Ajiro Velomobile Design Study Introduces Grown Mobility

If you were to choose between personal comfort and protecting the environment, what would it be? Let us help you make a decision by presenting you a design study that is to provide wholly sustainable personal mobility by reassessing production methods, but at the the same time it sacrifices every comfort-related feature - though the most optimistic of you would say that it brings mind comfort.

Getting straight to the point, a student from the Monash University in Australia, Alexander Vittouris, has created a velomobile concept, dubbed Ajiro. With it, he introduces the term “grown mobility,” engaging the environment in its production phase through photosynthesis, and carbon storage till ultimate destruction.

Using the strength and rapid growth of bamboo (Bambusa Oldhamii), it’s possible to directly intervene with shape modification of the growing plant. By adding tension to growing sections, over a reusable skeletal substructure, the plant retains the shape it’s restricted to, forming the structural basis for the velomobile without energy intensive assembly techniques. The skeleton frame is then proposed to be reused, for future plant generations as an ongoing cycle.

WIth the Ajiro, Vittouris aims to create a ‘clean footprint’ urban and recreational vehicle – a grown vehicle. As a velomobile, it bridges the gap between car and bicycle by providing on-board storage and canopy protection for the rider. Simplifying the package, the rear wheels act as the steering mechanism, with the front wheel providing power input.

“The Ajiro concept is about rethinking our approach to both design and ecological sustainability of the products we create. Approaches towards sustainable personal mobility will surely be necessary, and growing vehicles may provide that answer,” Vittouris says.