Ferrari's World Design Contest 2011

Red Ferrari — First Prize: ’Eternità’ by Kim Cheong Ju, Ahn Dre and Lee Sahngseok from the Hongik University, Seoul (Image credit: Ferrari)

Traditionally, Ferrari has farmed out its designs to one of the many styling houses that litter the industrialised plains of northern Italy. Bertone, Scaglietti, and Pininfarina in particular all established and defined key elements of the company's style, with the collaboration with Pininfarina continuing successfully into the modern era. The 458 Italia especially demonstrates that neither company has lost its touch when it comes to creating technically brilliant and visually beautiful machines. Now, however, Ferrari is turning its attention to a new generation of designers.

The brand invited future speculation about supercar design from fifty design schools with its World Design Contest. After an intense process of elimination, eight chosen schools went on to work on a series of detail design models, both in physical form and in 3D, using Alias software from competition partner Autodesk. The final seven were Turin's IED and IAAD, London's RCA, the European Design Institute Barcelona, Hongik University in Seoul, ISD France, Detroit's College For Creative Studies and China's Jiangnan University School of Design.

The brief was explicit: create the Ferrari of the future, 'a pure hypercar that uses the technologies and materials of the latest generation.' Unsurprisingly, the designs that resulted drew heavily on weight-saving materials, sci-fi forms and hugely powerful but still hypothetical powertrains, including hybrid systems and turbines.

The winning team hailed from Hongkik. Kim Cheong Ju, Ahn Dre and Lee Sahngseok's 'Eternità' concept (pictured above) speculated on a mix of electric mobility, flywheel energy storage and a hydrogen-powered generator, wrapped up in a Barchetta-styled two-seater bodywork. Second prize went to Samir Sadikhov's 'Xezri' concept. Sadikhov, an Azerbaijani studying at IED Turin, a car designed to cut through the wind while also using inbuilt wind turbines to power onboard systems. The third jury prize was given to the RCA-designed 'Cavallo Bianco', created by Henry Cloke and Qi Haitao. Described as a 'winter hypercar for a frozen riviera; designed for racing over an ice lake and arriving in a luxury ski resort,' it was a design for a very different world, albeit one where the allure and appeal of the prancing horse still reigned supreme.

Ferrari sketches — Sketches of ’Eternità’ by Kim Cheong Ju, Ahn Dre and Lee Sahngseok from the Hongik University, Seoul

Silver Ferrari design — Third Prize:
’Cavallo Bianco’ by Henry Cloke and Qi Haitao, from the Royal College of Art, UK

Ferrari design — ’P27’ by Lee Han, Byung-Yoon Min and Soo-Yeon Kim, from Hongik University, Seoul

Ferrari designs — ’382 Monaco’ by Leandro Alberto Martín, from IAAD Turin, Italy

Red Ferrari sketches — ’Ferrari 428 Spyder Corsa’ by Alexander McGowen, from the College for Creative Studies, Detroit, USA

Red Ferrari designs — ’Ferrari Achilleo’ by Jose Casas, from the College for Creative Studies, Detroit, USA

Red Ferrari design — ’F80’ by Jae Han Song, from the College for Creative Studies, Detroit, USA

Yellow Ferrari design — ’Ferrari F304’ by Manuel Varilla Gutiérrez and Gerard Lorente Romàn, from IED Barcelona, Spain

Yellow ferrari — ’Ferrari Trofeo’ by Alejandro Esteban Bustos, Guido Dodero and Marcel Moritz, from IED Barcelona, Spain

Rd Ferrari — ’Ferrari Flusso’ by Marc Devauze, Vianney Brecheisen and Alexandre Labruyère, from ISD France

Ferrari GTE design — ’Ferrari GTE’ by Lena Knab, Paul Nichols and Adam Setter, from the Royal College of Art, UK

Ferrari engine design — Jiangnan University School of Design, China

Ferrari components design — ’The Drake’ by Pan Dai, Zhou Yimin and Wu Jia, from Jiangnan University School of Design, China

Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.