Icehicle by Kyu Han Choi, United Kingdom

2012: City 2046. Art, Life & Ingenuity.

Biography

Kyu-han, Choi is an automotive designer who was born in 1977, and currently lives in Seoul, Korea. He graduated from the Hong-ik University, Product Design in 2004 and He has three years experience in the LG Electronics. Also, he graduated from the Royal College of Art, Vehicle Design in 2009. During his studies Kyu-Han was selected for an internship at Kia in Germany as well as carrying out project with Volkswagen.

He was nominated for the Best Individual Prize at Kia sponsored Project. In 2009 his team won first prize for ‘Best personalization’ at the Interior Motives Design Awards. After his graduation, He had an internship with Italian Design House, Bertone, and participated in the project, 2011 Geneva Motor Show Car, B99. He is currently looking for a position.

Design Brief

Icehicle is a pollution-free hydrogen vehicle inspired by ice, which is a very interesting material. It can change into snow, water, and steam. Essentially, ice’s nature can be connected with eco-friendly, and recyclable design. After using hydrogen fuel, using a water pipe, Icehicle spreads the collected water into the air, making a beautiful rainbow across the sun. The sprinkled water also reduces the city’s temperature and makes the city’s air fresh. During the snowy day, the snowflake patterned tire prints snowflake on the road.
The beauty of the performance will be that everything disappears.

How does your design answer the anticipated preferences, lifestyles and transportation needs for the people in your country or region?

The Earth is getting hotter and hotter because of Global warming. During the summer of 2046,
the city of Paris has become extremely hot.

Icehicle is a pollution-free hydrogen vehicle inspired by ice. Icehicle encourages the city of Paris to feel fresh, cool, and beautiful.

What makes your design unique?

I have a theory that a new design can only be achieved through methods that have not been done before. I also was interested in trying to express the visualization of formlessness.
At the beginning of the project, I made exciting experiments using ice which involved breaking, grinding, melting, and sliding. This allowed me to understand the essential features of ice.

The results of the experiments provided motivation for a new type of vehicle surface language i.e. bumpy, smooth and aero dynamic.

What technologies, innovations, lifestyle needs and concepts have you incorporated into your design? How?

Icehilce is made of Plantic which is an unique bioplastic based on corn starch. The most important feature of this material is that it dissolves in water. Based on the Plantic technologies, in 2046, after using the vehicle, it would be scrapped on the water. after the refinement, it could be used for livestocks feed. At the end of car’s life, true environment friendly design would be realized.