BMW's DesignworksUSA: From the Road to the Skies

The recently introduced BMW X3 was not designed in Munich, Germany. Nor was its predecessor, the first-generation sport activity vehicle.

X5? Same answer.

 Z4? Ditto.

They were designed in Newbury Park, California, by DesignworksUSA.

But it should be noted that DesignworksUSA is actually a part of the BMW Group.

When Erik Goplin, creative director, Automotive Design, DesignworksUSA, talks about the X3—and he worked on both—his words are charged with a particular passion that’s layered upon some deep thinking of what the vehicles represent: “The existence of the X cars for me have a certain dichotomy or imbalance—a vibrancy that keeps it alive. They’re not jacked-up tourings,” he says, using the word for “station wagon” that is commonly used by European automobile manufacturers. “The new vehicle looks confident. We added more detail. The previous X3 had a bit of cladding applied, but it lacks the authenticity of this one. The actual surface treatment is more like a limousine. It’s more than skin deep.”

And at this point you may be wondering just what any of this has to do with aerospace.

Plenty.

But first a bit of explanation, from Laurenz Schaffer, president of DesignworksUSA: “There is a general relationship that we have with BMW Group Design. We belong to Adrian van Hooydonk’s team”—he’s in charge of Design for BMW Group—“we are one family, but we are located outside the R&D center of the BMW Group. Our locations are in California, Germany and Singapore. We come up with very different ideas because we try to capture a bit of the lifestyle in the different locations and we understand the consumer needs there.”

But while it is advantageous to have ideas coming from outside of HQ, that’s not the whole reason for being for an office nearly 6,000 miles and nine time zones apart.

“Our business model also anticipates work for other people than just the car company. Yachts, airplanes, trains—we understand a wider context. We’re also doing cell phones, so we understand electronics. We’re bringing back a lot of knowledge, trends, and influences into the concepts we do for BMW,” Schaffer says. About half of the studio’s business is with firms outside of the BMW Group.

And it works the other way, as well. The know-how they’ve developed designing cars translates into benefits for some of the non-auto clients they work with. As in: “The aviation sector is a strong area for Designworks,” Schaffer says. They’ve done work for Boeing Business Jets. They’ve worked with Lufthansa. They’ve done extensive work for Embraer, the Brazil-based, third-largest aircraft manufacturer in the world: Designworks executed the designs for the passenger cabins and cockpits of the Embraer Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 business jets. As
a follow-on to their success in this area, they’ve obtain two additional contracts, to design the interiors for the aircraft manufacturer’s Legacy 450 and 500 medium-haul jets. “The aviation industry is of similar complexity as the auto industry. Its products have a high degree of visibility to the outside world, to the consumer,” Schaffer says.

One of the studio’s most recent aircraft-related projects has been for Iacobucci HF Electronics S.p.A., a company based in Ferentino, Italy, that specializes in aircraft galleys. Schaffer explains that the company is working to expand its offerings
to aircraft manufacturers, to be able to supply entire interiors. Its first step in this direction is via a seat for business jets. So Iacobucci contracted with DesignworksUSA to come up with a seat design. While it might seem a bit unusual that a studio known for designing things like premium cars and yachts would design a seat, there are a couple of factors at play. First, the founder of DesignworksUSA, Chuck Pelly (he established it in 1972; BMW acquired it in ‘95) did work on seating design, so it’s part of the company’s heritage. Second, there are similarities between car seats and airplane seats, particularly in the premium segments of both. “Seats are complex,” Schaffer says. “We are spending a lot of time optimizing seats for the BMW Group car models.” And there are tertiary factors, such as the need for having light but strong structures.

The Iacobucci HF VIP seat has a single back rest structure. The seat height is 45-46 in.; there is a 7-in. deployable and extendable leg rest. The seat is designed such that there is coordination between the seat pan tilt and backrest and a fully retractable armrest so that the seat becomes a fully flat bed. The designers worked to remove as much material as possible, not only for the weight factors (an added benefit of weight reduction is that the seat adjustments can be made manually with little effort; it is designed for the integration of motors if desired), but in order to create a highly functional and comfortable design that has perceptible lightness.

Laurenz Schaffer talks about creating designs that are “compelling.” When asked to define that, he responds by saying, “Another word for that is ‘holistic.’ There must be a complete sense of things—the brand, the product in execution, the performance, the experiences it delivers—all of these must be concise and consistent. They must seem to be out of one hand. Design’s role is to understand that completeness and to formulate it. From color and materials to the way proportions are introduced. Even the little details.”

One way that they assure that all aspects are considered is through using cross-functional teams, and given that the company works for clients in a variety of fields, there is an exposure to considerable information, from trends at a strategic level to components at a tactical one.

When done right, when executed well, then they have created something that gives them, as Erik Goplen puts it, “die Gänsehaut—the goose bumps.” Which is probably the best way to know whether you’ve pulled something off.