Nomad - NHS Health Care Project

21st century urgent care is being delivered by 21st century professionals using 20th century equipment, vehicles and communications. Healthcare is changing with a particular emphasis on treating patients with urgent care needs closer to home. Due to this the aim of this project was to rethink the urgent healthcare delivery.

Since 60% of all emergency calls conveyed to the Accident & Emergency departments are discharged without any further treatment or treated at the spot, the role of the Emergency Care Practitioner (ECP) is evolving. According to this the NOMAD is designed as a rapid response vehicle for the countryside. The single seated offroad vehicle offers no patient transport but features an unfoldable tent to create a secure space to treat the patient in. Protected from weathering and all necessary equipment on board, the ECP is enabled to reach the accident as fast as possible, secure the patient and treat him on the spot. Although the overall dimensions of the vehicle, with 1320mm width and 3000mm length, are kept rather small to be capable off the rough terrain and fit the narrow roads in the countryside the vehicle features a strong, trustable appearance and proportion. To secure and protect the patient from weathering the vehicle opens up and unfolds a tent like structure to create a treatment space inspired by bedouin tents. For easy, time efficient deployment and dismantle the tent is unfolded automatically using the Hoberman principle, a principle of growing structures used in architecture to create domes. Compared to a generic ambulance, these features are turning this mobile treatment space into a faster and cheaper alternative.

Auto & Design - Issue 187 March / April 2011

Young ideas for tomorrow

'Bentleys of the Future' was the topic of the competition for 18 students of the Master's course in Vehicle Design at the Royal College of Art in London. The project, which concluded in summer 2010 and is known as the RCA Project, called for the definition of a 2 seat Bentley coupé for the year 2050, which combines the traditional values of the Crewe based marque with extreme aerodynamics. Headed by exterior design director Raul Pires with the support of Dominic Najafi, the project resulted in the selection of four finalists, who then tested and honed their proposals in collaboration with EXA, using CFG programme (Computer Fluid Generated - a program not only extensively used by Bentley, but also by Formula 1 teams). "Striking a compromise between design and aerodynamics", explains Pires, "is not always an easy task. Often, when you improve one of these elements, it is at the expense of the other." The winner, the young German David Seesing, and the second place finalist, the Korean Bora Kim, were offered a six month internship, which would then be renewed for another six months, in the design studio at Crewe. "These youngsters", notes Pires, "are always coming up with new ideas. Now they can prove themselves in real projects."