The Future Is Unibody — April 13rd, 2010
Design, Industrial Design, Minimalism
More functionality means adding more complexity. Paradoxically, good design is masking complexity with tons of simplicity. Objects look more and more simple, with less and less visible components, and with more and more integration between the parts. This is unibodyism!
Mercedes-Benz SLS and Apple's iPad. An Illustrative Showcase
By observing the top classic super cars designed by the first quarter of the last century, one notices how much car design has evolved since then. The difference in car body design is notorious, but far beyond the aesthetics, this refinement relies on a maturation in engineering and industrial design. Let's consider a couple of case studies.
Back in 1935 the Mercedes-Benz 540K was a magnificent piece in the automotive scene. More than a 100 horse power and a top speed of 170 kilometers per hour are not bad numbers in those days.
Back to the present, the brand new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is going to be mass produced. This luxury super car boasts more than 500 horse power and a cool 315 km/h of top speed.
Despite the time, the outline of both models configures a similar chassis standard. Both cars have a long bonnet, the passenger compartment is close to the rear axle and the rear of the car is short. However, both cars look completely different.
A prominent and rounded wheel arches, a long nose with naked pipes mounted on, and voluminous headlights and bumpers made the 540K's shape met design canons of its time.
Differently, the SLS is a clear proof of today's canons: maximum integration of all parts. Wheel arches, exhaust pipes, headlights and bumpers are all part of the whole structure. All the components exist but not as appendix elements such in the case of the classics.
Certainly, this know-how is being applied widely, not only in the realm of automobiles. Consumer electronics and computer hardware industries are also good examples of unibodyism. Indeed, Apple adopted this concept when they introduced the design of the last MacBook Pro revision.
What Apple is really doing with the MacBook is applying the construction process derived from the monocoque technique. The fundamentals of this method aim to create objects whose external skin supports structural loads. The thing is that by applying this approach, the object's exterior consequently becomes into a compact enclosure with zero attachments. And doing a parallelism with the Mercedes-Benz SLS parts, the MacBook elements such as the built-in camera, the keyboard, the ports, the magnetic latch, and the sleep indicator light are all part of the chassis itself.
"Traditionally notebooks are made from multiple parts, adding size, weight, complexity and increasing the opportunity for failure"
But talking about compact designs undoubtedly means to mention the gadget that some visionaries—or romantics—see as the one which will change the world: the iPad. And by extension, the coming army of new generation tablets.
Tablets are making real the utopia of integrity. The mouse, and the keyboard metamorphose into logical components that will reside within the solid tablet. Clamshell form factor disappears and the screen is accommodated over the clean framework.
What tablets mean not only has to do with philosophy of beauty, but also with what the unibodyism attitude means in terms of efficiency.
"The $100 laptop never actually hit $100, but we can get the price down, and the tablet is the way to do that. It requires no moving parts, not even a hinge. The housing can be made of a single piece of plastic. The XO today has 900 pieces (...)"
The Benefits of Compact Designs
- Reduce costs.
- Structural strength.
- Minimize breaks.
- Optimize weight.
- Unibodyism is minimalism, and minimalism rocks.
Be a Unibodyism Evangelist!
Retweet this post if you liked :)
Subscribe to RSS to stay tuned ;)