Niels van Roij explains: ‘incomprehensible that BMW has abandoned the Hofmeister kink’
In this series, car designer Niels van Roij discusses concepts that are common in his field. The designer ABC now brings us to very well-known concepts such as the Hofmeister kink, the Kamm-Tail and One-box design. But what exactly do they entail?
Hofmeister nod
Just like the kidney grille, the Hofmeister kink is (or was…) a BMW design element. A clear part of the DNA that is directly associated with BMW. The Hofmeister kink is a design element that has been seen on every BMW model for years, since the BMW Neue Klasse models in 1961.
The Hofmeister kink was drawn by Wilhelm Hofmeister. Between 1955 and 1970 he was head of BMW’s design department. Designer Paul Bracq, who used to work for competitor Mercedes-Benz, was responsible for the popular 8 series
Over time, the Hofmeister has, until recently, retained its traditional shape. Now there are BMW models that no longer know the kink. An equally bizarre and incomprehensible move by the brand.
No more Hofmeister…
Strong Hofmeister nods over the years:
Jewellery:
More about this in this Masterclass video.
Kamm-Tail:
Wunibald Kamm. Most will not know his name, but the work of this German engineer continues to influence car design to this day. His breakthrough came to be known as the “Kamm effect”, “Kammback” or the “Kamm-tail”, and it is a solution to car design characterized by a long, tapered roof and a short, cropped rear.
This solution reduces drag by reducing airflow turbulence at high speeds. The rear of many older Ferrari models has been given the classic definition of a kamm-tail. Many race cars from the 1960s also had the kamm tail as a styling trick. Used by designers to emphasize modernity and sportiness. Nowadays we see the kamm-tail on many electric cars and even the Prius has a form of this solution on board!
light catcher:
The design of a car starts with using the right proportions and language from the manufacturer. Next come well-balanced surfaces, surfacing. In the front, side and rear views, the car comes to life through surfacing.
Lightcatchers are surface details generally applied above the sill to break up visual height, add length to the design and give a sense of speed to the car.
Thanks to the details of the light trap surface, the door surface can wrap around the side of the car on the Jaguar F-type, for example, creating a waist effect. The car has a waist in the middle, behind the door and in front of the rear fender. The car looks organic and elegant thanks to the light catcher.
A new Land Rover Defender has been given a subtle, but much more geometrically drawn light catcher at the bottom of the doors, in the plastic part of the sill. This better suits the design of the car and provides a bit more visual length and a break in height here. The lightcatcher also assigns volume, the feeling of volume and material thickness, to the side of the car.
One box design
A one-box design is the layout of a car body, viewed in terms of rectangular volumes. The one-box, also called monospace or monovolume, is a single continuous volume. The Renault Espace and Chrysler Voyager with their wedge-shaped front are perfect examples of this category. Company vans are also one-box forms. Nowadays, this body style for passenger cars has mainly been adopted by SUVs and has almost disappeared.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl