Breadvan Hommage by Niels van Roij Design

Breadvan Hommage ideation sketches and design renderings

As is the case with all Niels van Roij Design coachbuilding projects, the Breadvan Hommage started with ideation sketches: quick drawings made by hand. These ideation sketches are crucial for every automotive design project and one of many iterative stages of the car design process. “Automotive design is about the search and the experiment” according to Van Roij “Which is only truly achievable in a handmade sketch. In the ideation sketches differences can not only be seen in proportions and surfacing, the skin of the car, but also in the application of graphics and other details. Such as the bespoke exhausts and unique headlights. Eventually this process produces a so called key sketch: the one sketch chosen to be developed into more elaborated, rendered ideas.” The next step, after selecting one of the ideation sketches, was fitting the design precisely over the technical layout of the base car and presenting it in a more refined way. All the surfacing and volumes were developed into a large variety of high resolution images. These renderings make the shapes easier to read and again a selection is made. This selection was developed into the clay model.

Clay model Breadvan Hommage

A frame work was installed on the base car, to which the clay was applied. To make the full size clay model, the team needed detailed visual information. Think of surface transitions from side to top and the design of air intakes, rear lights and the opening in the bonnet. All this visual data was provided by renderings, showing the details from different angles. Design work was ongoing during the highly labour intensive clay modelling process. The car was further refined and all challenges, such as the integration of a bevel around the roof and the new headlights, were ironed out.