Graphic Design
Industrial Design
Signage & Wayfinding
Graphic Design
Industrial Design
Signage & Wayfinding
CWA Constructions, Olten, Switzerland
Marketing sticker, 1994
‘Eaglebahn’ Gondola Cabin, Vail, Colorado, 1997
Gondola Cabins, Aerial Tramway Cars, Monorails,
People Movers, and other Special Projects.
Position
Vehicle Designer, Graphic Designer, CWA Constructions
Olten, Switzerland - Oct 1995 – Sep 1997
My Role
For two years, I managed and produced the Industrial and
Graphic Design activities of CWA, a world-market Swiss company
(now part of the Doppelmayr Group) which manufactures gondola cabins, aerial tram cars, monorail train bodies and other specialized aluminum constructions. I worked closely with the sales, engineering and manufacturing sections to serve clients all over the world. I produced sketches and renderings of new and existing product lines, developed accessory items, and provided graphics application services for ski resorts and other attractions.
Select Clients
United States
Vail Resorts (Colorado)
Jackson Hole Resort (Wyoming)
Snowbasin (Utah)
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway (California)
France
Megéve Resort
Town of Val d’ Isere
Lift Authority of Mont d’Arbois
South Africa
Table Mountain Aerial Tramway
Switzerland
Moleson- Gruyere Funicular
Town of St. Moritz
Garaventa AG
Swiss Army
Categories
Monorails & People Movers
Funiculars
Sketch for Braunwald Ski Region, Switzerland. 1995
Sketch for Zurich Polybahn Funicular restoration, 1996
The Zurich Polybahn Funicular
In 1889, a short funicular railway was built between the Limmat river and the Polytechnic school. On the top of the Zurichberg hill is the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETHZ) the Polytechnic School, also called "The Poly".
In 1976, the funicular was bought by the UBS-SBG bank. Concerns for safety and economy of operation finally caught up with the Polybahn. In 1996, it was dismantled and replaced by a new funicular respecting the style of the old one and retaining all principal architectural features of the line. It remains a real icon of Zurich.
It is used mainly by students and commuters, for whom it provides a fast and reliable link. It has also grown to become a tourist attraction, an icon in its own right, and is featured in all city guides and on postcards. It was refurbished and modified several times, but retained the original cars and track system.
Reconstructed Zurich Polybahn, 1996
Funiculaire Le Moléson
Moleson-Village is a small ski resort near the famous village of
Gruyeres, Switzerland. In 1996, the gondolas from the village to Plan-Francey were replaced by a new funicular built by CWA and Doppelmayr. From Plan-Francey, an aerial cableway takes you to the peak of the Moleson. (2002 m).
The track of the funicular is completely built on stilts. The
panoramic cabins have no conductor, they are built on two
bogies and the cable is fixed to the cabin with a drum.
Final product, 1996
Conceptual sketches, 1995
Engineering drawing, 1996
Production funicular climbing the mountains of Switzerland
Conceptual sketches showing interior and exterior customization of the 80-passenger tram cars.
The current “Rotair” cars carry a maximum of 80 passengers each, and feature a 150 gallon water tank on the bottom of each car to replenish fresh water at the top station.
Aerial Tramway Cars
Squaw Valley USA, (Palisades Tahoe) California
Squaw Valley was the site of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games, beating out internationally regarded resorts such as Innsbruck, Austria, St. Moritz, Switzerland and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The Olympics brought Lake Tahoe international publicity and sparked interest in winter sports and California skiing.
Squaw Valley's world renowned tramway carries passengers 2000 vertical feet to the High Camp Station. Both cars replaced the original CWA models installed for the Olympic Games. The cable cars feature ultra-modern heated cabins, interior seating, and floor to ceiling panoramic windows offering expansive views of the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountain range and Lake Tahoe.
The cabins were built at CWA's factory in Olten, Switzerland and shipped to New Jersey, where they were put on two trucks headed for California.
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Palm Springs, California
In 1995, The original 1963 tramway cars were showing their age, and were redesigned through CWA, with the intent of increasing capacity, speed, and passenger safety. I worked closely with the tramway’s general manager, the legendary Bob Ficker, to design and produce the next generation of 80-passenger tramway vehicles for the historic Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, one of the longest tramway systems in the world.
Tragically, Bob Ficker passed away in 1996 when the project was nearing completion. The management board then switched gears and decided to build a set of rotating tram cars based on CWA’s newest design, the “Rotair”. The floor of the 18-foot-diameter aerial tram cars rotates constantly, making two complete revolutions throughout the duration of the journey so that the passengers can see in all directions without moving within the cabin. They were installed four years later in 2000.
Gondola Cabins
Next Project: Garaventa Seilbahnen AG
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