Alfredo Häberli Design Development

It all began with the request from BMW to develop a personal, completely free interpretation of the BMW Design philosophy «Precision & Poetry». These two catchwords swept me along, evoking a virtually infinite wealth of images and thoughts. It was soon clear to me that I didn’t want to create a single object but rather do a study or a concept vehicle – by way of expressing my exploration of the topic future mobility.

The most important thing seemed to me to illuminate the context more precisely. On the one hand, the BMW brand, its history and its future, and on the other the future-oriented image of the world that surrounds the vehicle. This gave rise to four conceptual elements: The Sphere is the environment in which the vehicle moves. Future roads will effectively depict or visualize the immaterial connections in a community as we experience them in today’s communication world like a three-dimensional «Facebook», where encounters of a business or private nature become real. The Dwell is the home. A house, a settlement, a town, a sanctuary. Its design is shaped by the occupants’ personal needs. Our future home will become much smaller, we will do less there, but what we do will be more concentrated and compartmentalized. The Vessel is our means of moving around, an abstract idea that defies classification because it’s a hybrid of an airplane, a boat and an automobile – with just one wheel. Based on the interior of a BMW from the 7-series, which as a BMW flagship embodies luxurious travelling, a sculptural form was created that manifests elegance and the streamlined shape associated with gliding movement. The Couch becomes a place of encounter as only through autonomous driving do you create freedom in designing the interior. The front seats and cockpit are omitted, occupants look out through a panorama window, which enables a new kind of use. Travel is not only about rushing efficiently from A to B; travel time itself is to be regarded as something valuable, as the true luxury.

In effect the time that I have spent on this project and this exhibition has been food for my soul and for that I would like to thank BMW most sincerely.