Client: Cummins

Overview

Our goal for this project was to identify a few key aspects of our corporate client that we could visually represent in a highly crafted, unique physical element. A history of innovation, a continual evolution of corporate goals, and a diverse global network are all integrated into a cohesive design. It was important to us to relate an aspect of each element into the project’s form, composition, and color in order to represent the scale and complexity of this company.

Goals

The company continues to evolve and adapt its technology and business strategies with changing markets and other global variables. To represent this, the forms in the space gradually become more complex and refined. The cam geometry begins as very abstract on one end, and transitions into a defined, smoother shape on the other, with a much higher resolution. Additionally, we developed a custom networking technique to create each individual form. This underlying system of unique components interconnects into cohesive elements. The color transitions through all of the individual forms to be read as a whole. This is representative of the engagement of local communities across the globe and the diversity of the employees within the company.

Process

History of the company is represented through the form of the project. We explored engine components for their formal qualities, and identified the cam lobe as an interesting and simple geometry. It is a repeated component that rotates along a camshaft, and this conceptually works well with the linear nature of the site. While using this traditional combustion engine component as a basis for form, we represented innovation through the overlay of its design and fabrication. The use of parametric design software and rapid-prototyping tools allow us to represent this shape in a completely new highly complex aesthetic. A traditionally mass-manufactured component represented through mass customization.