Strate Collège Degree Show 2003

Strate College is one of the leading European schools for automotive design, and has become a major source of recruitment for automotive design studios in France as well as internationally.

Graduating diploma student Céline Venet proposed 'Sherpa', a vehicle for shops and services in the countryside. "Shops and services in the countryside are more important than elsewhere, because this is where people meet each other, share information and get news. They are really important to keep a social link, activities, and life in the countryside: they are the'spirit' of the village. Unfortunately with the rise of large supermarkets, these smaller shops are disappearing one by one, and in France one village out of two do not have shops anymore.

Sherpa has its own chassis that can be equipped with different modules, which corresponds to specific needs of professions. I have focused my work on: collective and public services (bank, post offices), also on health and well-being professions like hairdressers and beauty, and on mobile restaurants. But I chose to work more specifically on art and entertainment, with a mobile outdoor cinema.

On the left side of the vehicle is a SGG Privalite technology glass where information is displayed to announce the hour and the place of the event. On the pavement side of the vehicle are two flaps, one for the opening of the inflatable screen and the other is for the inflatable chairs, so the operator can setup and pack away his mobile cinema very easily. I would like the vehicle to fulfill the needs of the countryside and to be as an icon of it, very recognizable, intriguing and with a friendly expression and round volume, and also to emphasize its versatility with two different colors for the fixed cabin and for the removable module."

Manuel Derler presented an innovative vehicle offering new services and performance for agriculture. "As farms get bigger, farmers increasingly need vehicles that will fit easily into road traffic. My project is to design a vehicle that will better answer the expectations of the 21st century farmer, to integrate with the environment, to facilitate their work and that will be safe for its users, as well as for other traffic.

This vehicle is a compromise between a tractor, a car and an ATV. It has a versatile design that can be adapted to the roads or the fields. The vehicle body as well as its tires can change their forms and therefore their functions. In road position the tractor has a low chassis and road tires that are narrower and with reduced tread structure for better road adherence.

In the fields, thanks to the new type of soft materials used in the body and to the hydraulic suspension system, the cabin can be set in a higher position by stretching the tractor body 'skin'. The tires adapt to field usage, with a system that doubles the width of the rims (necessary for even weight distribution on the field), and extends the tread elements that are retracted for road use.

Felix Kilbertus presented 'l'eautomobile', a personal submersible watercraft, able to travel on the water surface like a normal cruiser, and at high-speed when underwater.

"In the future people will live in marine cities. They will have different purposes: water sports, sea food production, advanced research and technology. The maritime habitat will offer a higher quality of life. Traffic, water supply and waste disposal will all be simplified. Perennial Venice, for the moment the only existing ocean city, is the point of departure of a journey towards future ocean cities and their socio-cultural particularities.

Combining still largely unexplored key technologies like supercavitation (using forward jets to create a drag-reducing vapor bubble which envelopes the vehicle), augmented reality interfaces and metal fuels, such a vehicle could bring a new meaning to the concept of a sustainable 'auto-mobile' in a future context. The ocean, architecture, and vehicles determine the rhythms and ceremonies of urban life in future ocean cities. This utopian project tries to show possible interactions between man and his marine habitat 25 years from now."

Raphael Le Masson's fuel-cell powered racing car took a fresh approach to racing car design, seeking to convey new values for the sport, along with innovations in the drive system and construction.

"Automotive racing symbolizes one of the strongest challenges that face man: technical excellence married to man’s courage constantly pushes back the limits of the possible. Oscillating between artificial values, racing does not seem to be in complete harmony with its environment. My project seeks to define the future values of this sport.