The Los Angeles Auto Show (LA Auto Show) announced that nine concepts were submitted by world-renowned auto design studios for this year’s Design Challenge, themed “Biomimicry & Mobility 2025 – Nature’s Answer to Human Challenges.” Each competitor’s mobility solution or system has been designed with nature’s inspiration while increasing function and addressing a variety of transportation topics, such as congestion, pollution, safety and sustainability.
In addition to the nine competing studios, three additional studios are joining this year’s Design Gallery to showcase their team’s capabilities making for a total of 12 auto design studios from around the world participating in the Show. Studios participating in the Design Challenge represent the brands BMW, Changfeng, JAC Motors, Mazda, Qoros, SAIC Motor, Subaru and Toyota. Their entries for this year’s Design Challenge propose mobility solutions inspired by natural creatures, structures and occurrences. From self-sustaining silk worms to long-forgotten waterways, the entries are sure to spark intense competition and careful deliberation at the LA Auto Show’s 2013 Design Challenge. The three additional studios showcased in the Gallery include Hyundai Design and Research Center, Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center California and Nissan Design America.
Entries will be judged on various factors including creative adaptation of nature’s laws (plants & animals); application of human intelligence to Biomimicry in unique ways to improve the efficiency of future vehicles; comfort, convenience, aesthetics of the vehicle; sustainability of the building, servicing, operation, and life cycle; and the personality of the vehicle in relationship to the brand.
Entries will be judged by Tom Matano, Executive Director, School of Industrial Design at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University; Stewart Reed, Chair of Transportation Design at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design; John Manoogian, Adjunct Professor Auto Design Studio at the College for Creative Studies. This esteemed panel of judges will be joined by guest judge, Dr. Gabriel A. Miller, who currently serves as the Director of Research & Development at the Centre for Bioinspiration at San Diego Zoo Global, where he devotes his work to the implementation of nature’s design and engineering solutions to advance humanity, wildlife, and habitats.
All entries will be presented and a winner will be selected during the Design Los Angeles Open House and Challenge Presentations on Thursday, Nov. 21, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The final competition concepts will be prominently displayed at the LA Auto Show in the newly created Design Gallery that makes design an integral part of the LA Auto Show.
”
