Let it be like the wind: what inspired the Astella caravan?
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for Adria . The brand's home, Slovenia, is a green country whose inhabitants love being in touch with nature. It is one of the countries with the highest biodiversity and cleanest environment in Europe. The brand strives to make a stay in Adria cars as pleasant an experience and as peaceful as the view from the mountaintops or the colours of the forest. In developing the caravans, Adria's team of product designers and engineers combine aesthetic design with wind principles in a very natural way. Want to find out how? Read on.
Combining aesthetics with aerodynamics
Adria and its design partner, Sito (formerly Gigodesign Studio), have embraced bold ideas and innovative thinking and teamed up with that greatest of wind experts: the Slovenian aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel. This company was the first in the world to certify an electric aircraft. It is now a leader in the aviation industry in the field of alternative propulsion. Astella thus represents a technological breakthrough and a combination of knowledge and ideas that have come from the collaboration of very different, seemingly incompatible fields and professions. Inspired by nature, Adria has brought together the best and most advanced scientific solutions to create state-of-the-art caravans that split air according to the laws of flight.
The synergy of wind between car and caravan
Designer Matic Vihtelic explains that the relationship between living efficiency and mobility is therefore very important for the caravan: "Every caravan is used more for living than as a means of transport. With this in mind, the basic concept was to increase the interior space, so we wanted to do away with the wedge shape in the front wall and create a caravan with a flat front wall. We wanted to achieve a spacious interior and add panoramic windows to the front and rear to visually open up the space."
The design had to take into account the requirements for safe towing and low fuel consumption. "When designing the flat wall, we took into account the fact that caravans of this size are towed by relatively large cars, often SUVs, which displace large amounts of air, so we assumed that the angle at the front wall was irrelevant. Instead of looking at the aerodynamics of the caravan separately, it was necessary to analyse the whole convoy, i.e. both the car and the trailer," explains designer Matic Vihtelic.
"The main goal of improving the Astella's aerodynamics was to reduce air resistance. The strict condition was, of course, that this solution should not affect the ride quality, i.e. it had to maintain directional stability and therefore balance in the front and rear of the caravan."
The path to perfection was set out by the aircraft designers
Pipistrel willingly collaborated on this ambitious Adria project and helped to adapt the excellent aerodynamics to a safe and energy-efficient ride. Aerodynamics expert Matej Andrejašič of Pipistrel explains. But when it comes to caravans, lift should be avoided, as should lateral forces. It is necessary to make the air flow in such a way that the component of the force that acts in the direction of travel, i.e. air resistance, is the main one affected. Lift could drastically affect the safety of the vehicle by reducing tyre grip."
Air guide vanes as part of the design
After the aviation experts had accurately determined the position and surface of the air guide elements based on their measurements, the designers had to add aesthetic elements. An important challenge was how to achieve the typical Adria design with the newly created guide vanes. Designer Matic Vihtelič explains how they tried to find elements that were sufficiently integrated and at the same time design-matched with other Adria products. When designing, we wanted to put more emphasis on the side wall than the front. The competition put a lot of effort into the front and rear wall to make the shape as close to the shape of the car as possible. We wanted to move away from that approach and make the walls more discreet."
The new generation of Adria caravans
The Astella was a pioneering and award-winning caravan and is still regarded as the best luxury caravan on the market. Adria has applied the knowledge gained from this project, including aerodynamic know-how, to its best-selling caravans - Alpina, Adora, Altea.
