share on BufferThe sculpture “Aesthetics Progressive Luxury” is a sculptural homage to the streamlined racing car in which Rudolf Caracciola in 1938 set a globally valid world speed record on public roads: 432.7 km/h on the autobahn between Frankfurt am Main and Darmstadt over one kilometre with a flying start.
The designers were inspired by the clear design idiom on the one side and the purist aesthetic on the other.
In an internal competition, they had the task of designing a radically reduced vehicle that takes up the style of the 1930s while giving it a completely new and contemporary interpretation.
28 January 1938. Record-breaking runs on the autobahn between Frankfurt am Main and Darmstadt. Rudolf Caracciola with the record-breaking Mercedes-Benz W 125 twelve-cylinder racing car at Frankfurt am Main airport.
The stretched, extravagant streamlined corpus of the sculpture is pressed flat against the ground, the flared wheel arches giving a muscular impression in the body.
While the surface at the front end sensually models the corpus of the vehicle, it begins to slowly segment and separate towards the rear as if the resulting surface segments were captured by an imaginary air stream and carried away.
The thereby generated optical effect embodies dynamism and speed in a fascinating manner. The formal clarity of the sculpture with its purist main body reflects the seamless look of all EQ vehicles.
The “Aesthetics Progressive Luxury” sculpture is the latest in the Mercedes-Benz series of sculptures. The series comprises the sculptures “Aesthetics No. 1” (2010), “Aesthetics No. 2“, “Aesthetics 125” (both 2011), “Aesthetics S” (2012) and “Aesthetics A” (2017).
The sculpture was present during the recent workshop “Mercedes-Benz Design Essentials II“, a press event that aimed at demonstrating the overall design direction for the different Daimler brands.
(Source: Mercedes-Benz)
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