Ed Golden, (Executive Director of Design, Ford NA) speaks about the AAC Focus project. Elisa Stephens (President AAC) and Richard Stephens (Chairman AAC) look on.
'BMW VI Roadster' by Jonas Chang
'Quad' by Mark Gonzales
Students at San Francisco's Academy of Art College have recently shown their work during the school's Annual Spring Show. The show included the best work from all 10 design departments.
The exhibition included the Project Focus 2001, a creative collaboration involving students of industrial design, advertising,illustration, graphic design, computer arts, new media and animation, motion pictures and TV, photography, interior-architecture and design and fashion all working together to view the future for the Ford Focus.
Project Focus provided an opportunity to work on a full scale design execution, and very much like a professional experience - cross functional, with responsibilities assigned and dealing with the coordination of the various design elements. The lower body panels were modelled in clay, and other design elements include a roof rack system that was made in ABS from Alias data, and a unique tread pattern for the tires which was produced by Michelin from AAC Alias data.
The AAC Industrial Design Department is located in a 30,000 square feet warehouse facility which includes classrooms, studios, workshops and computer labs. The department is situated at a warehouse on Van Ness Avenue, Pacific Heights that is part of Highway 101 leading to the Golden Gate Bridge.
AAC faculty come from the many award winning Bay Area design studios, who also offer internships year round. Some of the companies where AAC students have interned include: Frog Design, Pentagram, Gingko Design, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Audi of America, Volkswagen AG.
Ford Motor Company, Nissan Design of America, and Magna Interior Systems have recently sponsored projects for the spring 2001 semester.
Academy of ArtCollege website: www.academyart.edu
