The Peugeot Journey

It has been so long since my last post that I think the sole reader for this blog may well be, well myself? Anyway, this Post is to record my past few Attempts in one of the most prestigious Car Design contest in the car world - The Peugeot Car design Competition Series.

You may be asking, since I have taken part in the Competition for a few times, why then do I only publish my designs now? Well, Of Course something significant has taken place to have caused this entry.

Yes. I have been shortlisted for the 5th Peugeot Design Competition. There were about 2500 entries fo the 5th run of this International Design Competition series, and I am honoured to be able to squeeze into the top 30 entries out of the thousands and it is also the only SIngaporean Design up there with the best!... Yeah? I didn sound too excited?? hahah.. well yeah. Frankly i lost one night's sleep after i got to know i was shortlisted, when i saw the other entries, man they are jus too good! I think my chances are not that high now. But neverthelss, for me this is already good recognition of, if not my design skills, my passion fo car design.

So! This entry is to self-commemorate my effort in this design competition nd to showcase all my past 4 entries for this competition.

2nd Peugeot Design Competition - Peugeot RFV Peugeot Road Flying Vehicle or RFV in short is similar in concept to a plane when it comes to movement on the road, Using hydraulics to control its Suspensions, the 3-wheeler will tilt and dip the chasis towards the apex of a corner - very much like the way a motorcycle will tilt into a corner. It is meant to simulate flying, albeit on the road. Going into corners will be an enjoyable simulated sensation of 'flying' more than driving. The design of the RFV was taken after the F-117 stealth fighter, one of the most advance and popular jet fighter then. With Flat planes making up the body panels rather than swoopy/bubbly shape of modern day cars, the RFV differentiates itself from other design entries. (Frankly, it was also a limitation of my 3D modelling skills back then, which is really what i would call elementry). The insider story of t RFV was that, the form of the car was inspired by an architectural structural model that I was developing for an Architecture project when i was still in National University of Singapore.

The RFV was subsequently improved and renamed as the Peugeot 5light (Flight) and entered again for the 3rd peugeot Design competition. It was still not shortlisted. The RFV/5Light was eventually 'retired from service'.

3rd Peugeot Design Competition - 909 Adaptor This time round I got myself some new skills and modelled my car with a new 3D program. The Concept this time was that the car you got is effectively 2 cars in 1. In few of probable frequent update in technology and means of powering a car in the future, the 909 Adaptor is very much its name suggest, it adapts to new technologies and new ways of providing propulsion for a vehicle. The car was separated into 2 parts the cabin, and the powerplant. The 909 Adaptor tags along the agument that it is always more energy efficient to keep a old car running on the road for as long as it can than to produce a brand new car with better fuel efficiency.

The Cabin and front chasis+suspension set-up is the constant entity of the car, while the means of propulsion change from petrol-powered combustion engine to electric to fuel cell/hydrogen powered electric motors. In this way it minimise the need to develop and replace old technology with totally new cars, but rather, it allows simple replacing the powerplants with green technology enchancement to bring the its green endeavours to the max.

The Styling of the car announces the 2-part design concept. the front Cabin is deliberately styled to be separated from the powerplant portion of the car with a Functional visual Separator.

After I lost the Competition, I was contacted by an American Kit Car manufacturer Start-up Entrprenuer who wants to produce the Adaptor, thereafter I improved the design (the last image) and added character lines to the car. The deal fell through with the American after an aparent change in project direction.

4th Peugeot design Competition - Ground Water The one is the least memorable, in fact i don't remember what grund water means anymore, but vaguely, it was meant to to connect the occupants to the environment and have fun at driving at the same time. The All glass canopy is meant to connect the occupants to the surrounding Environment. Why water? this one is singularly a hydrogen powered electric car. It only Produces water. Hence its a ground hugging buggy that produces only water and hence the name - ground-water. Lame isn't it? but i was short of time then and this was a Bridging entry so that I'll be kept infomed of the next (5th) Peugeot Design competition.

5th Peugeot design Competition - Peugeot Blade The Peugeot Blade is one of the world's First Automobile to harness a Natural element that so many cars had been trying so hard to evade - Air. The main generator of the design Begin with this Wind turbine. The Automobile's design is essentially an electric car with each of the 4 wheels being diven by 4 individual electric motors housed in 4 pods that also houses the 4 wheels of the car. As the car moves through the air, the moving air across the body of the car turns the Wind turbine, this rotating motion of the turbine generates electricity that will be stored in batteries that will in turn power the 4 electric motors. This add to the Braking-Regenerative-electricity-energy which also store energy in the batteries when the car brakes, very much like the technlogy of modern hybrid cars. Combined with the turbine motion, the resultant is added range for electric cars, which are notoriously short range by nature.

