If you believe the movie-makers, our future will have really amazing cars in store. Just imagine the upright moving vehicles on vertical streets like in “Minority Report” or the flying cars in „The Fifth Element“. But trust me, the stuff that vehicle designers are planning for the future is not any less fancy! Because of the challenges of tomorrow, like climate change, less space in rapidly growing urban centers and roadways that have reached the point of saturation, these guys are coming up with some hilarious ideas. So we want to present the coolest and craziest off-the-wall-concepts in our new series: The future of car design!

Click our slideshow to watch the amazing design concept of the Biomobile Mecha
We are going to start with a view of Toyota’s future vision which could be described as “back to nature”. With the Biomobile Mecha concept the Japanese car manufacturer resorts to the principle of biomimicry: Inspired by biological life forms, this vehicle provides dynamic driving instincts and structural adaptations to accommodate the user’s need for space. Thanks to the implementation of nanotechnology, the structure of the vehicle is able to expand and contract horizontally and vertically to serve as a compact commuter, an aerodynamic performance car and temporary dwelling. Further, it is able to adapt to its driving environment by utilizing nano-laser wheels.And as if that were not enough, this vehicle is even more than emission-free – it’s powered by pollution! It extracts harmful substances from the air and utilizes them as an energy source to restore the balance to the atmosphere. The only handicap: The Biomobile Mecha is so far just a concept that may only exist in 50 years. Let’s see if Toyota will turn this vision into reality.Images: Toyota

We bring you the second instalment in our futuristic sleigh series. Being as über-modern as we here at Club of Pioneers, we have decided that Santa's traditional sleigh - with all that un-environmental dead wood and the cruel treatment of his reindeers - is just not our vision of future mobility. We wanted something new!So we asked a selection of creative types, from car designers, to graphic artists, fashion designers and tattooists to come up with a newer model!
They had just ten minutes to design an image of what they believe Santa's transportation of the future should be. Keep checking Club of Pioneers for our daily updates!
Our second design comes from Matthias Hollwich -Architect.He describes his design as
"The SWARM SLEIGH - in the future more resilient
means of transportation will be enabled based on swarm theory"

Matthias Hollwich is the cofounder of HollwichKushner. Previously he worked with OMA, Eisenman Architects and Diller+Scofidio. Presently Matthias is visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. His work includes the new headquarter for the artist Takashi Murakami and the Open Theater and and ECOBRAS econic museum for
Petrobras in Brazil. His work has been published in Wallpaper*, ArchPLUS, MAX, Bauwelt, Dwell and Architectural Digest. You can read more in our interview.
To see the latest news from his econic design course, go to the UPENN site.

Since California is host to the most auto manufacturer design studios in the world, the LA Auto Show is well known for bringing new design approaches to the auto industry. The branches have therefore focused attention on the Design Challenge Robocar 2057, which took place at the show recently. Here's our interview with the winner of that challenge: the designers of the Volkswagen Slipstream!Images: Volkswagen

I first came across BAD (The Bath) on a Rotterdam Harbourside. The odd looking structure was part of the FollyDock exhibition, a showcase of architectural objects built just for fun. But after watching it spring into life, and speaking with the creators, SMAQ, it's clear there is more to the BAD than just pleasure alone. In this age of energy saving measures, who wouldn't want to enjoy a solar powered hot-tub!

BAD is made from a garden hose - about one kilometre long - that holds enough water to fill the beautifully designed wooden tub. The hydrant is then “plugged into” the nearest water-source (in this case the harbour) and allowed to stand for around 2 hours. Arranged in countless loops, the elastic hose forms the surface of a screen that catches the sun, thus slowly heating the water in the hose. The water in the hose then fills a bowl that fits up to two people. Double fun! Afterwards the water is released to irrigate the surroundings.

