Bertone Pandion concept - Car Design News

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Home> Design Reviews> Bertone Pandion concept

Design Review: Bertone Pandion concept

by Nick Hull 18 Mar 2010

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Bertone and Pininfarina: two great names in carrozzeria but with very different approaches to design. Bertone was traditionally more outrageous, so it's good to see the company back on track with this latest polarizing design, which shocked a number of visitors at this year's Geneva motor show.

Photo Gallery

Stile Bertone has been through the mill recently, going through a number of rapid changes within the design team. After the departure of Dave Wilkie, Jason Castriota arrived and departed within a year, followed by Mike Robinson arriving last spring as Executive Brand and Design Director. Now Adrian Griffiths joins the team as Chief Designer, having moved over from Fiat. Showing CDN around the car, Griffiths explained the thinking behind it, which is beautifully explained in the press pack shots seen here. "We found a new random form propagation process used by architects. We call this 'Algorithmo Design', the movement of a surface from outside to inside in a continuous movement," he said. "The structure and lines move through the car. We also examined the Alfa Romeo logo, composed of a red cross, which represents structure, and the snake, which is skin". What is particularly interesting about the Pandion is the way it develops a number of current advanced trends and brings them together in a single design. In particular, it picks up a number of ideas seen in design school projects over the last couple of years, a great example of student work rapidly influencing the design profession, with refinement and feasibility being added to the original student thinking. Firstly, there's the fragmentation texture, an effect derived through computer design and only possible using stereolithography (SLA) processes. In some ways it's a development of some of the ideas seen on last year's Mantide. "The rear of the car has a pixilated look," explains Griffiths, "as if the speed of the car is pulling the underlying frame rearwards, away from the flowing skin, creating a dematerialization phenomenon." The entire rear end is made of hundreds of razor-edged blades, in places protruding over 100mm.Tail lamps are located at the top outer edges of the dark grille and illuminate through the random blades to create a burning fire effect, almost as though they represent exhausts barking as the car accelerates away from you or the volumes breaking up, like the tail of a

Pandion's exterior design uses hard-edged detailing, while the interior uses a softer tree root form language. Click for larger images

Sketch of Pandion concept

'Algorithmic Design' explained

Exposed chassis tub is finished in a rough geometric texture that apes the blades used elsewhere for grille apertures

Bertone Marzal (1967)

Rear end is made of hundreds of razor-edged blades, in places protruding over 100mm

Center spine on glazed roof house rear-mounted camera; black side blades define the rear corner of the car

http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/home/design_reviews/display/store4/item190210/[18-07-2012 13:26:46]

Bertone Pandion concept - Car Design News

comet.
'Targa Red' Ferrari P3/4 by Dexter Brown

Fully glazed doors extends DLO graphic into wheelarches

This is automotive design moving into another dimension - representing noise in the same way that renowned artist Dexter Brown achieves with his paintings. Look closer however, and you'll see there is formal structure and symmetry to the rear end, with the black bumper bar in a V-shape, aping the Alfa shield of the front mask, two white lower diffuser panels and four exhausts. Note too the subtle pair of black side blades behind each rear wheel that complete the wheelarch and define the rear corner of the car. Then there's the fully glazed doors, where the ends flow into the wheelarches. We've seen this idea used on the BMW Efficient Dynamics and Mazda Kiyora concepts amongst others and, although some blogs have derided this as being derivative, at least there's a heritage of this within Bertone, not only from the historic Marzal concept, but more recently on David Wilkie's little Barchetta concept of 2007. As on the Barchetta, the glazing leads the eye directly to the wheels, a typical Bertone touch that adds to the semantics of the design. Continues

Sketch showing rear end breaking away

Mazda Kiyora concept (2008)

Bertone Barchetta concept (2007)

Flowing cab rearward profile features a huge windscreen extending over the roof

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