Audi TT Sculpture: The Making

Press Release

The sculpture's body was laminated with a triple coating of glass fibre to give the hard foam the required rigidity for subsequent machining. "Glider construction is the cradle of the art of laminating," relates Elmar Krick, who worked for seven years as a model-maker in the glider manufacturing industry before switching to EDAG 14 years ago. His gazes wanders out of the window in the Fulda plant and across to the "Wasserkuppe" measuring 958 metres high and known as the "mountain of gliders". Fulda is a magnet for gliders who arrive as soon as the snows melt and spring is in the air. Krick's gaze shifts back to the oversized side section of the automobile sculpture which he is in the process of laminating. For him, the dimensions of these segments are just as extraordinary as the sensation of gliding. 1000 square metres of glass-fibre laminate have been used in all. The hardening time is crucial for laminating, tells Krick: "Every artificial ageing process presents certain risks." Speeding up the hardening process in a kiln, for example, increases the risk of fracturing.

The final laminating layer is the tear-away film. When this film is torn away once the laminate has hardened, the surface is roughened for subsequent machining. The 15 millimetre thick layer of plastic gel is being applied to the faces of the segments. The two mixes for the gel run together in a metering device. To the untrained eye, the layer of ten centimetre strips enshrouding the segments looks like a zebra's stripes. 72 hours later, when the hardening process is complete, the surface is ready to be milled off to six millimetres.

The finish process involves several colleagues working on the surface at the same time, and calls for a great deal of patience and the utmost care. "The grinder can only be used on straight surfaces; most of this sculpture's surfaces are curved however, meaning the work has to be done by hand," says Bernd Schäfer. Another person called "Schäfer" (which means 'shepherd' in German)? "The fourth shepherd in the flock," grins Bernd Schäfer. "We've even been called the 'shepherd department', although the surname is pure coincidence and we are not actually related in any way to one another."

All production processes, from design engineering to milling, laminating and gelling to finishing have so far been performed in the 'Fulda Nord' production shop but its gate is five centimetres too narrow to allow the sculpture to be transported away as a fully assembled single piece. The "wedding station", as it is known in the automotive industry, is a full ten kilometres away in the 'Fulda West' production shop where production lines for body shops are usually developed and pre-assembled. With confidentiality being a top priority, high screens surround the assembly area. The primed auxiliary support frames, which are bonded to the rear side of each segment, are now bolted onto the main supporting frame's steel framework one after the other. A crane hoists each segment to the appropriate height then it is bolted into place by hand. The sculpture slowly starts to take both form and the breath away from its creators when they first lay eyes on their handiwork in all its glory.

The adage "clothes make people" is no less relevant for the sculpture which needs to be properly dressed to give it a smart, weatherproof finish. "The Automobile" is painted in a special spray booth in Fulda originally designed for trucks. It is the first time ever that a surface area of such enormous proportions – 150 square metres in total – has been painted with automotive paint. The paint used is a three-coat water-based metallic paint which has been specially produced by BASF Coatings. The tremendous respect for the sheer immensity of this sculpture runs like a thread throughout all phases of the production process.

Finally. the moment has come. The sculpture is readied for the journey ahead by putting on its “pyjamas", consisting of a sort of fleece material with a paint-friendly protective film. A mobile crane loads the sculpture onto a lowbed trailer which then sets off for Berlin accompanied by a police escort. This all happens at night, of course, to keep traffic disruption to a minimum; the trailer together with its precious cargo measures 24 metres in length and a whole 4.60 metres wide, one metre more than the width of a lane on the Autobahn. Proceeding at an average speed of 70 km/h, the 440 km journey takes eleven hours, with the trailer repeatedly pulling off the autobahn to give the vehicles behind opportunity to pass.

When the lowloader arrives the next morning, a crane is waiting to unload the massive sculpture and place it in position. The wheels are aligned and the underside is covered up with laser-cut sheet metal plates measuring just 0.8 millimetres thick and painted to match the vehicle's colour. In this way, the steel framework inside is protected from below too.

The fact that EDAG supplies prototype parts to Audi as well as providing the firm with design services was of considerable help in this joint project, particularly in view of the tight schedule and the need for absolute confidentiality. EDAG had after all been commissioned to produce an extra-large version of a brand new model still awaiting its launch. As Martin Hillmann, Logistics Project Coordinator at EDAG, confirms: "Confidentiality was one of the greatest challenges we faced. Even when performing the final set-up in Berlin in front of such a prominent backdrop where you are surrounded by construction cranes overlooking the sculpture. Not even four-metre high solid hoardings can help then."

"The Automobile" framed against the Brandenburg Gate is now on show to an international audience as the world directs its attention towards Germany and its capital in the run-up to the World Cup when Germany will be seen around the globe as the land of football and the land of the car. And with the "Walk of Ideas", Berlin is linking the past with the future. Germany – Land of Ideas.