Royal College of Art interim exhibition - 'Automotivation'

The long-established RCA Vehicle Design course has produced some of the world's most respected and successful automotive designers. In the exhibition, a range of design projects considered the needs of the world's changing landscape for private and public mobility.

The exhibition also introduced a new direction at the RCA Vehicle Design department. The course is focussed on the belief that we are on the brink of a third great age of vehicle design. The role of its postgraduate students is to explore the future of mobility in this context.

Head of the Vehicle Design Department, Dale Harrow defines 'the first age' as a time when the automotive industry learned to make and construct, whereas 'the second age' has been about companies understanding their own identities and the ways in which their brands are perceived. Now, he believes we are at the start of ?the third age,' an era where car companies must begin to understand and respond to the consumer, in the case of transport, that means all of us, not just drivers. Fundamental cultural changes must be recognised and acknowledged by the mobility designers of the future.

Looking towards the important role that RCA graduates will play in deciding the way we travel in the 21st century, the course has been restructured into three pathways in order to address the challenges of the 'third age'. Students work together in small study groups, led by specialist tutors, which follow these distinct pathways:

'Urban flow' concentrates on providing advanced inclusive mobility, moving people and/or goods within specific urban environments, inspiring design innovation for integrated journeys, improving the design of urban vehicles and systems and exploring successful interfaces between them.

'Inside Out' focuses on the vehicle's materials, production and manufacturing technologies, considering in particular the functional design of vehicle interface with the user.

'Automark' explores strategic design solutions - creating innovative vehicle concepts that provide significant value to a business, identifying and creating new commercial and brand potential.

The interim show is the first time work from the course's new pathways system has been seen, and gives an indication of the ideas and directions which will be developed for the course's degree exhibition, The Show, in June.

The students are now working on a major cross-disciplinary project with FIAT, looking at ways of adapting standard automotive packages for different, worldwide cultural environments.

Students at the RCA work with a staff from a variety of backgrounds: Visiting Professor is Peter Stevens, Head of MG-Rover design, and internationally renowned designer of both race and road vehicles including the McLaren F1.

Visiting tutor Andrew Nahum is Head of Curating at the Science Museum, and brings historical perspectives as well as his wide knowledge of research methodologies to the course. Recent visiting lecturers include Dr Penny Sparke, author of A Century of Car Design, J Mays, Ford's Chief of Design and Tom Karen, who contributed to the development of the chopper bike, the Scimitar and the Robin Reliant.

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