Ever wonder what cars of the future will look like? Sure you have, but the difference between us and transportation designers is that the latter can put their thoughts down on paper and even on actual materials. This concept for a Mercedes-Benz sports car is the work of aspiring automobile designer Oliver Elst from Germany, who has completed internships at Opel and Mercedes-Benz. It's worth mentioning that with this design thesis, Elst recently won the Lucky Strike Junior Design Award. Elst says he wanted to reduce both the visual and structural weight of the car with his design that utilizes “sandwiched”
materials in three layers, two for the interior and the other of the exterior. Below you will find Elst's description of the Mercedes concept along with a set of photos. Mercedes-Benz Concept by Oliver Elst: My project aims at finding a common denominator out of simplicity and lightness and put it into a creative approach, which as a result does not only include a new way visual appearance, but furthermore charts a sophisticated path forward technologically. The common denominator is reducing, it appears in the aesthetics of the surface, plus in the implied light-weight structure. In current discussions about consumption economization reduction is regarded as one of the most difficult tasks in the automotive industry. However, new materials, just like carbon fiber, feature an interesting way to reduce the weight. During finding a concept I noticed current light-weight- construction- materials offer a high physical lightweight, nevertheless do not get across their characteristics to the observers. This is why I wanted to
create a new material, which on one hand epitomizes material light weight, but on the other hand optical light-weight as well. This innovative thinking is represented by a reinterpretation of a sandwich material, which is not used in the usual planar way, but is highlighted in each sandwich layer which creates the whole car-body. In the course of reduction the lightweight filling layer is built up by only one geometrical base body. The ball. In the Exterieur this lightweight- structure is used for cooling and lightning. Designer: Oliver Elst via Yankodesign, Source: Carscoop
materials in three layers, two for the interior and the other of the exterior. Below you will find Elst's description of the Mercedes concept along with a set of photos. Mercedes-Benz Concept by Oliver Elst: My project aims at finding a common denominator out of simplicity and lightness and put it into a creative approach, which as a result does not only include a new way visual appearance, but furthermore charts a sophisticated path forward technologically. The common denominator is reducing, it appears in the aesthetics of the surface, plus in the implied light-weight structure. In current discussions about consumption economization reduction is regarded as one of the most difficult tasks in the automotive industry. However, new materials, just like carbon fiber, feature an interesting way to reduce the weight. During finding a concept I noticed current light-weight- construction- materials offer a high physical lightweight, nevertheless do not get across their characteristics to the observers. This is why I wanted to
create a new material, which on one hand epitomizes material light weight, but on the other hand optical light-weight as well. This innovative thinking is represented by a reinterpretation of a sandwich material, which is not used in the usual planar way, but is highlighted in each sandwich layer which creates the whole car-body. In the course of reduction the lightweight filling layer is built up by only one geometrical base body. The ball. In the Exterieur this lightweight- structure is used for cooling and lightning. Designer: Oliver Elst via Yankodesign, Source: Carscoop
