Department of Industrial Design of the Academy of Arts & Design of Tsinghua University Concluded the Course on Automobile Exterior and Interior Design in Cooperation with Nissan China

On November 15, 2017, the “Report Exhibition of the Course on Automobile Exterior and Interior Design” sponsored by the Nissan China Design Center (NDC) and completed by the 2014-class Transportation Vehicle Design major of the Department of Industrial Design of the Academy of Arts & Design was open. This exhibition combined various forms such as image, video, clay model, hard model, and students’ onsite presentations.

The Transportation Vehicle Design program is committed to cultivating design talent who can meet future career requirements and possess strong capabilities of analysis, innovation, modeling, and visual expression. To this end, it is effective to train students hand in hand with domestic and foreign automobile enterprises during the course.

This sponsored course lasted one year. Instructors had stricter requirements than in previous courses, so there was a completion rate of homework and innovated expression methods. NDC organized a tutor group including experts from various fields such as design strategy, modeling innovation, rendering drawing, digital modeling and rendering, clay model production, and interior and color to help the students. With the cultivation and help from instructors and experts, students in this major made remarkable progress in all aspects including automobile design expertise, professional skills, and design concepts.

Introduction of Course Content

In the third academic year which is the first year for professional study, we cooperate with the NUSSAN China Design Center and give the sponsored course. In the first half of the year, we mainly focus on automobile exterior design. Students can freely choose from three topics: Cool NISSAN, INFINITI Truck, and GTR2025.

The whole course has five major parts: preliminary investigation and positioning, modeling discussion and establishment, clay model production, digital post-production, and hard model production. Guidance is provided by senior designers from NISSAN on each stage.

In the second half of the year we focus on interior design modeling. Students can freely choose topics and continue their exterior design plans. The entire course is carried out in accordance with the process of interior design goal , modeling discussions and performance, and digital & media production.

Liu Yuting

Liu Yuting–TOUREN1

Liu Yuting–TOUREN2

Design Description: Touren is a set of MVP interior for travel, aiming to optimize users’ travel experience, and provide a mobile personal space. It features unique seat arrangement, which allows people in the car to communicate freely and interact with the outside world. Touren hopes to provide its users with access to nature anytime and anywhere and a comfortable space for conversations.

Wang Desen

Wang Desen-GTR2025 1

Design Description: Under the general background of Tongzhou District, Beijing and under the precondition of research on the new high-voltage lithium battery technology, GTR2025 gives thoughts on what breakthroughs and changes to expect from future electric GTR, and what new changes electric GTR will bring to this brand. Its interior mainly takes consideration of changes in driving style of super sports cars and takes inspiration from interaction with nature. People also need smoother interaction and control of cars.

Ma Zhiyao

Ma Zhiyao-Project228 Interior-1

Ma Zhiyao-Project228 Interior-2

Design Description: Nothing can quench our desire for freedom. With quality and vitality, the Infiniti Project 228 is an interior concept design that makes driving enjoyable. It has an intelligent driving assistance system with two cameras on each side of the steering wheel monitoring the driver’s driving condition. When the driving pre-warning system detects the driver is tired driving, light in the steering wheel will turn red as a warning.

Seats are also an important part of the interior. Seats have many parts, which gives a lot of freedom. In the relaxing mode, they will self adjust to make passengers more comfortable. In the guest receiving mode, light will turn from blue to yellow, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere. This is the Infiniti Project 228. Do what you say, and say what you can do. It is in a life of adventures that we find ourselves.

Zhao Shitong

Zhao Shitong-Protector1

Design Description: I chose the cool Nissan project from the three options, and narrow down on mothers-to-be and families with a baby as my target user group. Women in the new era have freed themselves from the shackles of traditional thinking, as they have their own careers, friends, pursuits and economic independence. They regard family as an important part of their life but are no longer dependent on their family. They drive themselves to work and leisure activities even during pregnancy. In this context, I want to design a car that makes mothers-to-be feel as warm and secure as with families when they drive alone. I hope the car can accompany the baby as it grows.

Wang Guoqiang

Wang Guoqiang-Yggdrasil01

Wang Guoqiang-Yggdrasil02

Design Description: The target user group for my design are highly educated retirees deeply affected by the Shanghai culture, who have high taste, love fashion, and also adore the classic. I customized my design based on these characteristics.

Hu Zhihua

Hu Zhihua-Freeter1

Hu Zhihua-Freeter2

Design Description: This is an interior based on autopilot, themed on music, and designed for the “self-driving urban tourists”. It combines a resonance damping mechanism in music halls and DJ’s music creation environment with a new operating experience, and provide a brand new and exciting interactive experience in the car for “self-driving tourists”. “Self-driving tourists” will discover their true selves.

Ruan Mingpu

Ruan Mingpu-Ninja GTR1

Ruan Mingpu-Camping pickup Interior 2

Design Description: I chose different directions for my exterior and interior designs, namely, the next generation GTR sports car and the camping pickups. I designed the Ninja GTR mainly based on young people’s attitude towards life, and the Ninja GTR with the theme of “tearing off the hypocritical package”. The camping pickup was designed to make it easier for young people to camp. Its seats can be turned into beds, the autopilot mode allows people to lie down and enjoy the sunshine and air, and the camping modules using wireless charging technology help users easily survive in the wild.

Cai Zhuoheng