Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub · Article.
ROLLS-ROYCE UNVEILS ARCADIA DROPTAIL: A COACHBUILT HAVEN OF TRANQUILLITY
29.02.2024 Press Release
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is delighted to present Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail, an exquisite coachbuilt expression of tranquillity. Arcadia Droptail is the epitome of quiet irreverence towards expected codes of luxury, celebrating purity of form and natural materials while serving as a bold statement of the client’s personal taste.
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Georgina Cox
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
This article in other PressClubs
- Rolls-Royce Motor Cars presents Arcadia, the third Coachbuild Droptail commission
- Celebration of the form: uniquely pure reflection of Droptail’s principal design
- Features most complex clock face in Rolls-Royce history. Assembly alone took five months
- Wood sections took 8,000 hours to create
- Commission named after Arcadia, a place known in Ancient Greek mythology as ‘Heaven on Earth’
- Droptail is the first roadster body style in Rolls-Royce’s modern history
- Coachbuilt masterpiece presented to commissioning client at private ceremony in Singapore
“Rolls-Royce Coachbuild is the pinnacle expression of this
incredible brand, and an unmatched concept in the luxury sector. In
this department, the world’s most influential individuals
collaborate with our designers, engineers and craftspeople to bring
completely new ideas to life. Together, they create exquisite motor
cars that not only become a cherished part of the commissioning
client’s personal story but also add to the proud history of
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Clients curate every facet of these
masterpieces, which are brought into being by what I believe is the
most talented team of experts in the luxury industry. Arcadia
Droptail exemplifies this approach. This motor car is deeply
connected to the client’s personality and preferences, and in
capturing their character we have been empowered to make inspiring
design, craft and engineering statements that show the world our
ambition, and our unparalleled abilities.”
Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
“The Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail wonderfully demonstrates the
true nature of a Coachbuild proposition in completely transforming
the character of a motor car. Each Droptail commission reflects a
deeply personal understanding and interpretation of a foundational
design. With Arcadia Droptail we witness daring in minimalism and
subtlety, informed by the lifestyle of an individual who has a
unique appreciation for British luxury. In creating this historic
motor car, we once again prove our peerless abilities in
synthesising and executing Bespoke design at its highest level.”
Anders Warming, Design Director, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
“The significance of Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail lies in its
subtlety. It is a projection of an individual who values clarity and
precision in all areas of their life – from their passion for fine
cuisine, their highly curated personal and professional spaces and
affinity with contemporary design. This motor car is one of the most
faithful expressions of an individual’s personal style and
sensibilities we have ever created within the Coachbuild department.
In capturing their spirit, we reveal a unique appreciation for
simplicity, serenity and beautifully restrained elegance – one that
was a privilege for me to have been a part of.”
Alex Innes, Head of Coachbuild Design, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is delighted to present
Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail, an exquisite coachbuilt expression of
tranquillity. Arcadia Droptail is the epitome of quiet irreverence
towards expected codes of luxury, celebrating purity of form and
natural materials while serving as a bold statement of the client’s
personal taste. Commissioned by an individual who possesses a distinct
affinity for architecture and design, Arcadia Droptail is a testimony
to the patron’s sensibilities and personal codes of luxury, defined by
purity and subtle restraint, reflecting their firm belief in
distilling complexity to reveal the inherent, fundamental essence.
This coachbuilt commission takes its name from the mythical
realm of Arcadia, a place depicted in Ancient Greek mythology as
‘Heaven on Earth’ – a land renowned for its extraordinary natural
beauty and perfect harmony. Like the haven that inspires its name,
Arcadia Droptail was envisioned by the client as a serene space
characterised by reduction, material depth and tactility that would
serve as a refuge from the complexities of their business life.
In capturing the theme of tranquillity, Coachbuild designers
embarked on an exploration of design, sculpture and architecture from
the client’s favourite regions around the world. This included the
precision and richness of modernist tropical sky gardens seen in
Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam as well as British ‘Biomimetic’
architecture, where organic forms and material honesty are celebrated.
In addition to these references, the client was also inspired by
the motor car itself and the purity of the Droptail design concept.
The commissioning client insisted that their Coachbuild motor car
should be absolutely faithful to the earliest hand-drawn sketch they
were first presented with in 2019.
It was the profile of this highly contemporary projection of the
roadster body type that resonated so strongly with the commissioning
client. They were particularly compelled by the motor car’s bold, low
stance, ensconcing cabin design and dramatic body lines. They also
immediately recognised the nautical inspiration behind Droptail’s
‘sail cowls’: named after their resemblance to a yacht’s jib, these
sharp, angular forms rise behind the doors and curve gently inwards,
subtly directing the eye to the motor car’s occupants.
EXTERIOR: A TRIBUTE TO DROPTAIL
In order to fulfil the client’s ambition to honour
Droptail’s form, Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers developed a calm,
natural duotone colourway for the motor car’s coachwork. The client’s
aspiration was to define a timeless white, appearing as a solid colour
at first glance, but creating a level of intrigue upon further study
under natural light. To achieve this, the main body colour is a solid
white infused with aluminium and glass particles. This not only
creates an effervescent shimmer when the light strikes the coachwork
but, upon close inspection, creates the illusion of unending depth in
the paint. Rolls-Royce specialists developed a more faceted, striking
metallic using larger sizing of aluminium particles. The client was
very particular and involved in their request for the Bespoke silver
to contrast against the white, not only in colour, but also in terms
of intensity.
In a key departure from the other three coachbuilt Droptails in
this series, the carbon fibre used to construct the lower sections of
Droptail is painted in the solid Bespoke silver colour rather than
left fully or partially exposed, visually ‘lifting’ the motor car in
profile to intensify its lithe, dynamic intent.
