What do a chair, a skyscraper and a car have to do with each other?
Gio Ponti was an architect who designed the famous Pirelli office tower in Milan, as well as furniture (e.g. a chair) and designs for an automobile.
He was not the only architect to design cars and, as with Corbusier, the results are not aesthetically pleasing.
The car pictured above was created in the form of sketches, drawings and notes in the early 1950s. When Ponti asked himself what the ideal passenger vehicle should look like, he placed the user at the center; today we would speak of "user centric design", at least in IT circles. The cars of the time had many weaknesses that Ponti wanted to eliminate. It was often difficult to get in, the seats were uncomfortable and did not adapt to the body and posture, it was difficult to see outside, the trunk was not easy to use and the cockpit was confusing. Ponti wanted to improve all this. Large windows and a low hood were to improve the view to the outside, while a hatchback was to optimize loadability. Ponti had hundreds of ideas, but it remained with drawings and a small model. In 1953, car manufacturers showed little interest in Ponti's ideas and the project and the "Linea Diamante" were forgotten
Now, however, the result of the deliberations can be admired for the first time in a 1:1 model (on the wheelbase of the Alfa Romeo 1900). The model produced by FCA (Fiat/Chrysler) was unveiled yesterday (September 4, 2018) at Grand Basel .
Although you are not standing in front of the most beautiful car of all time, it must be acknowledged that some ideas were realized in the following decades. The Renault R16, for example, has similar features, as do many other cars from the sixties and seventies.
Grand Baselis open to the public from Thursday to Sunday. A comprehensive report will follow.