It is this car that has been shortlisted as the top 30 design in the world in the 5th Peugeot Design Contest and so far it's the only Singaporean Entry. Though I think the Chances are not fantastic, however, still if you like to read more on it, for more information, please go to the Peugeot Website URL below.

You will find my complete write up there. If you also find that you want to support me for the design Please rate on the website how many stars my design is worth, by clicking on stars themselves. I thank you in advance for this.

http://www.peugeot.com/en/design/design-contest/5th-edition/the-29-finalists.aspx?PageNumber=20

An insider story for the Peugeot Blade is that This car is in fact an inspiration from y dad. My Dad is a Taxi Driver, and he has lots of stories to tell to share with me everytime. Of Which, one of the stories that he is particularly insistent on telling me is how he had observed household fans being transported on open top lorries. As the lorries move, fan blades will rotate frantically. He thinks that this is wasted energy that can be harness somehow and asked me to look into it. I did. And the Peugeot Blade is the result. Thank you Dad, You have made this Entry’s recognition possible. I love you Dad.

Back For Business

Its been, let me count a good 4 months since i last posted.. so.. proving my "lazy Blogger" claim in my last post... in January.. heh heh.

Anyway... I finally completed my thesis! and now in the process of finding a ricebowl... Its pretty exciting but at the same time also feels abit apprehensive about the whole idea of stepping into the working world, well, but its well overdued for me to start working already, so i shouldn complain (At all)

Before i talk about that.... Back to the Thesis.. The architectural agenda for my Intervention has been met, heh, its a building for that will enhance the Design knowledge and exposure of the general public through the appreciation of Car designs. BUT, BUT, BUT the other important thing that the intervention has fulfilled.... Ah hem.. is that my hidden agenda of building an architecture for the cars i design has also been met.. The 3D model of my thesis.. shall become the virtual home of all the cars designed by yours truly... (not alot at this point of time.. but its set to grow.. I hope...hehe)

I guess... I shall let my Images do the talking.. While you let your fingers do the walking (*Source: Yellow pages Advert and tagline.) - oopss.. the academic Bug is still biting me.. okie. images shall follow from here on..


This is my Architectural Baby, Viewed from the Old Tampines Road at night. Yes the Streak of light in front is My Jaguar XKR Speeding pass the camera at 160km/h.. u mean u did see it?? yeah... its an XKR alright. hmm well... Jus to recap of how it looks like..

Heh, hell yeah this is MY XKR, that i drive to Double O every weekend... trust me this is a chick magnet.. Okie.. again i crapped.. i hate Clubbing.. i must say.. A car like this really should be used on Race tracks, I Adore those Ring roads more than those pathetic-looking roads at Clark Quay lined by Drunkens on weekends..

Oh did I mention?? my Intervention has got one of those Race track.. Oh God Forbid.. its a Test track... If I claim this is a Race track during my critique session, tell ya.. I'll be Shot to Death. but anyway... its not long enough as a Race track... so may be Test track is a better term.. so Yeah A test track surrounds and twist and turn around my architecture.. This is Heaven Dear God... God of driving.


And over looking the test tracks is this Catwalk where public are free to observe how cars are driven around the tracks.... the speed, the transfer of forces, the tire chirping away, the engines roaring.... heavenly.

The other side of the cat walk you see cars in static beauty - observe as a sculpture... appreciated like an artwork and drooling all over the floor.. oh ya.. we are employing Cleaners to mop the floor every fifteen minutes.. interested personnel do contact me..


Below the catwalk is a retial ring, which most majr car maker selling their Merchandise that are car related and inspired by car design.



The Main Space. The Design and innovation Galleria where cars are appreaciated as designer items.. all cars shown here u cant see it anywhere else... all puns intended.

Okie.. after you have seen the cars.. and u feel like testing it.. and of course IF I LET YOU Test my Babies... this is where you pick them up... Lovely cars arent they?? hehe heh.. okie.. Lovely space too. =)

Alright.. i guess my images have Done the talking... If you wanna visit the premise in person. Drop me a comment. hehe. I see if i got cars available for you. Nearest MRT Tampines or Pasir Ris. We are waiting for you.

