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Car Design and Architecture

iterati

There paralells are numerous...that much is clear. I am curious as to any great recommendations as far as sources are concerned. Component design, design for manufacturing, versioning, integrated design.

In addition, I am looking to use an open-wheel racing helmet as a cast study. This is very difficult to find any information on short of contacting companies themselves, which is pending.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

 
Sep 21, 06 12:16 am
strlt_typ

carchitecture...more about how cars shape the environment though...

but maybe le corbusier's references on the citroen can help

what's an "open-wheel racing helmet"?

Sep 21, 06 2:43 am  · 
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kieran & timberlake discuss auto and aero construction and its relation to emerging ideas in the production of architecture in their book refabricating architecture

Sep 21, 06 8:46 am  · 
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liberty bell

This thread on hotrod architecture, before it devolved into silliness as they all do, had some interesting ruminations on the parallels between cars and archiecture.

Sep 21, 06 9:04 am  · 
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misterTT

I've heard this topic discussed recently, dealing specifically with concepts of mass customization; looking to car manufacturers (and the rest of industrial design) for just-in-time production, rapid prototyping, etc.

an interesting note, Hernan Diaz Alonso was (is?) simultaneously teaching arch. studios here in NY, and a car design studio at art center in L.A. during summer semester. I spoke with him briefly about the connection, and it seems that even though HDA knows nothing about car design, the project worked out well; students there had enough of a base in car design and the crossover of design vocabulary was consistant to produce good results. I'd like to see some of the work . . .

begin hernan flaming in

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2

1

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Sep 21, 06 9:38 am  · 
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treekiller

dymaxion rules!



and this was the last time an architect tried to design a car.....

Sep 21, 06 11:09 am  · 
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e

let's not forget zaha's sorry attempt.

Sep 21, 06 11:24 am  · 
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frank lloyd wright and walter gropius both designed their own cars. or modified existing ones significantly anyway.


wright-designed lincoln

also:

corb's automaxia car

Sep 21, 06 12:00 pm  · 
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cf

How about moving buildings?
http://www.carver-worldwide.com/SubItem/SubItem.asp?S_ID=21&nc=1

Sep 21, 06 12:41 pm  · 
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iterati

Open-Wheel Racing Helmet, was just the specific example that I was familiar with at the time. Meaning Indy-Car or F1 racers where the tires are not protected by the car body. Open wheel cars have the tires exposed, making for much more skilled drivers who don't just plow into eachother, a la NASCAR. Nuts to that!

The integration of the inner car, comfort, human functions to the exterior protection and 'interface between the driver and other other drivers' functions is what is interesting me right now. Then in between the outer solid shell and the softer inner shell is the guts of the myriad systems running through a car. Similar to high-end racing helmets designed for extreme situations. The soft inner core meant to comfort the imperfect human head transitions to the perfect form of the exterior hard exterior shell and the inbetween is a layer of systems and structure and void filling foam that has a form that is generated through the defenition of the boundaries set forth by the outer shell and the inner shell.

This is the kind of stuff I'm looking to get into at UPenn right now. BTW, Kieran and Timberlake's 'Refabricating Architecture' is on its' way as we speak via Amazon. Good call!!

Sep 22, 06 10:48 am  · 
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Where's Appleseed... this is part of his thesis :)

Sep 22, 06 4:16 pm  · 
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morfo

You might be interested in this link:
http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/more_than_cars/housing/index.html
This shows how a car company is using their technology on building design prototypes.

Sep 23, 06 1:12 am  · 
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vado retro

maybe i missed something, but i don't see any difference between your helmet analogy and the way buildings are coordinated now. ie shell core and "stuff" in the building. also open wheel indy cars are for the most part custom made and fabricated by the racing teams rather than on an assembly line.
classic indy cars behind the quilts...

Sep 23, 06 8:48 am  · 
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iterati

Vado.....you missed nothing. The comparisons with a helmet are static. The helmet being a mass produced object, that, while the inner lining can fit s,m,l,xl heads, the outer shell is fixed. That I don't disagree with. I am not taking the helmet as a literal comparison to a bldg. That would fly in the face of what I am trying to look at. Currently reading about Repetition and Difference, not repetition and repetition. I feel like the whole car is a more adequate comparison b/c of its' complex nature and the evolution of versions.

What I found that interested me about the innerds of the helmet, is that the form of the inner layer is determined solely by the inner layer [the cranium] and the outer layer [the composite material shell]. The inbetween, oops, I mean interstitial, fills what is left. Not sure what to make of this, or what to call it, but I find it interesting. Generative software could be a way to make this inner layer tangible.

If this sounds rough and random it's b/c it is. Not sure quite how to grasp onto what I'm looking at here. ANyway, enjoying the discourse.

Sep 23, 06 8:36 pm  · 
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