Hyundai Motor America 2007
PRG offers a new slant on exhibit technology.
Challenge:
Build an auto show turntable that lets crowds view the car through three dimensions.
Solution:
Of the many spectacular displays at the 2007 North American International Auto Show at Detroit’s Cobo Hall, one of the most dramatic presented Hyundai Motor America’s new concept car, the HCD Hellion. To showcase the vehicle’s sleek new lines, Exhibit Works, Inc., designer Fausin Mdisa envisioned a turntable that tilted while it rotated, in contrast to the flat, earthbound motion of typical auto show turntables.
Drawing on their extensive experience constructing theatrical sets and stages for Broadway, Las Vegas and elsewhere, PRG’s staff engineered and constructed Mdisa’s imaginative turntable in just two weeks. The finished device featured a revolving disc, 18 feet in diameter, joined by a column to a stationary bottom disc.
The top disc rotated at the leisurely rate of twice per minute, while tilting up and down at a gentle 10-degree angle - resembling a giant penny slowly coming to rest after spinning across a table. The resulting gyroscopic effect captured the attention of passing crowds and presented intriguing new angles for viewing.
“This is the kind of technology you see on stage all the time, but rarely, if ever, at an auto show,” explains Jim Kempf, PRG’s senior designer for the project. “It definitely emphasizes the cool factor of the vehicle.”
Hyundai is using the turntable and its control system, also built by PRG, for displays at future auto shows.
