Airo by Heatherwick Studio

Road Trip

Heatherwick Studio launches an environmentallyfriendly electric car that transforms into a multifunctional living space.

With a global shortage of living space, developers are increasingly looking to innovative design solutions to create multi-functional spaces for work, rest and play. Having become common practice in residential and hospitality projects, the idea is now gaining ground in the automotive sector, as shown by Heatherwick Studio’s unveiling of Airo.

Designed for IM Motors, the vehicle features a customisable interior that can be configured in a variety of ways to serve the needs of the traveller as they take to the road. A foldaway screen transforms the space into a gaming pod, while the seats rotate from a traditional driving position to face inwards for social activities – such as dining on the four-leaf table. Come nightfall, the table folds away and the contoured seats fully recline to form a spacious double bed, and thanks to the latest technology, the fully-glazed roof becomes opaque on command for total privacy.

The fully electric vehicle comes with autonomous and driver-controlled modes and the interiors have been designed with the utmost attention to detail. But for Thomas Heatherwick, founder of Heatherwick Studio, there’s a greater factor. “Airo isn’t simply another electric car that doesn’t pollute the air. Instead, using the latest HEPA filter technology, it goes further by also vacuuming-up pollutants from other cars as it drives along,” he explains. “Designed to simultaneously address the global space shortage, Airo is also a multifunctional room with extra space for dining, working, gaming or even sleeping. As a new room for our lives, with a changing view, Airo is a car intended to transport us to a cleaner and better future.”

Stuart Wood, Partner and Group Leader at Heatherwick Studio, adds: “Transportation and mobility are not only going through a technological revolution but also a social one. There’s a new ethically conscious generation who expect a car to do so much more than just offer transportation from one place to another; they want a device that fulfils and expands upon their functional needs and meets their values. Until now, the functionality of a car has been narrowly defined as a fuel and space guzzling luxury that none of us can afford to continue. We conceived Airo to re-imagine the lifestyle-car-environment balance.”