2025 GAC Design Award Concludes in Guangzhou, Championing AI-Driven Design Innovation
2025 GAC Design Award Concludes in Guangzhou, Championing AI-Driven Design Innovation
2025 GAC Design Award Concludes in Guangzhou, Championing AI-Driven Design Innovation
2025 GAC Design Award Concludes in Guangzhou, Championing AI-Driven Design Innovation
2025 GAC Design Award Concludes in Guangzhou, Championing AI-Driven Design Innovation
2025 GAC Design Award Concludes in Guangzhou, Championing AI-Driven Design Innovation
Following months of international recruitment and rigorous evaluation, Cheng Chen of Hunan University earned the top global honour with the project B2M. During the finals, the five world-leading contenders delivered insightful presentations around “Beauty of Tomorrow II: AI WORKS”, offering compelling visions of technological innovation and evolving human lifestyles.
The final review was conducted by an acclaimed jury led by Mr Fan Zhang, Chief Design Officer of GAC Group and Head of GAC DESIGN Global, alongside representatives from internationally recognised design institutions, top academic establishments, and the Head of CarStyling China Region.
After a series of intensive presentations and in-depth deliberations, the official awards were announced as follows:
Champion: Cheng Chen (Hunan University)
Project: B2M
B2M looks beyond Earth to address a grand “deep-space resource strategy”. Fusing the “toughness with tenderness” of Eastern philosophy with advanced technology, the project envisions an AI-powered lunar construction system. This system can locally “print” lunar soil into mortise-and-tenon bricks, creating a warm “second home” for humanity on the otherwise barren lunar surface.
First Runner-up: Menghao Liu (Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts)
Project: LUMINFLAI
LUMINFLAI reflects design’s care for life. Inspired by the metaphor of “butterflies soaring over ruins” as a symbol of resilience, it proposes an AI-driven disaster management system. Equipped with bionic flapping-wing vehicles capable of navigating complex terrains, the system detects life signals and rapidly prints emergency shelters, providing a new approach to supporting rescue operations during the crucial “golden 72 hours” after a disaster.
Second Runner-up: Zhenyan Ni (Jingdezhen Ceramic University)
Project: Nirai Kanai
Nirai Kanai turns its focus to the deep sea, presenting a bionic submersible designed to retrieve the “memory fragments” of the ocean. Through genetic collection and ecosystem restoration, the work outlines a vision of “harmonious coexistence” between land and sea.
Merid Award: Tomáš Cibulka
Project: Milano Thesis
A manifesto of new-generation modern luxury, Milano Thesis is an AI-supported companion a vehicle that guides user through the streets of the brave world. Its calm, monolithic exterior integrates a semi-transparent inner capsule (switchable between transparent/opaque modes) to create on-demand privacy, forming a cohesive, compact-sculpted design with seamless interior-exterior unity.
Merid Award: Geonryun Hwang
Project: GAC ARC
Envisioning polar futures amid melting glaciers, GAC ARC is an audacious, Ark-inspired all-terrain scientific exploration vehicle for extreme environments. Its core Pivoting Wheel System (AI-controlled wheel-leg mobility) enables adaptability across floating ice and crevasses, embodying human-AI symbiosis to serve survival, exploration, and restoration—symbolizing courage in confronting Earth’s formidable frontiers.
AI Empowerment: Reshaping Design Philosophy for a New Era
Running in parallel with the championship finals, the Design Forum convened leading industry and academic figures for in-depth discussions on the theme "AI WORKS". The speaker panel included Fan Zhang (Chief Design Officer of GAC Group and Head of GAC DESIGN Global), Honghao Wang (the Head of CarStyling China Region), and Yong Li (Vice President of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts).
Addressing the pervasive sense of "AI anxiety" within the creative industries, Fan Zhang argued that every epoch-making tool is initially met with apprehension and resistance—a natural response often born of cognitive inertia. He encouraged the design community to adopt a more open mindset and proactively navigate the creative frontier unlocked by emerging technologies.
Referring to the viewpoint of his mentor, Professor Guanzhong Liu, who characterises design as the “third form of wisdom” beyond science and art. Fan emphasised that design is, at its core, a creative discipline dedicated to solving human-centric problems, and that forward-looking designers working in dialogue with AI can achieve more thoughtful and effective outcomes.
To create a great design in the AI era, he further proposed two core tenets: first, mastering AI proficiently as an auxiliary creative tool; second, designers must uphold the original aspiration of the profession. The core responsibility of designers lies in accurately perceiving the essence of needs, identifying key problems, and leveraging professional competence and creative capabilities to deliver efficient and valuable solutions.
From an educational standpoint, Yong Li contended that the AI era will fundamentally reshape core design competencies, highlighting two critical capabilities: Critical thinking – to identify root problems and address genuine pain points; Aesthetic judgement – to discern quality and value amidst a deluge of AI-generated content.
A consensus emerged from the forum that as AI increasingly handles repetitive execution, the designers of the future must evolve into insightful narrators, socially-attuned observers, and synthesizers of complex resources. Guided by a profound humanistic compass, they will be crucial in steering AI's application, ensuring that design remains fundamentally centred on human needs and experiences.
Ecosystem Vision: Pioneering the Future of Design
This year's competition stands as a powerful milestone in GAC DESIGN’s "Beauty of Tomorrow" journey—a testament to how vision and technology converge to redefine what's possible. GAC is not just building cars; it is crafting an intelligent mobility ecosystem where AI and human creativity meet, creating a seamless integration of technology, service, and meaningful human experience..
Guided by the spirit of “AI WORKS,” GAC DESIGN is pushing beyond conventional boundaries to explore new creative frontiers. In this new era, designers are stepping into roles as storytellers, empathetic observers, and synthesizers of diverse possibilities—shaping a future where technology serves humanity with intelligence and heart
Together, let’s continue driving this transformation: creating, innovating, and inspiring a global design community ready to lead with purpose, imagination, and human-centred vision.
Highlight video link for watching:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRRsxvGEXYE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Nicole
GAC GROUP
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