Audi 2010 Annual Report Download - page 71

continues to increase. Today around 14 million Indians own
a car. While two million cars were sold in 2010, this number
is expected to grow to more than three million in 2014.
“Because of these developments we are faced with a
completely new challenge where sustainable individual
mobility is concerned,” says Rupert Stadler, Chairman of
the Board of Management of AUDI AG, in explaining the
decision to present the Audi Urban Future Award. How we
will live in the next generation of megacities, how we can
design the living spaces despite the enormous population
density, what priority the private car will take on and how
traffi c routes and types of drive systems might change –
all of these subjects presented a challenge to those
participating in the competition. “The architects suc-
ceeded in explaining the relationships between mobile
and immobile stakeholders in the complex urban system,
while keeping the concepts rooted in reality,” said socio-
logist Saskia Sassen, chairwoman of the jury. Therefore,
London architecture fi rm AB Architects developed a con-
cept that could reduce traffi c density in heavily populated
megacities – by decentralizing the routes, with fl exible
and compact electric cars and through web-supported car
sharing systems.
Promoting dialog between the company and the archi-
tects was important to both Audi and Stylepark – the
curators of the competition. The architects were consis-
tently assisted and supported by the Audi Think Tank,
which comprises experts from various departments of the
company. During one visit to corporate headquarters the
Bjarke Ingels
BIG – Bjarke
Ingels Group
The native of Denmark, born
in 1974, studied architecture
at the Royal Academy in
Copenhagen and the Escuela
Técnica de Arquitectura in
Barcelona. Before he founded
the BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group
in 2005, Ingels worked for
the Dutch shooting star Rem
Koolhaas of the Offi ce for
Metropolitan Architecture
(OMA); today Ingels is a rising
star himself. He built the
Danish pavilion for Expo 2010
and designed the spectacular
REN People’s Building in
Shanghai. Bjarke Ingels has
already been honored with
one Golden Lion by the Venice
Architecture Biennale (2004)
and with the World Architecture
Festival Award (2008).
Volor sequamet utatie
consectem et non
hent vel iriur
Electric cars, bicycles and
public transport – for
Alison Brooks, the right
mix for the future.
Mobility
69
PHOTOS | SABINE REITMAIER; ALISON BROOKS ARCHITECTS; ULRIK JANTZEN; BIG – BJARKE INGELS GROUP