Boulder, CO
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If there is any silver lining to the effects of the pandemic, it is that many people have found the time and the opportunity to tap into brilliance and ingenuity that otherwise might have gone overlooked. In the case of Andrea Ponti, it offered him what he craves most, a problem to be solved.
Island is a double-decker driverless tram designed for the city of Hong Kong in the post-Covid era. The highly innovative design concept incorporates industrial design, transportation design, public design, urban mobility, and sustainability. It aims to assist the many different clienteles to stay safe and help them get to work and get home without compromising their health.
It is no secret that the pandemic hit everyone hard. The economy stumbled in every industry as companies shut their doors and sent their employees home for Covid-19 quarantines. Even as the world began to open back up and people went back to work, the economy still faces a myriad of problems that need to be solved by people with ingenuity.
If there is any silver lining to the effects of the pandemic, it is that many people have found the time and the opportunity to tap into brilliance and ingenuity that otherwise might have gone overlooked. In the case of Andrea Ponti, it offered him what he craves most, a problem to be solved.
The city of Hong Kong relies heavily on the public transit industry. With a myriad of systems including taxis, mass transit railways, buses, minibusses, and tramways. Travelers can pay their fares in cash or by buying the Octopus Card and reloading it with credits. All of these methods of transportation service many different clientele, but all of them carry with them the same problem. Social distancing.
Andrea Ponti
Ponti was born in Cagliari, a municipality in Sardinia, Italy, in 1985. He is the founder and the head of Ponti Design Studio, based in Hong Kong. He has worked in Milan, Fukuoka, Osaka, and Kyoto and received numerous international awards including the iF Design Award, Red Dot Design Award, and Good Design Award.
In 2012, he won the LG Mobile Design Competition with the LG Touch. His notable projects include everything from speakers for Philips in 2015 to the polycarbonate suitcase collection for Samsonite. In 2017, he won the Good Design Award and the iF Design Award for the Matrix Powerwatch, a smartwatch powered by body heat.
Island is a double-decker driverless tram designed for the city of Hong Kong in the post-Covid era. The highly innovative design concept incorporates industrial design, transportation design, public design, urban mobility, and sustainability. The project includes exterior, interior, and tram stop design. It aims to assist the many different clienteles to stay safe and help them get to work and get home without compromising their health.
With the Coronavirus pandemic, people are shunning public transport and relying much more on private transport. Ponti Design Studio wanted to reimagine public transport in the post-Covid era from a prevention perspective. Especially in the densely populated city of Hong Kong, where social distancing is hard to achieve. With more people abandoning mass transit and opting for singular, socially distant travel, the traffic became more of a problem than it ever had been.
The idea of designing a tram is no coincidence: trams are one of the city’s landmarks and the tramways celebrate over 100 years of operation. The concept of social distancing, which limits people’s freedom to move and interact became the design challenge and focal point for the new concept, allowing for people to return to mass transit and retain the ability to be socially distant.
The name Island references the innovative design of the interiors, where large circular benches facilitate social distancing and passengers sit facing outwards in a radial pattern. The ability to sit outwardly, facing away from other passengers keeps the transmission of germs at a minimum.
The exterior design is inspired by the Hong Kong urban landscape, which features vast surfaces of glass and rounded-corner buildings. Natural light floods the interiors during the day through the curved windows and a domed top, which also provide awe-inspiring views at night. The driverless technology optimizes the interior space of the tram, making it easier to manage travel times and increase onboard safety. The tram has a retractable connector for rapid charging at tram stops. Large vertical LEDs enhance visibility in all weather conditions.
The interior design contrasts with the exterior. Minimalist design, charcoal black walls, soft circular seating, wooden floors, and trims with natural finish all create a neutral and friendly environment. This chromatic diversity, in addition to the dark color palette, frames and accentuates the beauty of the Hong Kong urban landscape. The simple tram stop structure has sleek, essential lines. Being open on both sides, it facilitates a linear, orderly flow of people and a healthier environment.
The graphics guide passengers through the boarding and payment process, made by Octopus Card, before boarding. This streamlines the boarding procedure and optimizes the available space inside. Island explores a wide spectrum of design aspects, from the product to the urban landscape. It represents the forward-thinking spirit of Hong Kong and introduces a new concept of public transport that overcomes the practice of social distancing. We shouldn’t be dividing and separating but instead rethinking public spaces with a seamless, integrated and effective design approach.
As the world perseveres through the after-effects of a devastating pandemic, it searches for a return to normalcy. However, for men like Andrea Ponti, returning to normalcy would mean passing by an opportunity to make the world a better place, through innovation, creativity, and design.
