FIRST PLACE in the PPG Design Challenge Awards for 2000 was won by Herain Patel, senior transportation design student at the Center for Creative Studies - College of Art and Design. Patel, from Kennesaw, Ga., received a $1,500 scholarship from PPG Industries in the competition to design a crossover premium vehicle for 2008 with differentiating window systems that provide added utility.

    Tomorrow's automotive designers see glass as the medium that will transform the size, shape and interior environment of vehicles for added functionality and distinctive aesthetics.
    In a competition sponsored by Pittsburgh-based glassmaker PPG Industries, glass systems designs for crossover vehicles, by students of Detroit's Center for Creative Studies -- College of Art and Design (CCS), could soon become reality.

    PPG's Ernest Hahn, vice president, automotive glass, presented the first PPG Design Challenge Awards, for 2000, to these CCS transportation design seniors:

    First place: Herain Patel, 21, Kennesaw, Ga.

    Second place: Addam Ebel, 28, South Bend, Ind.

    Third place: Thamer Hannona, 21, Warren, Mich.

    Hahn presented the awards -- made of PPG's ultraclear Starphire glass -- during ceremonies at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which opens to the public on Saturday. The students received scholarships of $1,500 for first place, $1,000 for second place and $500 for third place.

    Noting that PPG plans to hold its Design Challenge Award competition annually, Hahn said that one of the goals in establishing the competition was "to identify new design trends and product ideas" for development "and made a reality."

    "We have indeed accomplished our most important goal of uncovering some innovative concepts," he said, adding that PPG will review all entries to determine the viability of every concept for pursuit with its automotive customers.

    "The glass on automobiles is one of the key areas on a car to give a car its visual personality," said Carl Olsen, CCS chair of transportation design. "There are serious constraints when working with glass, and the students were made aware of these constraints and designed to accommodate them. The experience taught them that constraints can be liberating and a catalyst for creativity. They will benefit from this in all the work they will do during their design careers."

    Patel's first-place design is for a vehicle that is a cross between a car and pickup truck. It has an electrochromic glass canopy comprised of slats that open, close or stack for control of air and sunlight. Side door glass is a single piece, shaped like an upside-down L, from foot well to roof and front to back, with an operable glass inset window. A small glass panel within the doors can be rolled down and up. Glass panels slide from the roof and sides to enclose the truck bed.

    Ebel's second-place design is for a sporty two-seater that can become a truck-like sport-utility vehicle (SUV), with room for five people, by raising the back of the electrochromic glass roof to provide headroom for back-seat passengers.

    Hannona's third-place design is for an SUV crossover that can look like a convertible by retracting its three-piece tinted-glass roof. Glass panels in the side doors provide more interior light. The trunk is narrower than the passenger compartment, creating a step in the sides of the daylight opening. Glass panels over the trunk and on the sides and back slide up or fold down for easy access to storage.

    Judges for the PPG competition, all CCS alumni, were Doug Gaffka, chief designer, car group, Ford; Mark Allen, senior designer, DaimlerChrysler, and John Mack, vehicle chief designer, General Motors. Entries were judged on appropriateness of the design, creativity, and professionalism of their presentations before the judges.

    According to Gaffka, competitions such as PPG's "are a good way for us in the auto industry to gauge the talent and ability of designers coming out of the design schools." He said that the winners "showed a lot of imagination, creativity and design skills."
    The students' challenge was to design a premium crossover vehicle for 2008 with differentiating window systems that provide added utility.

    Thirteen transportation design seniors submitted concepts. To prepare them for the contest, PPG glass and coatings experts provided the students with information about glass manufacturing and design, color trends, and relationships between automotive paint and glass. They also heard from Walter McManus, executive director of global forecasting, J.D. Power and Associates, about future consumer trends.

    The concepts were based on J.D. Power's market forecast that customization in the automotive industry will increase, with the lines between types of vehicles blurring as new vehicle designs proliferate.

    PPG is North America's largest manufacturer of automotive glass for original-equipment and replacement applications. The company has been an official sponsor of the North American International Auto Show for seven years.

    Detroit's Center for Creative Studies -- College of Art and Design is one of the nation's leading arts education institutions. Many alumni pursue careers in auto design.

Source: PPG Press Release