Polestar Design Contest’21 Finalists : Professional Category

Polestar Atom : Siva Shanker

Polestar Atom a vertical take-off and landing craft of elegant simplicity.

Interest in vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft is growing, but few prototypes have realized the simplicity of designer Size Shanker’s Polestar Atom, which takes inspiration from classic gyroscopes.

It is a central passenger pod featuring two simple wrap-around seats. It’s gimballed to keep it constantly level, as the surrounding tri-rotor chassis pitches and rolls when the vehicle is accelerating and moving.

Flight will always be an energy intensive mode of transport. With battery technologies constantly developing, there is increasing potential for a small, elegant VTOL craft designed to make journeys far more efficient than in today’s fossil fuel-powered light aircraft. Atom shows how this might be.

Polestar Duo : Marcelo Aguiar

A vehicle and temporary building that speaks to a more mobile society.

The nature of how people live and move about the world is changing. People frequently change where they live and work. There has been an increase of cultural events that has created a need for pop-up structures and occasional accommodation. There is also increasing demand for temporary structures for humanitarian emergencies.

This itinerant lifestyle is central to the idea behind Polestar Duo by designer Marcelo Aguiar. It combines lightweight modular design, and drone technology, to realize a new type of compact movable capsule that can work as a small home for two, or for many other temporary purposes.

Duo elegantly shows the potential for a new type of design that combines building and vehicle to respond to and enable societal change.

Polestar OTO : Julien Marie

An electric bike which has the rider both making and using electricity.

The OTO electric bicycle by designer Julien Marie would operate in two core ways: taking the user from place to place like a conventional e-bike, and as an exercise bike to use in the home, generating energy for home and bike alike.

This design creates a circle of energy generation and consumption. It could also form a key part in new low-energy consumption homes, where it might be able to provide power for most of the home’s needs.

OTO would heighten awareness of energy use and consumption, encouraging positive behavioral change to address the climate crisis. When one is aware of what goes in to producing electricity, one is less likely to use so much of it.

Polestar Stack : Sang Yeon Kim

A new take on a utilitarian vehicle, packed with possibilities.

Designer Sang Yeon Kim found inspiration for Polestar Stack in an unusual place: the “fast-forward” icon everyone recognizes from music players and remotes. As well as providing a strong visual motif, this graphical theme breaks what might otherwise have been a van-like volume and suggests a more modular solution at the same time.

Other novel design elements include wheels that incorporate rollers to aid side-ways maneuverability, lighting graphics visually derived from battery stacks to re-interpret those on today’s Polestar cars, and subtle use of the Polestar color palette and typography.

Polestar Stack suggests a new type of utilitarian vehicle that might be used for commercial purposes such as parcel delivery, as a taxi, or even as a private car for outdoor recreation.

Polestar H_UB : David Vultaggio

A new form of garage for the mid-twenty-first century.

A combination of brand experience center, and place to be whilst charging your Polestar vehicle, the H_UB by designer David Vultaggio is a comprehensive re-imagining of what once might have been called a garage.

H_UB buildings would generate their own electricity, and produce hydrogen from a bio-mass roof, that will then be used to power visiting customers’ vehicles. Their interiors showcase a variety of up-cycled materials showing the sustainable design focus of Polestar to customers waiting for their vehicles to charge. And not only cars; the design illustrations also feature a Polestar hydrogen seaplane, Polestar electric bicycle, and the Polestar Precent that was announced in 2020.

H_UB recognizes that car brands are moving away from just designing and making vehicles, to offering an eco-system of mobility solutions, different ways to access power, and brand experience.

About Contest

The brief was to design a vehicle that encourages societal progression. That offers solutions to current and ongoing problems, such as the climate crisis.

Winners of the 2021 Polestar Design Contest will be flown to either Polestar Chengdu or Polestar Headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden (whichever is closer to the winner’s country of residence) to attend the Polestar Design Exhibition, as well as to experience both the brand and the cars up close.

To aid in their continued development as designers, they’ll also receive a computer and tablet, along with a trophy. Accommodations and travel expenses will be arranged and covered by Polestar.

The Polestar Design Contest features a truly expert jury. Polestar Head of Design Maximilian Missoni, Senior Design Manager Juan Pablo Bernal and Car Design Research Director Sam Livingstone are the ones who will evaluate every submission, pore over every detail, and ultimately determine the winners of the contest.