Project:

MobiGlobe 3

Year:

2011 - 2013

Client:

Autostadt GmbH (Volkswagen Group)

Location:

Wolfsburg, Germany

Program:

Media installation

Commission:

Direct commission

Concept, Research, Art Direction:

Hosoya Schaefer Architects AG, Zürich

Script, Graphics, Storyboards:

Hosoya Schaefer Architects AG, Zürich

Graphic consultant, CI and preproduction:

CHKY, Bern

Film Production:

blm Filmproduktion, Hamburg

Director:

Frank Papenbroock

Postproduction:

Optix Digital Pictures, Hamburg

Music and Mix:

Marcus Loeber, Seevetal

Interactive Design and Integration:

Unity Studios and base.io, Aarhus

Interactive Sound Design and Integration:

Idee + Klang, Basel

Interviews:

Martin Lowson, London; Robin Chase, Paris; Prof. David Nocera, Cambridge MA; Prof. Kongjian Yu, Beijing

Photo Credits:

Udo Meinel, Nils Hendrik Mueller

Visions for a mobile and urban future

Mobility creates perspectives. Today it is a matter of course; our world is unimaginable without it. At the same time, mobility confronts borders that call for new solutions built from the ground up.

It is difficult to imagine our global society without the automobile as an individual mode of transportation. The demand for mobility and individual transport is increasing unabated, above all in developing nations where cities and new markets are booming and large growth potential stands out.

At the same time, the worldwide population explosion, climate change, and the threatening scarcity of resources reveal our planet’s limitations. The open questions and potential problems of our future increasingly impose themselves on us. Automobility as we know it today confronts these systemic boundaries.

How can these topics be made accessible to a wider public? How can interactive media be used to convey these complex connections in simple and effective ways, and how can visitors to the Autostadt in Wolfsburg be prompted to active reflection?

As an interactive research platform in the Autostadt, MobiGlobe presents themes of mobility and makes these understandable within the larger context of sustainability and resilience.

In conceptual conjunction with other installations in the Autostadt including the sustainability exhibition Level Green, MobiGlobe lays the groundwork for a deeper understanding of the phenomena and questions surrounding global mobility.

While it illustrates problems, MobiGlobe also shows practical solutions. It makes clear that the future is malleable. In films, forward-thinking visionaries pose questions regarding the themes of transport, lifestyle, resources, and city development and explain how their concepts and projects can contribute to a solution.

Visitors thus recognize that mobility can only be shaped through a holistic and systematic approach. They are inspired to question their own behaviors and to develop their own ideas.

As the communication platform of the Volkswagen Group, the Autostadt in Wolfsburg has presented material regarding the topic of sustainable mobility for over twelve years. Since 2006, MobiGlobe has critically scrutinized and made possible a dialogue surrounding issues of mobility and our urban future.

Similar to an encyclopedia, MobiGlobe functions as a visual databank. It offers guests access to these themes in various locations and media formats throughout the Autostadt: as a playful, gesture-controlled installation at the Freiraum, the entrance to the Autostadt event spaces, as information stations in the KundenCenter, or as interactive reference materials in the KonzernForum. The interviews with visionary thinkers can also be experienced in different formats. A 20-minute-long film installation projected onto six screens presents a condensed and easily understandable overview of their ideas and projects. These interviews are also shown in a more contemplative setting in the KundenCenter. Here the films can be viewed on iPads, which are integrated into specially designed chairs.

The use of the starry sky as a recurring graphic theme throughout the various exhibits stands for the multitude of ideas, insights, and proposed solutions worldwide. Yet, sustainable mobility is not composed of a single solution. For example, electric cars still cause traffic jams. They still require clean electricity and must become more widely accepted as a mode of transportation. Solutions are only possible within the interplay of technology, city structure, access to resources, and individual lifestyle. We need a systemic understanding of mobility and coherent, globally-considered strategies. Such an approach is thus visualized not only as individual stars but rather through constellations.

MobiGlobe is a fund of knowledge and proposed solutions. Due to their varying formats, these can consistently be experienced anew or in conjunction with other installations in the Autostadt. Thanks to mobile stations, MobiGlobe will also be accessible worldwide at exhibitions and trade fairs.

