Fluid Body Dynamic

The sari is one of the most extraordinary objects in the world. Six yards of unstitched cloth that drapes, flows, and holds, simultaneously rigid in its structure and fluid in its movement. It is both soft and architectural.

The design question that drove this project: what happens when that duality is translated into automotive form? How does a vehicle exude the industrial sensation of metal and the soft sensation of draped cloth at the same time, in the same body?

Aston Martin’s design language, with its tension between elegance and aggression, made it the natural reference point for this study. The brief was self-set: explore material design and material dynamics as the primary drivers of form, not the other way around.

The entire concept was built from the material outward. The exoskeleton and shell of the vehicle are constructed from a nano composite of aluminium-oxide polymer and graphene, a combination chosen for specific reasons. Graphene is an excellent conductor of electricity, making it relevant to an EV powertrain. It is also strong, flexible, and can be made translucent. The aluminium-oxide polymer adds structural rigidity while maintaining lightness. Together they create a material that can be rigid where the design demands it and fluid where the form calls for softness, a direct material translation of the sari’s duality.

The surface language follows. Transitions between panels are not hard seams but gradients, echoing how fabric falls and folds. The body reads as draped rather than stamped.

The wheel design is equally unconventional. The proportions are deliberately large relative to the body, but the wheels themselves are not conventional. The outer rim and tyre are segmented into distinct parts that, combined with the spokes, form their own integrated suspension system. There is no air fill. The segmentation distributes load across the structure itself, reducing weight and increasing efficiency, while giving the wheel a sculptural quality that reads as both mechanical and organic.

The result is a vehicle that holds both sensations simultaneously. Stand close and it reads as precision engineering. Step back and it drapes.