Geometric Infinite Number of Adaptations (GINA) - Breathing Emotions through Design

As a child, i have always been a car fanatic - right from collecting miniature injection moulded ferrari's to wooden DIY kits of the spell-bounding Rolls-Royce. The passion persisted and took me to places of Irungattukottai, Chennai's race track, where i was initially nervous to set my foot on but once my legs floored the accelarator, it was adrenalin pumping through all my veins. The love for cars has never waned an iota and i guess its mutual as well :) It took me 25 years to buy my first car and had to battle it out with my folks at home, for cars are meant to be in black..courtesy Holly movies where massive 'Humvees' & 'Dodge' clothed in slick black arrive in suave style. I seriously don't know, but i go weak on my knees when i see a car that sweeps me off my feet!

So.. here goes my first post on cars in my blog

I was searching for specific technological advancements for one of my clients when this one caught my eye. Lo! Behold! when i saw the YouTube video, my eyes turned moist. Such was the brilliance in design and outstanding technology contribution. Although, i am off-set in posting this by 6 months or so, WTH.. my blog truly deserves such a post from the consistent innovatior - Bavarian Motor Works (BMW).

When i first saw this video, it was love at first sight. Not with the car though, but with the intellectual talent of BMW. The brains which go behind in offering such best-in-class products must truly be saluted. Kudos to the design team of BMW. The cars from the stable of BMW have always fascinated me, as i like style coupledwith performance. Among most of the peers, the German firm has a perfect formulation, where functionailty meets style without compromise. The boldness in each curve of any BMW car is out of the world. No wonder, they are clocking more sales numbers than conutry-peer Mercedes Benz in India and giving them, a run for their money. Here goes the YouTube clip of the BMW's technologically advanced model: GINA - Geometric and Functions in N (Infinite) Adaptations.

Chris Bangle, Director of Design, BMW Group starts of challenging the fundamental concepts of design: "What do we need a skin of a car for anyway?" This reflects the out-of-the-box thinking of the group, where the sheer existence is questioned, challenged and overcome with style. The GINA light visionary model is designed on the skeleton framework of Z4 roadster with a flexible taut fabric sewed over it. My perception is the car would steal everyones stare in night, where the jaw-dropping curves would be reflected and i would be surprised, if the model is productionised, keeping in mind the excessive cost involved in mass production. The electro-hydraulic devices in the skeleton is the 'behind-the-scenes' work-force that moves to change the shape of the dynamically. Whoa! i am floored by the versatility of the concept car which tingles the sensual buds present in every car lover. A few pictures hived from http://www.bmw.com/

Theo Jansen, one of the leading designers quoted "The walls between Art and Engineering" exists only in Our Minds".

Smart Buildings

Adaptation...one word which has a lot of meaning packed into it. We, as human beings continously adapt to dynamics of mother nature and of life. How many times have you checked yourself and adapted to the surroundings?

Count for yourself and question why you did it? - The simple answer would be "change is consistent". When the strange chemical reactions take place within the neural networks of human body to increase your adaptation quotient, you are actually discovering yourself again and again.

So, according to me, the need for change is the base line for innovation and continous improvement...Raise the bar..Aim for the sky. All said is easy but there are thought leaders who have succesfully configured what we thought to be as dreams to reality - kudos to them.

One such is David Fisher who is an architect and a town planner. An Italian by birth, he has truly broken all chains to create buildings that change with time and is self powered. His buildings can change shapes with respect to time, has wind turbines to generate power (self reliant), more improtantly green power.

Have we ever thought what to give Mother Nature back when she's given you so much!! Hard to believe?

One of his quotes "Whatever is correct is nice, but whatever is nice is not correct". It simply challenges the basic laws of science of the yesteryears. He has challenged what we considered as normal to redefine the way we live and percieve things. His buildings change shape continously, every damn minute (whoa!)....Now, you can have your brunch facing the sun and evening cup of tea seeing the sun slunking down to sleep - all without moving from your place. Thats some brain!!

Now, that we have smart buildings, smart cars, smart phones.....no wonder smart humans would be in the making :)