SMAQ was founded by architects Sabine Müller and Andreas Quednau, and is a studio for architecture, urbanism and research based in Berlin and Rotterdam.
SMAQ explains “ BAD explores ways of inhabiting and interpreting the urbanized landscape, based on infrastructural realities and leisure conventions. In the process it exploits an every-day practice and extrapolates the material characteristics of the required infrastructure into ornamental architecture.” Other designs have included the "Pick your own strawberries" initiative to facilitate vegetations strips between highways as well as an idea to cover the parking lot of the Dodger's Stadium with swimming pools and a Skiing range.
Although it looks high tech, the bath is actually very easy to construct, and the whole process took less than a month while at the Schloss Solitiude, an art residency and gallery in Stuttgart.To see more images of the construction diary, go here.

Part of the design includes using the piping as an ad-hoc changing room.BAD has proved popular. It won second prize in the Environmental Tectonics Competition sponsored by the Architectural Association (London) in connection with the Environments, Ecology and Sustainability Research Cluster. Now we can only wait to see if it receives commercial backing, and replace all those energy guzzling electric spas. Club of Pioneers will keep you posted.
All images from SMAQ

When Martin Furtner came to Berlin ten years ago, it could not yet have been predicted that the property around the Hackeschen Market in the former eastern part of the reunited city would become the center of gravitation for trendy agencies and design firms. Since then a store with retro and recycled furniture is located in Neue Schönhauser Straße with the fitting name “Schönhauser” (beautiful house).

The Garden Egg is a classical chair used in the former GDR before 1989.
Martin Furtner came from southern Germany to Berlin and since then has become the father of two children. People like himself are his best customers. Since Reunification one million people have left Berlin and exactly that many have moved into Berlin. Many of them have come into money and live in the “in” section of Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg. They like to spend their money on retro furniture and other high-quality merchandise. “In the past few years we have been selling mainly furniture from the 60’s and 70’s. Star designers like Charles Eames and George Nelson are more in demand than ever. People like having some patina.

Schoenhauser offers lamps, chairs, sofas, accessoires... patina guaranteed.
Schönhauser has a small branch in “Prenzelberg” – there we are in the center of the community where the people live who are interested in our furniture,” explains Furtner.“The recycling aspect certainly plays a role for a number of customers”, he states. “There are shapes – straight lines, cubes – that have such a timeless beauty about them and are still being purchased today.” Why buy new furniture? Beside the recycling aspect, there are the aspects of sustainability and efficiency. “If I have a chair or a table that is 30 years old, then I recognize that it is of very good quality, and if I handle it with care, it will survive the next 30 years.”“The sofa on which we are sitting”, says Furtner, “is a piece from the Swiss company de sede and is still being produced today.” Today’s price: 30,000 Euros. The sofa in Furtner’s showroom, however, costs only 8500 Euros.

"De Sede" sofa - mostly bought for the clubs of the Capital.
The sofa is trendy in color – brownish shades that are hip right now. “A few years ago chairs and armchairs were colorful. People soon tired of that.” At that time plastic furniture was in, today the favorite material is wood. The party haute couture of Germany’s capital visit Furtner’s shops regularly – for example DJ Dr. Motte who organized the well-known Love parade. The design branch in Berlin is booming at the moment. “Several years ago many architects who couldn’t find jobs started designing their own furniture and accessories”, explains Furtner. Since the economy is doing better now and people like to invest their money in furniture, these people have a better livelihood and are making a sustainable influence on Berlin. More at www.schoenhauser-design.de

This furniture/accessory looks so homogenous, made of one piece, so natural in its design, it is hard to believe that….it isn’t!Actually, it’s just a collection of wood scraps piled together. That doesn’t mean that the table will fall apart when you look at it more closely or that the bench won’t carry your weight. Quite to the contrary: this furniture is made to be used and to be living with it and - this is the really good part about it - letting live – the environment as it hardly has any ecological impact on it!The two designers Bart Bettencourt and Carlos Salgado had the idea to develop a unique method of collecting and repurposing discarded scraps of wood from New York’s woodworking industry – because it basically produced industrial junk of no use.
Since 2003, the duo designs the furniture which by its very nature is piece by piece one of a kind. For that reason the name of the project is program: whoever buys a piece of furniture knows what he gets: Scrapile!
Carlos Salgado, left, and Bart BettencourtFotos: Website