Auto Design

by Enrico Leonardo Fagone.

“The automobile today is an individual means of transport within a complex system of collective transport. The relations within such a system can­not be ignored. The individual means of transport has to submit to the constraints imposed by the system. This implies a form of transport that fulfils certain fun­ctions: hence a functional vehicle. The designers of car bodies are clearly faced with new structures, new tasks: scienti­fic and technological evolution is a stimu­lus but at the same time a warning not to remain anchored to the positions of the past and present.” (Pio Manzù)

More than 40 years ago a young Italian designer, Pio Manzù, outlined the needs and guidelines for an harmonius development of individual mobility with a system of private and public transport. Four decades later his vision has not been implemented yet. It was not his fault. Arch. Enrico Leonardo Fagone, has presented his lecture on Pio Manzù and has agreed to share it with us. I am sure you will not miss a single line of his presentation. Giancarlo Perini.

PIO MANZU’ PIONEER OF CAR AND TRANSPORTATION DESIGN.

In the world of design, and car design in particular, many still remember the contribution of Pio Manzù, a young designer with an international trai­ning who died in a car accident in May 1969.

The son of the famous sculptor Giacomo Manzù,  Pio Manzoni (Manzù) was born in 1939 in Bergamo and after high school in Italy, he joined the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm.

The school, founded by Max Bill, gave a new relevance to the teachings and methods of the Bauhaus. Before graduation, together with classmates Michael Conrad and Henner Werner, the young Manzù won a prestigious international competition held by the Année Automobile. The prize consisted in the execution of their own design (based on the bones of the Austin Healey 3000 mechanicals) to be built by Pininfarina in 1962. The prototyped was first exhibited that year at the London Motor Show.

Pio Manzù is famous not only for having designed one of the most successful models ever in the history of the Italian auto industry (The Fiat 127) but also for his works on a number of prototypes and research vehicles which were highly innovative, both formally and technically.

Examples are the NSU – Autonova GT and Fam, the Autobianchi Coupé (with the body made wholly of synthetic materials) and the City-Taxi built for Fiat in 1968.

Pio Manzù always sought to back up his design work with critical reflection. He contributed to the magazine “Style Auto” and his creative commitment was never separated from broader consideration of the issues of mobility and the function of design. Despite the importance of his role and contribution in car design world, his projects and realization are for the most unpublished.

Studying in Ulm.

The Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm, an international centre for teaching, developing and carrying out research on industrial production and communications, according to the official definition, is historically consi­dered, together with the Bauhaus, one of the main institutions for studying design disciplines. Enrolled at the School in Ulm in 1960, Pio Manzù was the first Italian student to graduate from the department “Produktgestaltung” (industrial design) as well as a major player within the debate that was animating the well-known German school. That is on both the teaching themes and programmes, and the prominent part taken by the institution in the world of design.

Commenting on the training programmes of the School, Pio Manzù used to emphasize that the “Abteilung Produktgestaltung”, to which he belonged, was aimed at training “Gestalter”, namely creative people who were meant to design daily products, objects and faci­lities for public services, traffic and applied sciences, while meeting technical/manufacturing and technical/administrative requirements. “Design – said Pio Manzù – concerns systems of products rather than isolated, independent products “.

He graduated in 1965, with a “Design for an 80 hp trac­tor” project, accompanied by an exhaustive study of technical and ergonomic problems. The project was the result of reflection on how farm machines worked and were used, and on the building technologies that were usually implemented. He proved to be one of the most active students at the school.

However, the course on car design, which Rodolfo Bonetto held at the HFG between 1962 and 1965, is considered one of the main contributions of the school in Ulm for Pio Manzù’s training. The work by Pio Manzù – as well as that of other young students at the HFG – was positively influen­ced by the events taking place in Ulm over his years’ training, while significantly helping develop Italian design, which was connected with an active professional approach based on rigorous technical and executive training as justifying designers’ crea­tive contributions and role.

