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Audi TT Sculpture: The Making
Audi provides the inspiration for a giant automobile sculpture
Germany. Land of the car. Berlin gets mobile
* "The Automobile" sculpture unveiled in front of Brandenburg Gate
* How a 2.5:1 scale model of a series production car takes shape
Presiding in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is a gold and silver coloured object: 10.20 metres long, 3.25 metres high and 4.50 metres wide. On April 6, the square in front of the Gate – "Platz des 18. März" – became the arena for an unusual spectacle: the unveiling of a unique, oversized automobile sculpture built to a scale of 2.5:1 and inspired by Audi. A symbol for the innovative flair of German engineering and of Germany itself, the land of ideas. Audi is an official partner of the "Land of Ideas" initiative that has been launched to coincide with the Football World Cup. The giant sculpture "The Automobile" is the third of a total of six monuments which are due to be erected in the centre of Berlin and together make up the "Walk of Ideas", a sculpture park that forms one of the central elements of the "Germany - Land of Ideas" initiative. The unveiling was nothing less than spectacular, but the story behind it and the sculpture itself are no less sensational.
What sets the automobile sculpture apart from the other five? For one thing, the design for the extra-large "The Automobile" is the work of Audi's own design department. "The automobile is Germany's darling and most important export article," comments Claus Potthoff, Head of Exterior Design at Audi who oversaw the sculpture design process. The other distinguishing feature is the time reference. Whereas the other extra-large sculptures in the "Walk of Ideas" depict subjects taken from the past, the sculpture from Audi looks ahead to the future. "We quite deliberately chose a brand new model and portrayed our new styling line with the single-frame grille, without losing sight of cherished past values in the process," continues Potthoff. "An icon such as the original Audi TT must be treated with dignity but at the same time injected with new allure." The automobile sculpture captures the spirit of the "Walk of Ideas" by fusing uniquely innovative concepts from the past that have stood the test of time with groundbreaking new ideas for the future of the automotive industry.
The sculpture was actually modelled on the new Audi TT. Why this particular model? "For a sculpture on this scale, the Audi TT is simply the right car at the right time. Even without the logo, it is instantly recognisable. The TT is the car that children find it easiest to draw," replies Potthoff. "Its emblematic nature forms the ideal basis for a sculpture of this magnitude." The extraordinary dimensions posed the greatest challenge for the design team. In the case of series-production cars, three-dimensional 1: 4 scale models are normally made to obtain a feeling for the overall impression of the new Audi. "For this sculpture, the proportions were the other way around – we had to enlarge the series-production model by a factor of 2.5, without being able to know what the sculpture's overall effect would be," explains Potthoff. "Just the shoulder line is a whole two metres above the floor, meaning that a person of average height can't even quickly press their nose up against the window," he goes on to say. With the sculpture weighing in at just under ten tonnes, the wheels were truncated to spread the immense weight pressing down on them...
Full Article: WCF
