Morphable, Interactive, Liquid and Impact Resistant
| June 10, 2008

Came across news of BMW's new concept vehicle, GiNA, and the first thought that entered my mind was "morphable architecture" and shape-memory based structures.

Of course fabric-based skins for vehicles isn't news. Fabric skins were once commonly used for aircraft. Dirigibles use them. And 3D "seamless" woven composites are beginning to find their way into the mix, even if they're often intentionally rigid.

Morphing skins isn't new either. The U.S. military has explored flexible wings for decades; dispensing with slats and slots and simply re-shaping the wing to modify the chord and thus the aerodynamic properties. I even suspect cars have had fabric skins, though none comes immediately to mind.

None of this is intended to take away from BMW's concept. They're introducing quite a few people to the idea and that's highly commendable.

Given what I know, however, it's something else that has me inspired: the combination of all these things - as BMW has done - in addition to some of the body armor technology of which I've read. Specifically, the ability of fabric weaves to stiffen on impact and so-called "liquid" body armor, both which are intriguing in their own way and have been very much on my mind for the last year or so. Given the long term project on which I'm working, exploring this further seems an excellent idea.

Link:  BMW GINA Light Visionary Model: Premiere

Tags:  architecture, morphable, transportation

Topic: Car Design