I know I know, it’s not road legal, but I am posting it anyway.
It’s a RV studio, so I decided to focus on the East Asian market. Why?
- Untapped market
- There is a demand for budget weekend trips
- People like to go out more often
- Becoming more affluent quickly
- Cus I know the history, culture, lifestyle and mentality better than anyone in the class
History, culture, lifestyle and mentality:
As you know, East Asia namely Japan, China, S.Korea, Taiwan, HK, Singapore etc developed rapidly in the past 50 years unlike the western world that had much longer and gradual curve. My grandparents’ generation lived in poverty and war, they are extremely thrifty and see entertainment as a waste of money. They mostly engage in argricultural industry. My parents’s generation are extremely hardworking and thrifty, but more engaged in industry or business. The current generation are somewhat fragile and lack in ability to take pressure. Anyways, families get smaller and people like to go on trips more. However the work schedule doesn’t allow them to take long vacations, so the freeways are always jammed on weekends.
My proposal:
Modular unit for rental. Why?
No need for ownership, less responsibility.
Modular design means the interior can be custom-arranged. It works for everyone and cheaper for the rental company to operate.
Below are the pages originally in 2X letter size layouts. The pages are supposed to be split in the middle for portfolio.
The customer can make a reservation online, and just drag and drop their desired furniture and equipment depending on the length of their holidays and their needs.
Flat floor plan allows more freedom for combinations as well as spcace.
The construction of the furniture and equipment is modular as well. You have a main frame and everything else is interchangable. Eg. A main frame with a stove top becomes a cooking station. A mainframe with a sink becomes the sink.
The units slide into place on a rail system that is embedded on the floor and the ceiling. So they can be arranged relatively and conveniently.
Other features include the shower room/ toilet. The toilet sinks into the ground when used as a shower room. The gap between the toilet and the floor becomes the drainage.
The side doors works in 2 ways. In parking mode, the front slides backwards to reduce the space taken. In picnic mode, both flip up like gull wing. That little sketch at the corner is a bracket rail system to briefly explain how both actions take place. You can only do one at a time though.
Other gadgets are retractable center console so that the driver can walk to the back. The cargo net can be fixed to the floor rails to keep things in place.
This is the crazy part. Yes, a hot-tub on the roof. I definitely saw the importance to put it there. Hot-spring bath is extremely popular in East Asia. Hot-spring resorts are expensive and over crowded. Hygene is also a huge concern. So putting one for the small family makes the trip more interesting. The tub aims to hold 2 adults. One typical tub can hold about 200++ liters of water. So the tub on the roof needs to hold about 500 liters. I’m not an engineer, so I don’t know how strong the structure has to be.
On another note, all the supplies such as gas, fuel, battery, water and sewage are below the floor board, and can be accessed from the side. So they just need to find a hot-spring outlet and plug it in to be pumped up.
The ladder at the back flushed with the body of the RV when kept. The cover of the tub flips to be used as a mini deck, but NOT for jumping on. The tub can be used as more storage when emptied.
Alias model.
1/10 scale model.
Ok, you probably notice the difference in proportion between the Alias and physical model. Well, some changes came later, but I did use the wrong ortho in the early stage of the scale model, but was too late to change. I had 6 weeks to hand build this model from scratch and build the Alias at the same time. All I can say is I finished them in time.
The glass exterior is to create an extension of the interior space. Also when I visited NZ, the modern glass buildings work surprisingly harmoniusly with the beautiful environment. I thought, instead of trying to create something that fits into the nature, why not just reflect them? The interior uses a traditional design to maintain the familarity and cosyness( if there’s such a word).
What else do I want to say?
When I took this studio, I was wondering how far do we take this project. Afterall, it’s a freaking RV. I can go as deep as designing the drainage cap. Turns out that time was the main factor. I say I only did abt 30% of what I wished.
Here are the things that I wished could have explored further:
-General wiring system
-Layout of supply storage tanks like water, fuel, sewage, septic, battery, gas etc.
-Details on the rail mounting system.
-Details on the modular furniture. Hopefuls build a working scale model as well.
-Make the entire hot-tub/ladder/deck system safer, probably decorate it with warning labels on every single part.
-Door opening details
-Seat design, something that can articulate like a car seat can can be removed to be used as a picnic chair.
many more…
thanks for your time and good morning.