Awards

Red Dot Communication Design Award – Grand Prix

For the project “MobiGlobe 3” in the category Interface Design.

iF Communication Design Award

For the project “MobiGlobe 3” in the category Corporate Architecture - Communication Media in Architecture and Public Spaces.

Projects

Architecture

Morgentalquartier, Wetzikon, 2020 –
Program: Housing
Current state: Phase 51 and 52, under construction

Haus Myrte, Wädenswil, 2022 –
Program: Transformation of historical building
Current state: Phases 51 and 52, under construction

Station Square and Roof, Herisau 2015 –
Program: Station square, station roof, bus roof
Current state: Phase 41, under construction (partially)

MEWA-Areal, Wädenswil, 2018 –
Program: Culture, Restaurant, Housing, Retail
Current state: Phase 31, preliminary design

Wilhelmsburg Rowing Clug, Wilhelmsburg (D), 2020 –
Program: Clubhouse, boat hall
Current state: Execution Pla

House A, Geneva, 2021 –
Program: Residential house
Current state: Renovation, ongoing

Primary School Christoph Merian, Basel, 2019 –
Program: School
Current state: ongoing

Herriberg-Feldmeilen station, 2020 –
Program: Retail, housing, bus yard
Current state: framework plan

Airport Engadin, St. Moritz, 2020 –
Current phase: construction project

Cooperative Housing, Wetzikon, 2020 –
Current phase: tender

Fabrik.sg, 2020 –
Current phase: Project phases design to operation

Boulevard, ETHZ Hönggerberg Campus, 2020 –
Program: Campus Boulevard redesign (with Studio Vulkan)
Current state: ongoing

Viererfeld, Bern, 2018 –
Program: Housing
Current state: on hold

Urban Design

Bahnhof Romanshorn, 2022 –
Current state: study (with Sudio Vulkan)

Kaserne Aarau, 2022 –
Current state: urban framework

Areale Wittenbach, 2022 –
Current state: urban design commission

Stiftungsareal Neumünster, 2022 –
Current state: study

Kieler Schloss, 2022 –
Current state: Public think tank on usage and architecture

Campus Heidelberg, 2021 –
Current state: Masterplan process, in-depth studies

Otterbach Süd, 2020 –
Current state: urban framework plan

Innovation Park Bergedorf, 2020 –
Current state: urban framework

Station Area Dietikon, 2019 –
Current state: urban framework plan

Campus Bochum, 2018 –
Current state: project support

Metalli, Zug, 2017 –
Current state: project support

Bahnstadt Nürtingen, 2017 –
Current state: project support

Areal Neugasse Zürich, 2016 –
Current state: completion of master plan, public consultation

Elbinselquartier Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg, 2015 –
Current state: project support

Tech Cluster Zug, 2015 –
Current state: transformation plan

Station Herisau, 2013 –
Current state: areal development

KNZ Wil West, Thurgau / St. Gallen, 2011 –
Current state: project support

Urban System Research

Metaverse, 2022 –
Current state: ongoing

Entwicklungskonzept Würzenbach, 2022 –
Current state: ongoing

ESP Hochdorf, 2021 –
Current state: spatial-urban as well as use- and circular-based development concept

Deep Urbanism, 2021 –
Current state: ongoing

cividi gmbh – civic data intelligence, 2019 –
Digital tools for the analogue city
Current state: ongoing

Contact

Zürich office

Flüelastrasse 10, 8048 Zürich, Switzerland (Google Maps)
T. +41 43 243 6313 F.

GENERAL INQUIRIES: office@hosoyaschaefer.com
PUBLIC RELATIONS: press@hosoyaschaefer.com
CAREER: job@hosoyaschaefer.com (Please refer to our OFFICE > CAREER section for further information)

Kyoto office

Jimukinoueda bldg. 603, 21 Sakaicho, Gojo-Takakurakado, Shimogyoku, Kyoto 600-8191, Japan
T. +81 75 744 1503
office@hosoyaschaefer.com