Visual Caffeine: Exploring Art and Architecture with Avi Abrams, Issue 3

Visual Caffeine: Exploring Art and Architecture with Avi Abrams, Issue 3

Avi Abrams

This is the third issue of our “visual caffeine concoctions” (read issues 1, 2) – somewhat unpredictable forays into the history of art and architecture, coupled with mythology, culture and obsolete technology. For those of you who want an even larger dose of visual caffeine, head over to Dark Roasted Blend, and get addicted to their endless stream of thrilling visual information.

Today we are going to look at some amazing car dashboards – if, like me, you enjoy being surrounded by beautiful design wherever possible, then car dashboards (considering how much time we spend in our cars) certainly need to be comfortable and nice to look at. However, some dashboards transcend being simply “visually pleasant” and enter the rarified category of “objects of desire” usually reserved only for masterpieces of modern art.

New State-of-the-Art Dashboard Concepts

Original “dashboards” were simply wooden barriers to protect the horse carriage driver from splashes (or “dashes”) of dirt thrown up by the horse’s hooves. Much has changed since…

Modern dashboards are significantly more than just arrangements of knobs and dials around a steering wheel. At their best, new concept dashboards feel more like clouds of futuristic worlds, enveloping the driver and lifting him into a stratosphere of high style and impeccable taste.

Granted, some of the recent concept dashboards are so wildly bizarre that it’s hard to imagine yourself “easing into” such an environment, much less simply concentrating on driving. Other dashboards seem to be designed only to “buck the trend” and come up with something radical and shocking that rival companies have not tried yet. (Fresh concepts are expected to appear every year at different auto shows, making automotive design a highly dynamic and competitive field). And yet, there are plenty of fantastic dashboards to be found in modern concept cars to inspire and excite the most demanding of drivers.

Renault DeSir’s concept car’s interior is all about flowing shapes and typical French visual harmony:

(image via)

The 2007 Mazda Taiki has a beautiful, Art Nouveau inspired dashboard, with pulsating red “veins” of light flowing around a steering wheel like some sort of decadent liquor (is it possible to get intoxicated by just looking at this gorgeous design?):

(image via)

Another Mazda concept, the 2007 Mazda Ryuga has some sort of futuristic space fighter interior (featuring what is probably the best-looking instrument cluster ever designed for a dashboard) – a much appreciated “breath of fresh air” when it comes to stale mass-produced dashboard layouts:

(image via)

There are a few too many intersecting planes and angles here for our liking, but the Toyota FT-HS makes up for the resulting visual complexity with an austere, yet highly ergonomic, driver’s seat:

(image via)

The Citroen C-Cactus features some incredible, flowery cut-outs (even on the bottom of the steering wheel column), and can probably compete with the VW hippie van for “flower power” appeal:

(image via)

The Citroen Revolte concept car sports a futuristic dashboard, which is only slightly marred by the awkward rectangle of the computer display:

Here is a very clean looking 2001 Volvo ACC dashboard with a pretty good integration of a rectangular iPad-sized screen in this case:

(image via)

A very inviting 2009 Cadillac ELR interior: appropriately edgy and high-tech, and yet luxurious enough… Prestigious design, done right:

Looking back at the Toyota FXS from 2001, we are impressed with a distinct Art Deco feel to the whole layout, enhanced by mysterious blue tones:

(image via)

Speaking of Art Deco themes, I find this nautically-themed 2008 Buick Riviera’s interior inviting (if a little crude on the overall finish and detailing, which is to be expected from a preliminary concept model):

(image via)

This great Japanese pod, 2007 Nissan Roundbox, is like an impossibly hip living room, art studio and maybe even “cloud-based” workplace all rolled into one:

(image via)

Well, time to show a few dashboard oddities: here is the Russian 2003 Russo-Baltique Impression supercar, boasting acres of wood (we hope that it is not plastic):

(image via)

Spyker cars have always been different from the mainstream, a rare thing unto itself (though, as some point out, not necessarily a thing-of-beauty), and this 2001 Spyker C8 Laviolette is no exception, with its incredible orange theme and sophisticated-looking stainless steel pedal assembly:

(image via)

All curves and bulbous surfaces, like a spaceship escape pod, 2009 Nissan Qazana is “so bizarre it almost looks French” (this quote comes from a car magazine obviously not very content with most of the American cookie-cutter dashboards, so I consider it a compliment to the French):

(image via)

Minimalism in dashboard design can be a wonderful thing. Here is a very classy dashboard of the Morgan Life Car (read our article why Morgan cars are so different):

(image via)

Less is certainly more inside 2001 Hispano-Suiza K8:

(image via)

Descending from the lofty heights of concept car designs we enter the production supercar territory. There are many classic dashboard beauties to mention (enough for its own article), but here are a couple of Lamborghini Diablo interiors, just so that we could peek inside and marvel…. at all this carbon fibre in Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0:

(image via)

…and the mystique of the deep blue velvet Lamborghini Diablo SE30 interior; truly an iron fist in a velvet glove:

(image via)

Dashboards of the Fifties: A Smorgasbord of Touchable Delights

These sculptures of leather and chrome could easily be displayed in future art galleries and fondled, touched, and caressed by our descendants in puzzled appreciation (by this time in the future, all dashboards will probably be replaced by a floating holographic voice-driven interface, so the metal knobs and soft padding of 1950s dashboards would seem quaint enough). Here is one of the best (and wildly strange) dashboards of the period, a red 1956 Buick Centurion wonder:

(image via)

More tame and very classy 1950s Chrysler Imperial dashboards:

(image via)

Dashboard, surrounded by romance – this 1958 Ford layout certainly witnessed many stolen kisses in its time:

(image via)

Signature Hydramatic buttons, from a 1954 Oldsmobile model:

(image via)

Dashboards do not get weirder than this…

This 1970s Lancia concept features some sort of iPad screen… and bizarre steering wheel shape:

Even weirder: why not place all instruments inside the steering wheel? This fantastic idea was used once in the Maserati Boomerang:

And we finish with a couple of examples of unbelievably tacky car interior bling – sure to hurt the eye (on the left is an American custom job, on the right is a Japanese delivery van interior):

(right image via)