2019: Inspiring Mobility
Designers:
Moritz Kirchhoff
Hannover, Germany
Pforzheim University
Description:
Modern cities like São Paulo are choked by air pollution, clogged by cars and ruled by them. Streets are designed for cars, but cities should be for people. Common space should be devoted to live in the city rather than getting through it or around it.
Brazil’s megalopolis has 2.6 square meters of green space for each of its 11 million inhabitants, a tenth as much as New York and a fifth of what the World Health Organization recommends.
Sooner or later cars will be banned or restricted in city centers to fight congestion and give the city back to the people. But small mobility platforms such as “Urban Islands” will still be allowed to circulate city centers at low speed.
Urban Islands are a sustainable symbiosis of vehicle and environment and they promote biodiversity and urban green and provide joyful mobility for everyone.
The concept is inspired by the paternoster lift and the San Francisco cable car system. The open structure lets the passengers hop on and hop off easily.
The calm and natural elements (wood, plants), the open structure and the diver’s architecture of the vehicle evokes feelings of joy in the passengers.
Biography:
Moritz Kirchhoff was born in Hannover, Germany. He is currently studying transportation design at Pforzheim University. As a mobility enthusiast he is passionate about exterior as well as interior design. He gained experience during an internship with the Volkswagen design team in Potsdam. Currently, he is interning at BMW Design in Munich.
Apart from design he is making music and enjoys doing photography.