The rarefied world of car designers is a pretty select group, normally slaving away over sketch pads and clay models – inaccessible to the general public. We were fortunate enough to be invited by BMW Group Australia to meet Calvin Luk, the exterior designer of the X1, X3 and all-new Z4, and to have him explain the process and inspiration behind the third generation Z4.
But first he explained in brief how he got to be where his is.
Calvin was born in Hong Kong but grew up in Australia and studied at the University of Technology Sydney. He and some friends tried to see how many of them could get into the boot of the then new MINI at the Sydney Motor Show, which lead to a conversation with a senior BMW AG employee who offered to pass on Calvin’s requests for information on how to become a car designer – requests that he had to race home to type up and deliver back to the stand.
Those requests were duly answered and one suggestion, which Calvin followed up on, was to study at Art Center College of Design, securing an internship from BMW along the way.
All this got Calvin into the BMW design team.
He explained that the process of designing a new car starts with a design brief which contains all the basic information: the car size, wheelbase, proposed engines, target market etc. All fairly fluid at this point but enough to establish the parameters to work from. There is also the BMW handbook of design guidelines, family features, etc.
Various designers work up concept sketches which show the character and basic looks of the car, from which the board of directors will choose one to go forward for more detailed work.
From here on its gets serious as all sorts of other departments get involved – engineering, production, safety, aero dynamists etc., all with their own particular requirements which must be met as the final design takes place.
These days that work is done using virtual reality software and 3D design tools culminating in clay full size models to get the true picture of what it looks like in various lighting conditions. The clay model is also used to verify the aerodynamic performance in a wind tunnel.
Calvin amazed us by sketching out a picture of the Z4 freehand on an electronic drawing tablet explaining how the character of the vehicle is built in, starting with the headlamps.
He explained that in the same way the eyes are the key to our face, the headlamps are key to the car’s face. And in this case the double headlamp design is stacked on to top of each other rather than side to side to emphasis the low kidney grilles and air intakes, giving the car a more aggressive front down appearance. Just little things he did whilst drawing changed the appearance dramatically.
Calvin drew in the central air intakes, pointing out that it was blacked out at either end allowing the radar sensors to be hidden behind, keeping the front end view clean and purposeful. Around the rear wheel arches a few carefully placed creases and scallops ahead of them gave the appearance of a much wider stance than is actually the case. It was astonishing to see and hear that so much detail is included in this process, before the real detailed work gets underway. For instance, the angle and height of the grilles and the slope of the bonnet have to accommodate pedestrian impact requirements.
I jokingly asked if the virtual reality simulations included detailed the new (apparently aeroplane shaped – nice touch) elements in the kidney grille as they look very fiddly to clean. He laughed and said, no, they did not. But, they do include a virtual automatic car wash to make sure that car can be cleaned and that the wash roller does not get caught up the grille. They did recess the grille slightly to prevent the car wash rollers damaging the grille element surface. They also had to refine the grille to make it easier to produce.
Although he did not talk about it I do know that BMW use virtual reality software to virtually assemble the entire car before it gets signed off for production.
As the lead designer, Calvin gets to stay with the project right up to job one on the production line, so any glitches along the way are learnt ready for next time.
At just 34 Calvin is about the youngest lead designer for BMW and he is obviously very good at his job to have won the competition to design 3 cars already. As with anyone really on top of their game he made it look easy, but clearly there is a lot too it and a lot of knowledge and thinking required to make it all happen. It was real delight to have the chance to see and hear how Calvin works, and our thanks go to BMW Group Australia.
Lawrence Glynn | Member #3
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
