Students from the Royal College of Art display work produced with FIAT.

In a one-day special exhibit recently, RCA students displayed the culmination of a multi-disciplined project that took place in partnership with FIAT. Vehicle design students were broken up into several teams that also comprised of other RCA students from other fields - such as textile and interaction design. The projects were geared to vehicle users and their needs and habits; the collaboration with other students with additional experience and skills was evident in the end results - with vehicles incorporating a wide range of user-orientated features and concepts. Amongst the work on show was a full-sized inclined seat that used specially developed foam from the Russian space programme. This allows the seat to mould to the body and offers an interesting alternative to traditional fabrication methods. Projects varied from performance to urban in nature but all tackled issues such as human interaction, perception and integration with modern lifestyles.