Hyperborea : Revival of the Grand Tour

Sammanfattning: Tracing back human life through the centuries reveals that humans have always been wanderers exploring the world. For thousands of years our distant ancestors travelled the lands as nomads before settling down and founding the first communities which, over time, grew into today's cities. Humans have the impulse to travel out of curiosity and to find out what lays beyond the horizon. Many risked their lives by crossing oceans, climbing mountains or by taking other challenges from nature. Hereby each generation has contributed to the means of transportation as we know it today. Our next generations will cope with many inventions where humans will become obsolete. Autonomous driving, parallel realities and big data assisted products are already upcoming. In order to avoid becoming and feeling superfluous, mankind will search for meaning in their existence. In the 18th century humans have endeavoured travel with the goal to become enlightened for the first time. The Grand Tour was a formative experience for the British youth as part of their education by undertaking a rite of passage through continental Europe. Exposed to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance many adventures occurred during these travels. Travelers would document, consume and create tokens along the travel and on their return would present these to the less fortunate, who stayed at home, and demonstrate their enlightened and grown minds. The project emcompasses research in the field of future tourism, the purpose of travel and enlightenment. Various design proposals were made using 2D analog and digital sketching tools. These have been furter developed with the use of 3D software and verification of 1:5 scale 3D prints as well as full scale simualtions in VR. The thesis project explores the boundaries of transportation design by offering a fully serviced travel, a revival of the Grand Tour, with the project title 'Rolls-Royce Hyperborea'. The occupants are conducting a travel to create a paradigm shift in order to obtain control of their minds. The goal is to get in touch with the inner self, to see and understand the bigger picture - becoming enlightened in a state of bliss. The project explores interior architectures and the possibilities that come along with autonomous driving by redefining the classical archetype of the Granturismo as we know it today. The interior offers three different modes with unique features to stimulate the occupants in creating a lasting visceral experience.