I’m a 3rd year ID student from Canada,Ottawa. I’m moving to my fourth year but my dream has always been transportation design Currently working on my portfolio to get in MA but not sure if I’m on the right or wrong track.
Long story short, I know an ID pfolio will not get me to a TD school. AND I know that I need to have at least 2-3 solid projects(from research to sketches, from sketches to final clay model) for a decent entrance portfolio.
I have roughly 3 years from now(to be able to save money and build skills for the school)
So I just wanted to get some feedback and critique about my first project.
So here is what I was thinking for my first project. I roughly formed a design brief for the project.
Here we go!
Design Brief: 2050 is expected to be a challenging period for humanity. According to the data provided by the UN, the world population is expected to reach 9.07 billion and the %75 will be cut from water supplement. Oil will be scarce, lack of water will affect food distribution and increase hunger.
Lack of resources will likely to cause tension and conflict among countries and people. Due to high demand of valuable land and resources, conflict areas or war zones will spread to wider areas. Civilians are extremely vulnerable and non-protective in war zones.
Therefore, a transportation vehicle for civilians is a life saving humanitarian action.
The vehicle need to have several elements listed below;
-Need to be self sustained for long distance travel (should not need any external energy input)
-Large number of people could get on the vehicle quickly and easily
-First aid compartment
-The vehicle need to communicate “humanitarian transportation vehicle” design language
-The vehicle could survive in harsh weather, environment and rough terrain
I just started my research recently and came up with the list above.
Any feedback or criticism is highly appreciated. I’m curious if the project make sense to you or its useless or else.
Nice! A 2050 Unimog sounds amazing. If you can work in infrastructure for your self-sustaining energy plan for long distance travel, rather than simply calling it some magical ion-drive or whatever, that would be even better.
Yea I would definitely address infrastructure, storage, maybe manufacturing (where the materials are coming from, what tech you predict in the future).
It does indeed sound like a great TD project, but I’m a bit unclear on this premise…
-Need to be self sustained for long distance travel (should not need any external energy input)
Virtually every “vehicle” requires some form of external power (fuel) be it hydrocarbon liquids, coal, or even grass; horse and buggy, elephants, camels, bicycles, steam engines, cars, trucks, etc.
Lack of resources will likely to cause tension and conflict among countries and people. Due to high demand of valuable land and resources, conflict areas or war zones will spread to wider areas. Civilians are extremely vulnerable and non-protective in war zones. Therefore, a transportation vehicle for civilians is a life saving humanitarian action.
“Acts of God” not withstanding (i.e. Haiti) , the last thing considered during a “war” is the affect on the local population; lack of resources (fuel, and vehicles), priority (humanitarian vs. military), relocation destinations (if there even are any), etc. “Civilian” needs tend to be overshadowed, and more often than not, the local population is left to their own devices. Presently the UN is barely capable of moving itself.
In the best of times “transportation” is a luxury; in most of the “civilized” world, people commonly walked to their destination until the late 1800’s. Under the conditions you outline I don’t see there being much room for a “humanitarian transportation vehicle”.
I think your brief needs a bit more definition. i.e. “rescue vehicle”, or “developing nation vehicle” ?
I now I need more research on this subject but my first thought was to use existing lost energy in the vehicle. For instance energy generator suspensions(through friction and weight) or obviously solar panel.
Lmo, thanks for your critique! I know the brief is weak at this point. And you are very true on the scope of the project. It shouldn’t only be limited with “war zones” . Indeed “rescue vehicle” broadens the subject.
I think the first step is mind map, research, research and more research. I will try keep this post active with my progress.
i love these types of projects: ones that actual have a realistic goal and problem to solve. i think the aspect about needing to be self sustaining for long distance travel should be amended to being able to be constantly self sustaining, rather than just for long travel. if the UN is projected our world to have resources stretched very thin in 2050, then this vehicle needs to be able to run on…i dunno grass or air or dirt. i just had this thought, and its probably way too crazy but who knows: if this vehicle ran off solar power emitted from satellites in orbit. kind of like tesla’s coil concept of having power emitted from one energy source that powered multiple things. kind of a stretch as far as believability, but maybe it could be higher efficiency than the solar power panels we have now; maybe not.
I agree with LMO as well: what will the UN use this vehicle for? what could be a cool direction is a supply and manufacturing truck. UN workers use this vehicle to gather water and create water storage for remote and deprived towns and cities.
