petervidani:

Lancia Stratos Zero (1970, Photo by Benedict Redgrove)

^ looks funky but powerful. i like it.

simplypi:

Peter Kunz - Parking garage, Herdern 1999

One of the important events that happens at the LA Auto Show that we are all excited about is the Los Angeles Design Challenge, an annual competition at the LA Auto Show that provides up-and-coming designers with the opportunity to collaborate with an automaker to design a futuristic concept vehicle using a few set requirements. This year, the theme of the challenge is to build a safe and comfortable 2+2 compact car that comes with excellent handling and cutting-edge design and weighs in at no more than 1,000 lbs.

This concept comes from Mercedes-Benz, which, incidentally, was built not far from Los Angeles at the company’s US design headquarters in Carlsbad, California. The vehicle is called the Biome Concept and is described as a vehicle that “grows in a completely organic environment from seeds sown in a nursery”. In layman’s terms, the Biome Concept is pretty much an organic hybrid that was created in complete symbiosis with nature, producing its own oxygen and contributing to the improvement of air quality.

The Biome is made from BioFibre, a material that’s significantly lighter – the concept weighs 875 lbs, well short of the competition’s 1,000-pound limit – than either plastic or metal yet supposedly is stronger than steel. According to Mercedes, BioFibre is grown from proprietary DNA that is the company’s nursery, where it gathers the sun’s energy and and stores it in a liquid chemical bond called ‘BioNectar4535’. The BioNectar4535 powers the Biome where it is housed in the vehicles chassis, interior, and wheels. Apart from the BioNectar4535, Mercedes engineers have also worked on the idea of installing receptors on trees that, if used properly, could transform its own amount of energy taken directly from the sun into the car. And here’s another unique thing about the Biome: at the end of its life, the car is fully capable of composting and thus, can be used as its own building material.

here

one day, you will be mine