A 2 months break - but am Back

I must say I am a lazy Blogger, or was that an understatement?? haha.. Friend complained...so as I promised to continue the story after 2 months. Oh well, yes.. that happened, 2 months ago, I was with some friends at VivoCity, eating, celebrating over.. shucks i cant remember what was it we were celebrating - my tiny brain with a recurring phenomenon of hopeless short term memory has done it again.

Anyway we were there finishing up our food, when this Ang mo walked passed the food court, I thought he looked very very familiar... U know as Asians we see one Ang Moh, we've seen all...haha Anyway, because of the background knowledge of him in connection with DesignSingapore Council, when i see some more familiar faces filtering through the food court, Star-Architect like Toyo Ito... DesignSingapore council Preseident Mr Milton Tan, I immediately confirm he is the man I have only seen so far on Interviews, Books and Magazine... Mr Chris Bangle.

Almost choking on my last remaining bits of food in my mouth, My Architecture frens and I were pondering if we should chase after these stars/idols in the design field?? its a chance of a lifetime! (My fren's idol = Toyo Ito, My Idol = Chris Bangle, Heh..) Anyway before i knew it i was on my feet... running in the direction they disappeared...

Run Run Run!! to the atrium, looking down across the various floors through it, I gazed like any self-respecting Paparazi reportor would (hmmm...notice the paradox here?? haha) and spotted the group moving down the escalator... off I went, saw a light post decorated with tiny LED, Hopped over the parapet wall grip the pole and slipped down in fireman style ripping all the LEDs off with me.. ok.. thats not true.. jus me crapping... + i am not so brave and rich to pay for such damages... haha

so yes i caught up with the group... Chris was looking at an exhibit for the Then New Bond movie promo... i observed him from afar like a shy girl.. then inch closer.. and closer... and....

"Hello!" I said. "Are you Mr Bangle?"

Alittle taken aback, he shoved out his hand in typical American fashion, "Yes, Hi, I am Chris!"

I took his Handshook and melted into a puddle of ice water.... My legs were like jelly... "I love ur works on the Latest BMWs, Esp the 5-series! ( I really meant it..... the latest had and has always been my most talked about car when it comes to design excellence... Jus look at it!)"

"well Thank you!" he said... in typical Diplomatic American sense he added, "Its a work... of a team!" well of course I knew that but but... He is the director! ahah.. anyway.... I coughed up enough courage to ask for a photo with him... And its the most memorable and star filled photo i had so far... (shown in the previous post) I am literally in "God"'s arms... he wrapped his arm around my shoulder can you believe that?? haha ok.. i think i exxaggerated my excitement abit here... but indeed it was a moment to behold.. heh.. "click!!" when the Handphone camera... thanks to Jonathan. I got the photo i can show to my grandchildren next time... haha..

with that, my brief encounter ended.. I see him disappear back into the crowd like a beam of light reducing into a dot in the night sky....

I remembered i went back to my Studio at NUS that nite.. i couldn really sleep, My legs are still weak... I didn know how i managed to drive all the way back to NUS, but i did... I guess, i was Empowered by the brief encounter of that star that came from the sky.

Meet my Idol

I dunno what most people think about idols, But I have lived passed the era of chasing after the average singers or stars, Ang Mohs, Koreans, Japanese, Hong Kongers or Taiwanese no... in fact I have never been in THAT era... To me, that someone for me to idolise is someone with the ultimate abilities in my line of interest or that either he can and have change the world in for a good cause, which is in itself debatable of course.

Well today I am going to talk about my Idol, Since my interest is pretty well identified here, he is of course the Influencial but controversial Design chief of BMW - Mr Chris Bangle - someone whom I was fortunate enough to bump into at Vivo City. Mr Chris Bangle, for the sake of those who are ignorant, and his team of designers of course, as he so stressed their importance when I was chatting with him, came out with the BMW X5, followed by the 7 series, then the 5 series (in my opinion one of his best work, its THE BMW that i adore), the Z4, the 1 series, the 6 series, and lastly the most important car in the stable, the 3 series + the recently launched (as per 22/11/06) 3 series - coupes/cabriolets/"coupbriolets" (my invented term)

The styling of all these modern BMW, are by no less an achievement, on both the creative and artistic hands of that design and realisation team, but, much more than that it is really the convincing work, which I believe Mr Bangle has a great part to play in, that they have to go through to get the green light for each model. I quote Mr Bangle here, " the Management are like a group of logical, Lawyer mindset ppl who believe and speak a different langauge of results/ market studies/ customer response workshops/Feedbacks etc... as compared to the designers, who are much more emotive and sense more than talk." So the real work really is to realise the concept than to create concept itself, a widely known fact, further stressed upon by him. ( this quote was from a critic session of NUS Idustrial Design works with him as the guest critic)