The car as a social dimension and performance of use: projects and prototypes

One of the most interesting aspects of Pio Manzù work is his constant testing of the compati­bility of the dimensions of the automobile, even more than its form and technology with the urban context and its environs. This can be seen in his numerous studies for a compact city cars (Stadtwagen), in a series of projects for “minimal” three and four wheel vehicles designed for Piaggio as well as the prototypes of parking meters made for a program in which the automobile and other means of transport were conceived as part of a complex system of mobility and infra­structures.

The projects conceived by Pio Manzù therefore extended the possibility of intervention to the scale of public transport (reflected in the buses he designed on Magirus- Deutz mechanicals in 1967 as well as a number of studies for locomotives). He explored the spatial and architectural extension of the city and the various objects that compose it, in an unceasing effort to redress the balance bet­ween its ergonomic and formal qualities.

The working method learned in Ulm enabled Pio Manzù to identify important links between the design of the object and the gra­phic system and form of communication correlated with the automotive world. This appears in his pro­jects not only in his lucid drawings, in which the handling is given the task of developing surfaces and details of photo­graphic precision. It also appears in the way he clarified the formal and functional features of the instrumentation or han­dles and in the representations of the technical features, organized descriptively in the materials that accompanied the launch of new prototypes and models, prepared for display to the public at pre­sentations and at major motor shows.

His training in Ulm probably fostered the interest and sensibility he always displa­yed in these aspects of design. Working on the surfaces of the automobile, on its lines and the forms of individual details, meant not just dealing with forms but also working on strictly technical and constructional problems. He checked every hypothesis in terms of its industrial feasibility and the processes involved in manufacturing the product, the problem defining or redefining the identity of a brand, the transfer and revival of the values that expressed its image and the structure of its products. Pio Manzù continuously applies the experiences developed in the depart­ment of visual communications (Abteilung Visuelle Kommunikation) in the HFG.

From individual mobility to transportation design

The interest and sensitivity Pio Manzù had always been shown to have in these aspects of design may also have derived from his studies in Ulm. However, changing the appearance of a car, its shape and the design of its individual parts meant to Pio Manzù working at a formal level as well as at a strictly technical one. Every single solu­tion was tested both for its industrial feasibility and in relation to the manufacturing processes required for the object, compared to the problem of defining or redefining the identity of a brand, transferring and changing any values having an impact on the image and the appearance of its products. Pio Manzù always backed up his work as a designer with critical reflection, and in this respect, his achievement is an essential point of reference.

In one of his last writings, he emphasized: “The automobile today is an individual means of transport within a complex system of collective transport. The relations within such a system can­not be ignored. The individual means of transport has to submit to the constraints imposed by the system. This implies a form of transport that fulfils certain fun­ctions: hence a functional vehicle. The designers of car bodies are clearly faced with new structures, new tasks: scienti­fic and technological evolution is a stimu­lus but at the same time a warning not to remain anchored to the positions of the past and present.”. This was perhaps an encouragement to enter the far from easy profession of the car designer, and at the same time an observation which today has the value of a prophecy fulfil­led.

Pio Manzù anticipated the main lines of development in the automobile indu­stry over the following decades. He stressed the need to allow recreational and sporting uses of the automobile, which exalt sophistication and technologi­cal efficiency, to coexist with a more widespread and rational flexibility in its use. This point is still relevant today, as appears in the need to expand the system of mobility while combining it with environmental safeguards.

The Austin Healey 3000 prototype

While still a student, Pio Manzù had a chance to express his design interests in the International Competition organized by the magazine “Année Automobile” of Lausanne, marking its tenth anniversary in 1963. With two school-mates, Manzù won it with a prototype on Austin Healey 3000 mechanicals, built by the Carrozzeria Pininfarina and exhibited the same year at the Turin and London Motor Shows.

