Rather, we're here to examine just how much impact the Audi TT had on the design world as a whole. And who better to explain the TT's profound impact than ArtCenter's Executive Director Geoff Wardle?
"It had a big impact at the time it came out because there were a couple of characteristics of the design which were pivotal ones," Wardle told Autoweek. "One was that it had quite a high beltline. The bottom of the side glasses came quite high up on the occupant's shoulders."
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"It's got a sort of almost Bauhaus simplicity and it's very Germanic in shape," Wardle said. "As a professor, I did notice for quite a long time that students got inspiration for their design concepts from the Audi TT."
Lately, it's not so well recognized by students, he mused. It's still a notable car in the parking lot but it doesn't command the same authority, at least from a design perspective. As someone born in 2000, I often thought of the Audi TT as a cool-looking, attainable sports car, but not necessarily a real design definition.
But the word Bauhaus is enticing in its own right for many young art students, as the movement continues to feed the idealism and creations of modern life. However, the Bauhaus movement could hardly be defined as automotive-forward, instead focused on distilling design to its core elements. And the Audi TT followed these principles precisely.
"For the regulated community, a FONSI represents happy days."23