Anyway first back to the the Latest BMW cars, the term used by the design team to decribe their revolutionary surfacing of body panels was "Flame Surfacing" - a new 'computer-inspired' design language - or simply put, a series of abruptly interlocking panel surfacing demarcated by unpredictable panel opening in practise . (quoted from, Tony Lewin "How to design cars like a pro")


My personal reading is similar, only on top of that, I like to add the level dynamism involved in the surfaces, that eventually taut up the entire form. The surface tensions formed in the body panels, are ordered by strong lines are usually the panel lines as well - and these lines are by themself, tensioned. As such the overall form, aided by the illusion of trapped energy on the body panel surfacing, gives a sensation of a coiled up spring and hence the inherent dynamism throughout each car styled under the "Flame surfacing" language.

Another reading O had with These New generations of BMW cars are that they are really fore-front in the car design world. There are cars, which designers design for today, there are concept cars designed for the future's future (those are far-out crowd-stopping concept cars that will never really make it into productions and historically it also means that you will never get such cars in ur garage, ever, no matter how near you are in the future). BMW cars are designed for the concievable future, this explains why people are at first uncomfortable with the new design language, the conservatives loath at the 7 and the 5 series when they were first unveiled, but now, 5 series is the definitive best designed car that hardly requires a facelift. Why? because, the general public are not ready for the futre, and BMW does jus that, design for it... so as the future becomes now, the cars sell like never before, people grown accustomed to its shape, and bingo comes the second wave of sales, and BMW has successfully move the entire game of car design forward by so much that styling Ques from BMW get copied everywhere, even it direct rivals may be sub-consciously doing it.


In other words, Mr Chris Bangle and his team of designers are really the brave ones who dared venture into unknowns and somehow made sure that it will turn from exclusive to mainstream (in terms of design language perhaps). there is only one word in chinese language which can describe these guys, "shen2" which roughly mean diety, roughly.

Anyway, i realised this post is getting really long, and maybe boring, not to me.. maybe to you. And i haven even went into the Knee-weakening meeting session with Mr Chris Bangle himself at Vivo City. Perhaps Tomorrow when i have the time.

There are time you believed that stars are meant for the skies, but occasionally one falls down to brush by you. I believe, I jus experienced that.

Just when I thought I am out of love

Well, it has really been a long time since i last posted.. in fact i haven posted anything!

I have began this blog hoping to critique on cars and design in particular, but i realised lately that another old love, Architecture, has come knocking on my door enthusiastically, arriving in a vehicle we call - thesis. When I began my Thesis, I began by lumping together my original love, cars, into architecture, for those who are not in the know, you may be forgiven to think that they are two different and separate entities, but you may be surprised to know that they are in fact intricately linked, only that you might have taken them for granted for too long, or maybe, you have been led to read them as two different things. Well, all architects (or for the matter, Urban designers too) will tell you, Cars (and other vehicles), are a major headache to the architectural plannings. Access points, drop-off points, site entry/exit etc will be enought to trouble you for a while, let alone that ultimate problem of Car parking and Fire engine eccess etc. Blah blah blah blah blah... Other than such pragmatics, historically, they (cars) intertwine as well. If not for cars (and also, to a lesser extend, other form of transportational machines), cities as we know them today will be very, very different. Primarily, if not for a man lovingly known as, Le Corbusier, all our skyscrapers, or so called 'Modern' architecture, would not have happened. Although its highly debatable as to whehter such cross influence is a good or a bad thing, we cant hide form the fact that the car and Architecture has clashed, with sparks flying.

I do not kow yet if it will be suicidal to lump both objects of love, car and architecture in my thesis (this combination has almost killed my dissertation, but thats in a pretty different take and direction, but...lets not talk about that...) and celebrating them together in one huge Party, but it sure looks like they are getting along pretty well. I hope they stay this way and chemistry between them continue to flow. I really hope so.

Well before I end this post.... one of the hidden agenda of this project, is to design an architectural equivalent of the cars i designed so far - a piece of architecture that I can rightfully call it mine, an architecture that will compliment, accomodate, operate and eventually, play with my cars.

Woooo... I am so in love.

Porsche 997 Carrera Commercial

Porsche 911 Carrera 997 Commercial

Jaguar - Gorgeous commercial

The fantastic Jaguar cars commercial of the new gorgeous campaign.