim to gather new information and evolve the design process.

• Problem Tree: A tool for clarifying the problems addressed by a design project. It involves creating a structured hierarchy of issues, identifying higher-level problems and their underlying causes.

• Mind Map: A diagram used to represent a range of ideas or concepts. By using images, symbols, or words for nodes, selecting keywords, and analyzing information and relationships, it aids in visualizing connections.

• Storyboard: A form of scripting that communicates each step of activities, experiences, or interactions. This involves crafting a narrative that defines the story and the users involved.

• Moodboard: A collage of images and words, including samples of forms, colors, and textures, to convey the emotional tone of the intended design. The collage may incorporate abstract images, objects, materials, structures, and interactions to collect and analyze stories.

• Concept Sketch: A quick freehand drawing. Individual designers create sketches and present their ideas to the group for feedback and collaboration.

• Cognitive Map: A mental representation of an environment, capturing how people remember and recall physical or virtual spaces and their spatial experiences.

• Paper Prototyping: A quick and cost-effective method to gain insights by simulating functionality without focusing on aesthetics. It emphasizes content, form, and structure.

• Scaled Prototype: A detailed prototype resembling the finished product, which may include functional elements. This stage involves testing the design and evaluating the outcomes.

• User Experience (Group Work): Documenting and visualizing users’ experiences and their responses to these interactions, providing valuable feedback for refining the design.

OBJECTIVES

• Introduce the structures of car design through a multidisciplinary approach encompassing architecture, urban design, material engineering, ergonomics, product design, and performance, with a strong emphasis on environmental sustainability and social awareness. This includes consideration of technological and production constraints.

• Integrate the design process into new experiential concepts, redefine the architectural structures of cars, and establish new criteria for efficiency and future responsibilities.

• Complement theoretical and conceptual training with studio projects, progressing from initial design concepts to their refinement and digital modeling.

• Explore micro and macro mobility systems that respond to emerging urban typologies. Question the current transportation and vehicle design paradigms to address environmental challenges, global economic trends, and evolving social structures.

• Observe progressive transportation concepts that challenge traditional mobility scenarios, envisioning futures where cars are no longer the primary actors.

• Foster awareness and sensitivity toward the future by expanding the ability to select and apply appropriate design research methods for well-considered, abstract explorations.

OUTCOMES

• Develop an understanding of how to transfer research insights into various projects within car and transportation design.

• Gain familiarity with key steps in the design process, including hypothetical discussions, debriefing, and project conceptualization, informed by case studies of future mobility scenarios, design evolutions, and analyses of social structures, art, and architectural inspirations.

• Reflect a comprehensive understanding of transportation design history and its evolution. This knowledge will complement theoretical and practical design methodologies, vehicle architecture, and technological developments shaped by broader mobility trends, especially within car culture.

• Encourage creative thinking beyond conventional constraints and promote a process-driven approach. Emphasize the importance of time management and continuous progression in conceptual projects.

• Structure projects using a variety of techniques, including collages, diagrams, storyboards, prototypes, simulations, videos, photography, and other tools to effectively communicate ideas.

• Cultivate flexibility to challenge existing typologies and integrate these explorations into the research process, ensuring outcomes inform not only the final project but also the overall learning journey.

REQUIREMENTS

For the final project, students will be required to submit a separate folder illustrating the development process and final stage of their work. This should present how ideas and concepts were transformed and embedded into the final project and demonstrate how the final project addresses the given context, particularly in relation to inconsistencies and discrepancies. Additionally, a logbook containing notes, sketches, visuals, and references, along with a final prototype, will be presented.

Criteria
Students are expected to thoroughly document and present the design process in their final proposals. This includes employing various design, documentation, and communication tools and methods such as drafting, sketching, digital modeling, physical modeling, prototyping, video, sound, mapping, and other relevant techniques as necessary.

Statement
A separate folder must be submitted to illustrate the project's development and how it reached its final stage.

Presentation
Students must be able to effectively explain and discuss their project using various presentation tools. This should include detailed discussions of contextual, functional, technical, aesthetic, and social aspects.

Conceptualization
The submission must demonstrate how ideas and concepts evolved and materialized throughout the process and how they were integrated into the final project.

Finishing
The final project must go beyond material outputs, such as drawings or prototypes, to show how it thoughtfully engages with the given context and addresses identified inconsistencies and discrepancies.

Submissions
• Logbook: Includes drafts, research, notes, critiques, visuals, and references.
• Sketchbook: A4 or larger, documenting the design process.
• Final Prototype: A working or scaled model.
• User Scenarios: Detailed visualizations of user interactions.
• Transportation System Illustration: Depicts the proposed system, network, and paradigm, demonstrating how the project is adapted and positioned.
• Material Details: Provide detailed information about materials, energy sources, and manufacturing processes, as required.

Evaluation
Projects will be assessed based on the following criteria:
• User Factor Analysis: Consideration of user needs and interactions.
• Comfort: Ergonomic and practical usability.
• Emotional and Ecological Sensitivity: Responsiveness to human and environmental concerns.
• Creativity and Originality: Innovation and unique approaches.
• Reflection of the Future: Relevance to future-oriented design paradigms.
• Relevance to the Brief: Alignment with project requirements and goals.
• Design Quality: Excellence in conceptual and material execution.
• Presentation: Clarity, organization, and effectiveness of the final presentation.

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