In an article published in 1964 (Style Auto” n. 3), commenting on the principles that guided the design of Austin Healey 3000 (winner of the prestigious international competition launched by the editors of L’Année Automobile)  Manzù wrote: “We’re at a crossroads. Either we go on with largely stylistic studies and so slide into pure fashion (in which the Americans are far ahead of us), or else we take a new path, as suggested by traffic conditions and needs in Europe.” This famous warning, a response to the redesign and styling operations which were a rampant feature of international car production in the mid-sixties, especially in America, partly explains his approach to design. He wanted to develop original types of vehicles and at the same time to endow them with functions and performance that would respond more closely to their real conditions of use.

The adoption of new materials in the manufacture of individual components of the body, research into systems for covering the underbody and large apertures to allow the doors and hood to open wide all testify to his continuous research, combining in equal measure technical features, formal values and specifications of use.

The Autonova project

These two prototypes, Autonova GT (1964) and Autonova Fam (1965), represented two different types of automobiles, but they revealed a unified conception of the car as a product, including its forms. Both were relevant to contemporary needs: “cars for the present, not the past, designed for society and traffic today,” wrote Manzù and Conrad in the detailed manuals presenting them to the press. Together they interpreted the needs of users who wanted practical, functional cars, capable of coping with the changed conditions of urban and extra-urban traffic. At the same time, they appealed to people who appreciated a class of automobiles like the small sports car, normally regarded as elitist and unaffordable.

Autonova was the name chosen by Pio Manzù, Fritz B. Busch and Michael Conrad for their new design team. They had a detailed plan to supply the automobile industry with a complete design service, covering the research and development of new products from the initial scope of the projects down to production of working prototypes. Autonova began work in 1964 by collaborating with a group of German manufacturers. They included NSU-Werke, who financed the Autonova GT project, the Veith-Pirelli company, backers of the Autonova Fam project, Glas (for the production of the car’s mechanicals and its assembly), Recaro (for the seats), VDO (for the instruments on board) and BASF (which supplied the plastics). Within a year, the Carrozzeria Sibona & Basano in Turin had built two prototypes with distinctive features reflecting two quite different types of motor vehicle.

The Autonova GT

The Autonova GT, exhibited for the first time in public at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1964, was a compact Gran Turismo (3750 mm long, 1550 mm wide and 1200 mm high). It was built on the platform and mechanicals of the standard NSU Prinz 1000 TT, with a rear-mounted 1085 cc engine producing 55 HP. The spare lines of the profile of the body converged at the front in an original appendage to the nose, which served the twofold function of a bumper and a fascia uniting the surfaces of the low, elongated engine hood. However, perhaps the most original feature of the car was the aerodynamic design of the flanks, enhanced by a truncated integral rear end with a window that could be opened (unusual in a fastback body type). Also distinctive was the arrangement of the headlights.

Their protruding outlines were dictated not only by functional constructional criteria but also by practical considerations, because they helped give the driver a sense of the car’s volumes.

The interior was notable for the austere design of the bucket seats, the central tunnel housing the gearshift and other principal switches and levers, and the door panels equipped with tubular armrests of an original design. In this car Pio Manzù and Michael Conrad sought to rethink critically the

stylistic currents of the day, which Manzù regarded as stuck with a sort of “formal catechism” and incapable of moving beyond their established schemes.

The Autonova Fam

The Autonova Fam contributed new ideas and offered a possible solution to the increasingly urgent problems of traffic. It was designed as a universal automobile, meeting the very different needs involved in transporting people and things, intended mainly for urban traffic but also practical in extra-urban driving.

Reflecting the guidelines of the Autonova project, the Fam (a contraction of familiare, i.e. a station wagon) was intended to be versatile, “logical in every detail”, as Pio Manzù and Michael Conrad were careful to note, a car for the community. It was compact outside (3.5 meters long and 1.6 wide) but offered plenty of room inside. This was achieved by making the most of the height, 1600 mm. The engine hood and trunk were absorbed into a single volume with a trapezoidal form.

The cabin was lined with large windows and accommodated up to five passengers.

