A recent design project, carried out by Professor Yunwoo Jeong and his design team in the Graduate School of Design and Human Engineering at UNIST has been selected as a finalist in the Automotive and Transportation category, at the prestigious 2019 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA).
The award-winning design concept, Urban is a compact size 3D printed two-seater electric vehicle (EV) for 2020. It has received global recognition for its design excellence and boundless potential, thus earned IDEA recognition.
Urban Design Concept, designed by a UNIST design team.
Ulsan city, in collaboration with Ulsan Technopark and TMM Co. Ltd., has been working on the advancement of ultra-compact EV market with the goal of mass production in 2020. As part of this project, Professor Yunwoo Jeong and his design team took up positions in the design sector and came up with the innovative EV concept, namely the Urban.
The Urban is an affordable two-seater micro EV that costs only $8800. It is designed to be a perfect city commuter that is both agile and sustainable. The small and light architectrure leaves a small footprint and allows it to have an extended electric range, using a downsized efficient battery. The weight of the vehicle has been also decreased through usage of the simplified mechanisms and 3D printed polymers.
The main characteristics of Urban can be summarized in three parts: Smarty, Dynamic, and Elegance. Being smaller and lighter than competition, Urban can have a downsized efficient battery without range anxiety. Urban is also dynamic, as its front graphic resembles that of a hero’s mask. The elegance of Urban is expressed in its car doors, which open like how a butterfly flutters from flower to flower.
“Urban is a rear-wheel-drive vehicle that offers dynamic driving to trendy youngsters,” says Professor Jeong. “We hope it will help us expand the micro EV industry that is still new to us.”
Smarty, Dynamic, and Elegant are the 3 main concepts of ‘Urban’.
Targeting trendy youngsters, the Urban gives smart and innovative driving experience. The smartphone mirroring feature, which provides easy-to-use in-dash control over compatible smartphones, offers familiar interface especially to those in their 20s. Through the integration of the steering wheel, pedals, and dashboard, the Urban offers a unique way of using your car space efficiently. In comparison with the current automobile systems, in which both of the steering wheel and seats are adjustable seperately, the Urban allows users to adjust their steering wheel without moving their seats.
Organized by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the IDEA Award is considered one of the three major design awards in the world, alongside the iF Design Award and the Red Dot Design Award. Hyundai Motor Company’s latest ‘Sonata’ sedan and Hankook Tire’s new concept tires: ‘Hexonic’ and ‘HLS-23′ have been also recognized for innovative automotive design concepts, thus selected as finalists at this year’s IDEA Award.
From left are Kyohwe Goo, Choeun Park, Professor Yunwoo Jeong, and Gaeul Han.
