Unique Student-Designed Rolls Prototype

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Now I love seeing originality in auto-design!
This is one of the most unique ideas I've seen come out of the Art Center in a long time, and I'd love to see it become a one-off! Fantastic!

Autoblog:

"To say that we see a lot of student car designs here at Autoblog would be a gross understatement. We see hundreds of 'em. Some are more interesting than others, but every once in a while, a design comes across our desks that takes our impression of what a car can look like and completely turns it on its head. This is one such example.

Dreamt up by one Jeremy Westerlund while studying at the Art Center school of design, the Rolls-Royce Apparition is a rolling trompe-l'œil that at once both reaches back into the automaker's history and extends into the future.

The design is based around the old motor carriages that had a chauffeur sitting up front, exposed to the elements, with the passengers coddled inside. Like most contemporary Rolls models, the front is utterly dominated by the prominent grille and hood ornament. It features unique touches like real mahogany inserts in the wheels, and the imposing overall shape is long and low: the designer took his cues from sailing yachts, and even though the model is built to 1:4 scale, it's still nearly six feet long. If such an extreme example of fantasy ever became reality, it would measure 279 inches overall – that's over 23 feet, or about four feet longer than the Phantom..."

_J
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Sorta reminds me of my first Hot Wheels car . . .
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Boy, communication in that thing would be awkward. Certainly not a "date-night" car.

_J

 

so basically they took the term "land yacht" one step further?

100% worthless design IMHO no form, no function...

 

Nothing new in terms of bonnet/grille. Nothing new in terms of side proportions ie. it's a big, long car. Nothing new in terms of wheel treatment. All that's been done is that the roof has been lopped off and the driver has been put in his little hole.

Beyond stupid. If this is a final year student he needs to repeat the whole course of study again.

 

I think when you compare the principals of Rolls Royce's own design over the last twenty years, the evolution only happened within the last ten or less. Consistency is very important in terms of brand identity. Using something instantly recognizable and redesigning the actual passenger experience is very unique.

Complete practicality is put a bit on the back burner when it comes to a design student's final project. The inboard spare is very interesting as well as the yacht look that the passenger compartment turns into.

The conceptual drawing show leather straps over the bonnet and the final model has wood inlay in the wheels. The whole package shows some very unique design language on a rather risky platform. Roll Royce is difficult to work with when it comes to utilizing your own design language whilst maintaining theirs.

_J

 

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_J
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There's a difference between design language and interpretation and artistic expression and sheer stupidity. Peugeot evoked a nautical theme very successfully in one of its concept cars and a lot of the elements were carried over into production.

That cannot happen here, unless you make it as tall as a van, in order for people to sit inside and be comfortable in the tradition of Rolls Royce. That, in turn, dictates a certain girth and length if you are to convey RR's presence and heft, important for the brand identity.

On top of that, throwing wood inlays into wheels is easy with today's technology. The question remains, why? How is that remotely luxurious or a technical advancement in any manner? It's not. Stupid touches like that are absolutely not what RR's brand identity is about, their identity is tied up in usable, accessible luxury, not frivolity. The design is supposed to evoke solidity, refinement and exclusivity. The pullman, the stepney, the footboards, they were extravagant, but they were luxurious touches that could be used. Gold plating was for items you touched, not wheels or axles.

Besides trying to evoke the shape of a traditional boat by increasing heft and chopping some lines, this student has done nothing to advance the basic grill and light arrangement from the Phantom. Or the side profile. It's hardly an "interpretation" let alone advancement in any form. It seems to be an overlay of one form on another.

He should understand what RR is about and move that forward, not just think that it's about rich people and therefore anything incongruous will be applauded.

 

I am going to have to agree with Zack; this design is horrible in terms of design. The inspiration for this is a Phantom... that went to Monster Garage to become a hippy drum circle on wheels.

Most of the time, the design students are asked to think 20, 50, and 100 years into the future to mark their own design language with identifiable marques. Often it doesn't work that well... and those students don't find jobs right away... and if they do, they aren't doing really advanced things for whoever they are working for. This student has excellent skills, but no inspiration. I'd be interested to see what their other works have been. No way it's from Phorzheim...

This is worse than the Maybach Exelero exercise. Thankfully it will never be a 1:1 build.

edit: I saw it came from Art Center... not surprising today...

 

I'd like to see where this kid could go with his skills if he where limited to a Phantom platform.
_J

 

saw this and thought immediately it was a kids pedal car, unfortunately I was incorrect in that impression as it would make more sense than what it really is...

really, really poorly conceived.

could play well in a rap video though... Art Center is in LA which seems to have been determined to be the center of the auto design world so maybe in that context it makes sense...

 

I loved the Exelero but realized it made no sense as a real car. It was cartoonish in all the right ways though.

I have to agree that this Rolls is pretty bad, and there are a ton of design cues (from the past) that aren't carried over.

 

_J
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I'm going to be in the minority here when I say that I like it. I'll also follow this up saying I have no background whatsoever in design or engineering. I know it's wholly impractical and will never be built, but this is certainly a new take on Rolls-Royce vehicle design.

Having looked at the gallery on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com/photos/rolls-royce-apparition-by-jeremy-westerlund/#3750127), I think it does look better from some angles as it does from others.

I think a variation on this model would be to do the following:

1 - Take a look at the car's right side profile;
2 - Imagine the car without the silver area. In other words, picture only the titanium coloured portion, with the greenhouse and picture the grille curving into the bodywork.

I'm sorry that I can't post a picture of what I'm envisioning (I don't know Photoshop at all). I think that without the silver area, this becomes a very futuristic Rolls Royce Coupe.

If I couldn't have the car in 1:1 scale format, it would be neat to have this 6' model, just as a conversation piece.