It could be adapted to take different kinds of loads since all the seats were independent and the backs folded over. The raised driving position and height off the ground were considered significant factors making for comfort and safety on board.

The technical features of the Autonova Fam anticipated certain ideas that have only recently been adopted on a large scale by the automobile industry. They included automatic electro hydraulic transmission, height adjustable suspension and progressive action steering.

Of the Autonova’s numerous functional and technical-constructional features, the most striking were its rigorous formal synthesis, the simple, “modern” design of its different parts, from the lines that unite or segment the different sections of the body down to individual details like handles and switches and the most minute seams and welds.

Both the Autonova prototypes are still surprising for their originality and coherence, even after this lapse of time. Pio Manzù and Michael Conrad’s project can still be seen as an exemplary contribution to the evolution of the automobile and car design, not only because of the results they achieved but also in terms of method and the development of radically innovative contents.

Pio Manzù and Fiat

While the research that went into the Autonova enabled Manzù to explore new methods of design and work out a different conception of the automobile as a product, his collaboration with Fiat meant he had to cope with the various kinds of logic governing product development in a major car manufacturer.

Manzù defined the design and overall volumes of the 127. The general approach to the project, with a front-mounted engine and front wheel drive, ensured the car would have plenty of space for transport and baggage (five passengers and a trunk with a capacity of 350 litres), and set it new standards of roominess inside.

The studies that brought Pio Manzù to conceive the innovative 127 project were preceded by a phase of research in which he theorized a different layout for the mechanicals. His idea was to provide the cabin with more user space while redesigning the body, passing from the traditional three volumes to the more advanced fastback and two-volume configuration.

The 127 proved to be one of the biggest successes in Fiat’s history, a landmark of the Italian auto industry and a significant influence on production worldwide.

From City Taxi to Autobianchi Coupé

The City Taxi project start from an analysis of the conditions of urban traffic and the practical qualities of a public vehicle, he identified a set of basic requirements. It would have to be as compact as possible (but with a favourable ratio between overall volume and cabin space), offer good visibility, and at the same time be accessible, manageable, safe and easily recognized. The prototype built in 1968 was presented to the public at the Turin Motor Show. Produced by Fiat’s Centro Stile, on the platform and mechanicals of the mass produced 850 Special Idroconvert (equipped with semi-automatic gearbox and torque converter), it had a body with reduced overhang and asymmetrical sides. Its dimensions were: overall length 3250 mm, width 1450 mm, height 1600 mm. It had a large sliding door on the right giving access to the passenger seat and a normal sized door was provided for the driver.

It incorporated numerous innovative ideas: an extra tilt-up seat next to the driver; a system of straps to fix the luggage on the roof rack; a pocket for holding maps embedded in the roof; a padded deformable dashboard with built-in radio-telephone and taxi meter; a windshield wiper with a double arm structure and vertical blade; a forced ventilation system and adjustable steering column. The prototype built had original and conspicuous orange paintwork. The City Taxi remains one of the first cars specially designed to transport passengers and luggage in an urban context.

Manzù’s research into new appliances and technical solutions, which began with the City Taxi, was paralleled by his studies of sports cars. He developed two projects that both went as far as the construction of complete models but without the mechanicals.

The Autobianchi stand at the 1968 Turin Motor Show exhibited the study for a car with two-door coachwork and a centrally mounted engine. This was the Autobianchi Coupe with a polyester body, distinguished from the second study, called Autobianchi 111, by certain details in the design of the body, divided in both cases into four different sections: the first included the radiator, headlights and battery; the second the luggage compartment under the hood in front; the third contained the cabin; and the fourth section housed the engine, the principal mechanicals and the fuel tank.

The care shown in the choice of the materials used for the body was not the only outstanding feature of the two cars. Both the 111 and the Coupe re-launched the idea for a sports car that could be produced cheaply, with an attractively designed body and a rational yet forward-looking treatment the interior.

(Copyright – Enrico Leonardo Fagone)