From Tire Review
WAYNE, N.J. – Hankook Tire announced the winners of its recently completed "Tire Design for the Future Environment" competition, which took place in conjunction with the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP).
The competition, which included third-year industrial design students from the university, was conducted over a three-month period from January through March. Students were asked to create new tire designs based on their own visions of future cars, sustainability needs such as reducing and reusing raw materials used in tire production, and the importance of increasing tire efficiency and meeting specific tire performance targets, the tiremaker said. The winners, in ranked order, were:
1. Ben Zavala, Pittsburgh, Pa., for his TILTRED tilting tire design
2. Mark Hearn, Fremont, Calif., for his Motive Off-Road tire design
3. Miranda Steinhauser, Gahanna, Ohio, for her TESSELA tire design
“Hankook Tire was a tremendous sponsoring partner and we are truly grateful to have been selected to participate,” said Raphael Zammit, associate professor of practice, coordinator of industrial design, University of Cincinnati. “Our students were given the opportunity to not only understand the importance of tire designs in the overall efficiency, ecology and economy of road-bound transportation, but also to apply their classroom knowledge in a real-world situation for advanced learning and increased experience.”
According to Hankook, the competition “centered on the importance that design is to the overall efficiency, ecology and economy for road-bound tires.” The tiremaker added it also encouraged students to consider the positive aspects that sustainability needs can have on the environment.
The winning designs are undergoing patent approval and will be showcased at Hankook’s booth at the 2012 Global Tire Expo/SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
“We were pleased to work with the University of Cincinnati’s College of DAAP, a world-class industrial design institution, which, like Hankook, places a premium on learning, investment in its people and innovation,” said Calvin Pak, general manager of marketing strategy for Hankook Tire America Corp. “As a leading tire manufacturer, we were excited to offer students from a leading institution a chance to explore not only their potential, but the potential of future tire design as well.”
