To better understand what I would like to share by using the words "doing nothing", I gathered samples from different videos, which I think, enable your mind and your brain to wander. In this footage, you can observe figurative shapes and lights, moving shadows, but also more abstract colors and patterns.

   

This eventually leads to the explanation of my concept. Concept, which I tried to write as simply as possible. This concept is obviously related to Volvo and its core values, as a swedish luxury automotive brand. I personaly think that doing nothing is part of a larger living style which is promoted by scandinavian countries, including Sweden. If you just look at the different kind of people coming to Sweden, they seek well-being, close nature, peaceful environment... This is actually luxury, and Volvo could enhance its scandinavian design feeling in offering this kind of experience. I called this new swedish experience of luxury, The Retreat.

     

Inspiration was very important in this project. It is always important, but I extremely wanted to capture this scandinavian feeling to build my design around it and not adding it at the end of my project. Therefore, I took inspiration from a lot of scandinavian architecture and interior design. I did also look at different projects, like this black framed cube. It is called the Ceremony Space created by a japanese artist and designer Toshiyuki Kita who wanted to create a specific space for rituals, like tea. His idea was to offer a visually and psychologically space enclosed by this dark frame. Inside of it, it is a totally different world than outside of it, just thanks to this frame. This idea of separation between the outside world and the inside of this space is something that I found extremely interesting. You may recognize the link between this and the final look of my vehicle. The third inspiration element is a video made by a french digital artist, named Benjamin Bardou. I think the video is a 3D scan of real places, in Paris which are thereafter tweeked to get the abstract feeling. What I liked there are the colors and patterns that are a bit random in way but they create a whole experience where your mind can easily wander. This kind of experience is also something that I tried to include in my vehicle.

    

To start drawing, I decided to pick one image that represented, to my mind, the best the idea of a swedish enviornment. What's best than a little summer house next to a lake? I tried to analyse it, to understand the layout of elements in the picture. At first, you have the house, which is the comfort element in here. Then, you have the forest around it which protects the house from the outside world. In front of the house and the forest you can see a lake, which is a pure and calm surface where you can observe reflections, light and colors moving in an enjoyable way. Between the house and the lake you have a kind of interface, the rocks, where you can lay down and enjoy the sun. Finally, just attached to the rocks, you have a boat, which is a bit on its own, as a symbole of movement and action in this picture.

   

   

I translated those five elements into a quick and naive sketch, to have a similar architecture and layout. Therefore, you can find a very comfortable seat sitting on a platform, surrounded and protected by plants. In front of the seat you can find a small lake and between the seat and the lake you have an interface. Exterior wise, I took inspiration from hot air balloons, because I very much appreciated the point of view you are able to have in one of them. The height offered by the balloon enables you to have a very different point of view on your environment, much more in an observative posture. This is the reason why I wanted the vehicle to be as high as possible. In terms of package, I worked on keeping it as small as possible, for an urban use of course. It is just a bit longer than a Smart Fourfour, slightly a bit wider but it's much taller. A drew a lot of cubes on wheels because I didn't want the user to feel observed from the outside world. To do that I imagined to have mirrors as exterior panels, to make the vehicle disappear in the city. But to have perfect reflections on those mirrors, I needed flat surfaces. This is the reason the shape of it is squared.

    

   

Then, the second step was to make a statement. I didn't want any distractions inside the vehicle, to let the users in peace. To reduce the amount of information you get when you are in the vehicle I had to remove any screen inside of the vehicle. You could even have some interfering signals to lock your phone so that you don't use it while travelling. The first consequence of this is that I still need a way to control the vehicle or to get important information from the vehicle. I have to include an analogical HMI. The second consequence of this is that I have to reduce the amount of information you get from the surrounding of the vehicle. I imagined then to have a way to control and adjust this amount of information by just partially or completely blurring the windows.

     

My work was then focused on evolving the architecture to fit the package but also to make is more interesting in terms of use and design. I worked on the ingress/egress, to have like a surprise when the vehicle starts moving. The idea was to hide the lake surface, so that you don't see it and you can access the seat, entering from the front of the vehicle. Then this idea of the terrace came in, build on a rock structure. Sitting on the seat you can watch the lake surface below the terrace in front of you.

     

    

An other important aspect of the interior was to give meaning to the plants and specify their role. As a protection element, I thought it could be a good idea to have them bigger or covering the rear and the top of the capsule. I really wanted to have a peaceful atmosphere inside the vehicle, atmoshere that you can find on your terrace, in your summer house, close to a swedish lake. This idea of being outside, inside the vehicle became more relevant. I turned the terrace more into a cabin with a seat inside. You would then have nature-like pattern on the sides of it, washing out the more you go to the front of the vehicle. The users must feel protected inside the vehicle.

To have a natural experience, I imagined two different positions. The first one is in the cabin, protected and comfortably sat, and the second one is on the bench, at the edge of the terrace. The idea here was to offer a specific experience linked with the glass surface (the lake) at the front of the vehicle. Just as you would have feet inside the water sitting on a rock next to a lake, here in the vehicle, you would have your bear feet on top of the glass surface. You would feel some air flowing from the sides, controlling the temperature to have a refreshing feeling. This positon would be more open to the outside environment, less protected by the cabin, as you would be at the edge of the swedish lake.

    

     

I went more into details, refining the design of the different elements. The seat changed quite a lot and became more a hamoc, to relate more to the outside nature. I thought again about this blurring windows and realized that the position you choose is related to the amount of external information you get. This means that when you want to be focused on your environment, you have a more upright position like on a normal seat. But then, when you want to have less information, the hamoc slides into a horizontal position so that you face the sky and the windows get blurred and see only color and light patterns moving on the sides. At that time, you are able to feel different emotions, have a think on your life or personal questions. This positions enable you to just BE.

The second point was to work on the sound environment, which has to be different from the outside world. You have therefore different speakers inside the vehicle, placed in the headrest and at the bottom of the seat. I worked on the volumes and section to have an inviting design.

    

First you can see the interior in the "focused" mode. The user sits on the small bench, enjoying the refreshing air coming from the sides of the glass surface. Through the glass surface, you are able to see some reflections on the structure of the vehicle, creating some nice depth effect. You enter the vehicle from the right side of it. You step on the black surface, sit on the hamoc and take off your shoes. You put them in the dedicated storage in the black volume and after, a wood panel slides out and up to close the wood terrrace, so that you don't see the dirty surface beneath it. You have a storage for bags under the seat. You can see here the analogical interface, the clock on top of a rock popping out from the lake. You have two pieces of information: time, and an indicator that informs you of your position in your journey. The clock slides out when the vehicle is moving, which you can see on the "abstract mode" in the second rendering.

    

    

This is a more immersive perspective inside the vehicle, in "abstract mode". You can see the clock, the hamoc in horizontal position, but more importantly, the blurred windows. Right now, everything is blurred, to get as little information as possible from the outside world. You would only see patterns, lights, shapes moving around you, enabling your mind to wander and "do nothing". In night mode, light games in the lake flourish to be kind of lost in them. On the left side of the bench, you would find the controller for the air temperature of the lake.

    

     

During this project, I used a lot Blender 3D to model my vehicle.

    

Thank you for your time looking at this project. I hope you liked it!

Special thanks to the Volvo Interior Team, who helped me during this project giving me super accurate advices all the time!