By Jennifer Kho

A General Motors design studio Thursday won the LA Auto Show’s Design Challenge with its concept of the Hummer 02, a Hummer with algae-filled panels to consume carbon and emit oxygen.

The two-dimensional concept, from the GM 5350 Advanced Design studio in Los Angeles, features panels that open up like a canopy and that function as the “leaves” of the Hummer O2, effectively cleaning the air through photosynthesis (See A Green Hummer?).  

Chuck Pelly, director of the challenge and a partner with the DesignAcademy, a design company that links academics and research, said the judges had a hard time choosing a winner, but were impressed by the interdisciplinary thought that was put into the Hummer O2.

“There were scientific things, even if they were experimental, that just showed the much broader structure that designers are working under now,” he said. “It’s a kind of breakthrough from just being stylists; they are dealing with materials and social change. Besides the technical features, it was a vehicle with all flat panels, and that absolutely has never happened, so it’s quite a breakthrough.”

Mr. Pelly said the stylist standpoint, the whole interest in being green has turned out to be “quite radical.”

The concept, along with its eight competitors, is not slated for production. In fact, most of these go beyond what current technology can do and would, in any event, be extremely expensive.

But the main goal of the contest is to expose the talent sequestered in these “secret” design studios, he said.

“It’s an outlet for them to express their creativity,” he said. “It also gives the public a peek at the future, and what’s more fun than that?”

Thilo Koslowski, a vice president and lead automotive analyst at Gartner, said attention to design—as well as a focus on the environment (see LA Takes On Detroit)—is distinguishing the LA Auto Show from its competitors, most notably the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

There are some 15 automotive manufacturers’ design centers in the greater Los Angeles area, making it one of the largest concentrations of vehicle design studios in the world, according to the show.

“It’s a very big market, and also a very hip market, and that has a specific and important impact on the design of vehicles,” Mr. Koslowski said. “By honing in on the design aspect, LA is making sure it’s viewed as a hub for design, and that’s something Detroit and others cannot compete with.”

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