Pulse, Embraer’s New Flying Car Concept

PULSE CONCEPT

EMBRAER‘S NEW FLYING CAR CONCEPT

| BY JARONE ASHKENAZI

Brazilian aerospace conglomerate Embraer is looking back in television history to look forward in terms of transportation. Famed series The Jetsons brought the personalized driving to flying concept to the masses, and now the strikingly bold Pulse Concept allows passengers to go from self-driving vehicles to aircraft.

To celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary, the company decided to look ahead to what autonomous driving and flight would look like in 50 years. As such, they designed a concept vehicle, more a transportation vessel, which allows passengers seamlessly to transition from land to air, all in the safety of its glass pod. The transparent pod is a concept based on designers’ thoughts of the future in glass technology and the potential breakthrough of seethrough alloy materials.

Stylish and elegant in design, the eVTOL aircraft and land vehicle evoke the ethos of flight in the 1950s with a stunning spaceage edge. So passengers never have to leave the protective environment of the pod, the futuristic pod on the ground is the cockpit for the unmanned self-driving car while allowing for vertical takeoff and landing aircraft from any location when wanting to fly. Providing a 360-degree view of the world around in the pod, it also is designed to feature displays for riders to be entertained, work, and communicate on whatever journey they are on.

The forward-thinking company which launched Embraer X, the first electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft concept in 2018, is looking ahead towards 2070 with this concept transportation system. Embraer’s Pulse is the first-ever aerospace concept car, and it takes inspiration from Harley Earl’s Buick Y-Job from 1938, the first-ever concept car. It will extend air travel beyond airports with bird-like capabilities for door-to-door service between destinations in its range. 

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Celebrating ART + NATURE

| BY TRACY BEARD

Nestled into Santa Monica Canyon, this residence seamlessly fits into its wooded locale while serving as a backdrop for a world-class art collection.

Organic architecture experts Kristopher Conner and James Perry of Conner + Perry Architects were commissioned by a deeply-rooted Los Angeles couple to design a home that seamlessly fits their family and lifestyle, while also showcasing a worldclass art collection and effortlessly blending into a beloved section of Santa Monica Canyon.

Taking cues from the property’s surrounding Oak and Eucalyptus trees, the firm designed a residence that allows for reflection, openness, and serenity. Key design features include windows that frame the magnificent trees, extended canopy-like, cantilevered eaves, and fully pocketing glass exterior walls that open to a central courtyard to offer the perfect balance of indoor-outdoor living. Every view in the house was designed to captivate with either nature or art. Initial plans by John Lautner protégé, architect Duncan Nicholson, set the stage for Kris and James, formerly with Nicholson’s office, to complete and enhance the project, despite his untimely passing.

Given their love for the neighborhood and its majestic trees, the clients sought to repurpose the felled Eucalyptus wood found on the property into outdoor furniture and key elements within the house, including the grand entry doors. In keeping, exterior materials for the new home were selected for their organic nature, ability to age in place, and compatibility with the climate, such as charred wood siding (Shou Sugi Ban), copper, exposed steel, and concrete. Interior materials were chosen to reflect the nature outside, including a mix of massangis grey limestone and french oak for the flooring, weathered brass, blackened steel elements, and a variety of marbles and tiles, including art tiles by Lubna Chowdhary.

For the clients, who both grew up in the neighborhood, the chance to collaborate on the design process and build a space for their impressive art collection was a dream. For Conner + Perry, the home represents exactly what the clients were seeking — a quintessential California indoor/outdoor experience where everything feels open and unified.

“Each of them has described the house as having a magical or mystical quality, allowing light in at the right moments, as well as the shadows of the trees, and a calming mirroring effect,” says principal, Kristopher Conner.

Architects: KRISTOPHER CONNER AND JAMES PERR Y, CONNER+ PERRY ARCHITECTS

Interior Designers: OLIVIA WILLIAMS, OLIVIA WILLIAMS INTERIOR DESIGN AND MATTHEW MERRELL, MERRELL DESIGN CO.

Builder: MICHAEL ROBINSON, RAM DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION

COMPANY, INC. AND DICK MINIUM, DICK MINIUM CONSTRUCTION

Landscape Architecture: CASE FLEHER, LANDSCAPE WORKSPACE