MOROCCO IS ACCELERATING! feature - Alstom

amount of energy possible and providing
a new point of view.
There will be more and more hybrid objects.
People will no longer want to differentiate
themselves through a choice of bodywork
but by a mobility attitude. This development
will undoubtedly have repercussions for
the car and equally for public transport.
I can imagine, for instance, cable-cars in cities
where the architecture has real added value.
A little like the giant wheels of our childhood,
but they will travel horizontally, in the air.
A new form of elevated metro in a way…
In Paris, this would perhaps be complicated,
but it is still feasible. In a city being developed,
it would be more conceivable. Why,
in the end, remain beneath the ground?
X. Allard: Have you already thought
about the train’s future?
Ora Ïto: It’s a child’s dream to design
a train or a tram… Whatever the technology
we integrate in it, Alstom is inventing
– with its prototype and innovative culture –
the train of the future.
And then, what fascinates me with
the train is its relationship with all economic,
architectural and planetary movements.
Before even thinking about the train itself, we
think about the city and the cultural, political,
urban or sociological context … That’s great!
X. Allard: Some of our projects contain
anamorphic ideas or stroboscopic effects.
For example, when a tram stops in a station
it has a visual effect on the surroundings…
Ora Ïto: It’s incredibly interesting
to work on movement which can change
forms and take on other dimensions.
We can also think about the notion of
the journey and the relationship between
what we experience and mobility.
We need to work on all the senses! I’m a great
believer in stimuli, the overall experience
which is visual, acoustic and informative.
Take the ghost train: it’s a sight, an experience
with its scenery, smells and physical
sensations … You could extend this concept
– leaving out the ghosts! – on a large scale
for public transport …
X. Allard: At Alstom we are thinking
about the best way in which to adapt
public transport to the individual.
As an independent designer, who has
the freedom – or even the duty –
to go further, to invent new ways of
doing things, what do you think?
Ora Ïto: For me, driving a car, is a potentially
agonising task: you run the risk of ending
up in prison because you’ve knocked
someone over or had one drink too many,
you have to look for a place to park,
fi nd space… When we are sold cars
that are so powerful that we can drive
faster than the permitted speed limits,
we are actually being sold illegality.
Instead of buying a car, why not buy a module
that can be controlled from a distance using
technology supplied by Alstom? It would
be at the same time collective and individual.
Customised group mobility, if you like.
I would have my personal module, decorated
in the materials I like, with an ashtray
because I smoke… Why not, if I’m not
bothering anybody? Does ‘public transport’
have to mean ‘being with or putting up
with lots of other people’? �
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