PLASTicon Fact Sheet

April 6, 2006 – Royal College of Art, London

INTRODUCTION

GE Plastics is working in collaboration with the Vehicle Design Department at Royal College of Art (RCA) to challenge 17 RCA first year MA students to research, design and build models of ‘concept’ vehicles aimed at the needs of different markets – from SUV owners to Gen-Y consumers using plastics.

For the PLASTicon competition the students were split into six teams tasked with conducting research into specific scenarios, including emerging generations and emerging markets to meet specific challenges of today and tomorrow. Once the research was complete, each individual team member designed and built their own personal interpretation of the scenario.

The winning student group will be announced today.

GE IDEOLOGY

Automobiles, their form and function, have been extremely limited by 100-year-old materials and the well-established production processes used to manufacture them (namely glass and steel). However, in this century alone, GE has been at the forefront of inventing new advanced, thermoplastics, composites and hybrid materials (plastic glazing, composites, and other advanced materials) that can be used to create stronger, lighter, more practical, and greener cars, more economically. Furthermore, they can create cars with more emotion that better serve the end user’s needs.

So what better place to throw off the shackles of entrenched thinking and imagine a new generation of vehicles while discovering the possibilities present in a new generation of materials, than with the uninhibited imagination of the world-renowned Royal College of Arts Vehicle Design Program. GE Plastics together with the RCA masters students joined together to discover the new vehicles possible with these new materials.

JUDGING & SELECTION CRITERIA

Jury

9 judges evaluated and judged the students’ design models. The members of the jury are listed below:

GE Plastics

1. Robert Butterfield, Global Market Director, Design Innovation & Technology Demonstration GE Plastics, Automotive, - Jury Foreman

2. Mark Kingsley, General Manager of Global Marketing, GE Plastics, Automotive

3. Geert-Jan Schellekens, Principal Automotive & Industrial Designer, GE Plastics

Royal College of Art

1. Dale Harrow, Head of Vehicle Design Department

2. Professor Jeremy Myerson, Director of Innovation

3. David Ahmad, Head Tutor, Vehicle Design

OEMs

1. Satoru Tai, Vice President - Nissan Design Europe (NDE)

2. Russell Carr, Chief Designer - Lotus Design

3. Simon Cox, Chief Designer - GM Europe

3rd Party

1. Brett Patterson, Editor in Chief – Car Design News

Selection Criteria

Based on the below criteria the jury has given points between 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score. The winning team will be the one that scores the highest amount of points.

Key Attributes

a. Quality of Concept - The original new solution will exploit the inherent mechanical and aesthetic properties of GE Plastics materials to their fullest extent. It also makes the best use of the chosen materials

b. Quality of Design - The work shows originality of the solution, clear-headed imagination, and ruthless logic devoid of any irrelevant historic conventions.

c. Quality of presentation - The entry articulates clearly the intentions of the work the team has produced and the approaches, knowledge, skills and reasoning they have employed in its production.

Technical Skills

a. Quality of the exhibition - The team should have an advanced level of technical skills as designers, including those necessary for the production of their work, its display and its documentation.

Postgraduate Studentship

a. The team should be able to engage in focused, independent, self-motivated learning, research and practice making use of technical resources appropriate to the work they are doing. They should have also worked effectively as individuals and in a team and participate as responsible, active members of the Vehicle Design department.

PLASTicon DESIGN TEAMS

The RCA students were split into six groups to focus on specific areas and to either design a physical model or a digital design:

Group 1

Material icons: Plastic technology opportunities

Members: Francisco Avila Añón, Teresa Mendicino, Julien Cueff and Laura Perryman

Group 2

Material icons: Plastic form language

Members: Ana Zadnik, Flavien Dachet, Daniel Sjöholm and Yuko Kanemura

Group 3

Mobility icons: China

Members: Filip Krnja, Ehsan Moghaddampour and Jamie Tomkins

Group 4

Mobility icons: India

Members: Florian Seidl, Chanwie Park and Craig Morrison

Group 5

Social Icons: Generation Y

Members: Matt Croft, Tobias Gabel and Jemma Ooi

Group 6

Social Icons: Eco-friendly plastic SUV

Members: Vaaibhav Desai, Daniel Kafka and Tom Hooper

AWARD

Grand Prize for PLASTicons

The winning team will win an all-expense paid trip to New York City including 3 museum visits and lunch with the GE Design Council.

Reader enquiries

GE Plastics, Automotive

Plasticslaan 1
4600 AC Bergen op Zoom

+31 164 29 31 48

anne.clement@​ge.com