The designs of the late Italian automotive designer Marcello Gandini transcended mere vehicles for transportation. His radical philosophy of lightweight engineering—an approach that resulted in increased agility, efficiency and innovation without compromising on the aesthetics or performance of a vehicle—birthed the world’s first ever high-performance sports car or supercar. Gandini, who passed away last March at the age of 85, is known for designing a series of legendary sports cars, including the Ferrari GT4, the Lancia Stratos, and the Lamborghini Countach, during his 14-year period working at Italian car design house, Bertone.

“Ultraleggera” is an exhibition co-produced by Qatar Auto Museum in collaboration with Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile (MAUTO and Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCUarts, Qatar), sheds light on Gandini’s legacy while also inspiring the work of Qatar’s next generation of designers. After the debut in In Doha, Qatar, the show is moving to Turin.

Curated by Marzia Gandini, the designer’s daughter and Gautam Sen, Indian journalist, writer, automotive design consultant and Vice President Communications at the Fédération Internationale de Véhicules Anciens, alongside VCU Arts Qatar’s Simone Carena, the exhibition features original sketches, prototypes, archival materials and signature models by Gandini that transformed automative design. There are also experimental installations created by VCUarts Qatar students, inspired by their 2024 “Moving Interiors” masterclass with Gandini.

“What is the journey?” asks Carena referring to the masterclass with Gandini. “It is about the aesthetics of movement. Architecture is about a three-dimensional space and a car has an enclosed, protected area that can move. A car, therefore, is somewhere between a home and a flying carpet.”

One notable design by Qatari Reema AlMohannadi was inspired by Gandini’s automative designs and sought to reference his work in an interior design model. 

“The first of three masterclasses was about the flying carpet and how a space can move—essentially, how to take a moving vehicle and incorporate it into an interior design,” explained AlMohannadi. “The second lesson was about scenography and how borders frame what we see in interiors while the third lesson focused on how to bring nature into an interior space.”

AlMohannadi looked at her family’s dynamic—one where individuals were often separate, with her siblings gaming in a different—and decided she wanted to gather everyone into one space.

“I wanted to create something that would bring us together and gently disrupt the divide between us,” she explained. “So, I created a platform that descends, which reveals landing stairs and then lifts them up to an open space where we all gather together, male and female.”

She strove to embrace the three lessons of the masterclass with Gandini: the flying carpet and how a space moves, scenography and nature.

From the third lesson on how to integrate nature into a design, she included a palm tree that can be viewed from the ground and first floor, offering an idea of movement in design.

“I tried to create a connection between the ground floor and the first floor where a palm tree moves from the bottom to the top and you could see it from all levels,” said AlMohannadi.

Gandini’s legacy, his revolutionary approach to creating iconic high-performance vehicles, lives on in these new creations by Qatari design students, demonstrating how the agility and movement and of his supercar and can be integrated in various architectural designs.