In a stunning mix of functionality and art, designers out of the Philippines have created a car made out of bamboo, rattan, nylon and steel. Created in just 10 days, Kenneth Cobonpue and Albrecht Birkner created this unique concept car — dubbed "The Phoenix" — to deal with the energy crisis and future waste.
At a 153 inches long and resembling a futuristic lounge chair, the Phoenix is perfect for the green scenester-on-the-go. While the motor and the wheels are made out of more traditional composite materials, the rest of the car is an inexpensive outer shell fashioned out of materials that can be completely reclaimed by the earth in five to 10 years. By now you've probably guessed the cool part — once you are finished with the outer shell you just take it off the frame and put on a new one.
We think it's very Jetsons meets Lost with a bit of Gilligan's Island thrown in.
Sure, we can joke about it, but the Phoenix was designed with a serious purpose. The average time a car is kept is between five to 10 years. That makes for a lot of nasty environmental waste piling up on the planet. The Phoenix can alleviate the problem by being both reusable with its core parts and recyclable with its outer parts.
No word yet on when this would be hitting showrooms, or whether it would pass crash test dummy standards. We;re going to go out on a limb and guess no — it is made from bamboo and rattan, after all. Expected to be fitted with an electric engine, the designers still need to get this baby on the road. So while we'll take a wait and see attitude on this one, we'll still give it high marks for the very forward thinking design and intention.
Kenneth Cobonpue, Elemental LEDucation, via Digital Trends
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