In tribute to the brilliant mirror finish of brightwork on
historical Rolls-Royces, which particularly fascinate the client, the
exterior grille surround, ‘kinked’ vane pieces and 22-inch alloy
wheels have been fully mirror-polished.
While Arcadia Droptail’s exterior palette is rich in subtle
detail, its primary intention is to celebrate the form and proportions
of the coachwork. The client was particularly compelled by Droptail’s
clean, monolithic surfacing and bold use of negative sculpture –
features that are amplified by the motor car’s muted paint colours,
which reflect sunlight and cast dramatic shadows, highlighting
Droptail’s many subtle design gestures.
INTERIOR: THE CENTRALITY OF WOOD
As the exterior of Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail
celebrates the motor car’s form, the interior is a deeply personal
reflection of the client’s individual aesthetic, reflective of the
style they have curated in their residences and business spaces around
the world. Arcadia Droptail’s colour palette and material treatment
was envisioned to be a truly personal statement and instantly
recognisable as a personal signature of the commissioning client.
Wood development was central to Arcadia Droptail’s interior and
the client’s focus, whose very specific expectations concentrated on
the texture, grain, colour and richness of the material itself. The
client shared many examples of preferences and inspiration from
architecture, residences and classic cars, to guide Rolls-Royce
Coachbuild designers and material specialists.
Santos Straight Grain was eventually selected as the most modern
statement, based upon its rich texture and visual intrigue, which is
derived from its unique, interlocking grain pattern.
Using this high-density hardwood on Droptail’s interior posed a
significant challenge for the marque’s craftspeople. Santos Straight
Grain has one of the finest grain types of all the wood species used
within a Rolls-Royce – if not handled with the greatest care, it
easily tears when machined and ‘checks’ (a crack that appears parallel
to the grain) during the drying process. Despite the challenges of
working with this delicate material, Santos Straight Grain is used
throughout Droptail, including the aerodynamically functional rear
deck section, where the grain of the open pore veneer is laid at a
perfect 55° angle. To achieve a perfect composition over complex
geometry, Rolls-Royce artisans used a total of 233 wood pieces
throughout Arcadia Droptail, with 76 pieces applied to the rear deck alone.
Given that Arcadia Droptail will be used internationally,
including some tropical climates, specific attention was paid to
developing a protection system and testing process for the exterior
wood surfaces. Coatings used on superyachts were initially considered
but rejected given that they require regular servicing and
re-application. Instead, a Bespoke lacquer was developed that requires
just one application for the lifetime of the motor car.
To validate this coating, Rolls-Royce specialists conceived a
unique testing protocol wherein veneer pieces were subject to a
punishing cycle inside a specialist machine simulating global weather
extremes. This involved spraying sample wood pieces with water
intermittently, between periods of leaving them to dry in darkness and
exposing them to heat and bright light.
This was repeated for 1,000 hours on 18 different samples before
the marque’s specialists were satisfied with the endurance of the
pieces. In total, the wood pieces and protective coating required more
than 8,000 hours of development.
INTERIOR: A STUDY IN WHITE
The leather interior is finished in two entirely
Bespoke hues, named after the client and reserved exclusively for
their use. The main leather colour is a Bespoke White hue, continuing
the exterior paint theme, while the contrast leather is a Bespoke tan
colour, developed to perfectly complement the selected wood.
The interior also includes the exquisite shawl panel that unites
all four Droptail motor cars and is the largest continuous wood
section ever seen on a Rolls-Royce motor car. In Arcadia Droptail, it
is made in the same Santos Straight Grain open pore veneer as the rear
deck, book-matched at the same 55° angle, with individually shaped
leave stripes running seamlessly into the door linings. CAD tools were
used to map the placement of each wood piece, and although it appears
to be constructed from just two mirrored sections of veneer, this
panel alone is made up of 40 sections, each digitally mapped before
being fixed to the motor car.
Applying wood to the complex curvatures of Droptail’s interior
required Rolls-Royce engineers to develop an entirely new substructure
for several components. The dramatic geometry of the dashboard, door
linings and central cantilevered ‘plinth’ armrest had to be incredibly
rigid to ensure the stability of the wood pieces once they were laid
in place. Engineers called on carbon fibre layering techniques used in
Formula 1 motor racing to develop an incredibly stiff base onto which
the wood could be applied, ensuring that it remained secure regardless
of the dynamic extremes the motor car experienced.
BESPOKE TIMEPIECE: A PRECISION INSTRUMENT
The Santos Straight Grain veneer fascia incorporates
a clock conceived and developed by Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers
and craftspeople. This expression of haute horlogerie is the most
complex Rolls-Royce clock face ever created: the assembly alone was a
five-month process, which was preceded by more than two years of development.
The clock incorporates an exquisite geometric guilloché pattern
in raw metal with 119 facets. This is a symbolic nod to the marque’s
heritage; as the client first saw a preview of the motor car in late
2023 – the year when Rolls-Royce celebrated its 119-year anniversary.
The specially designed clock face also includes partly polished,
partly brushed hands and 12 ‘chaplets’ – or hour markers – each just
0.1mm thick. To ensure the readability of the timepiece, specialists
gave each chaplet an infill bridge and painted them by hand using a
camera capable of magnifying an image by up to 100x.
While many haute horlogerie methods were used to develop the
timepiece, the testing and validation standards at Rolls-Royce are
higher than those of the watch world. This required the marque’s
specialists to draw on an expansive palette of materials. For example,
instead of anodizing the timepiece’s minute marker, which is common
practice in watch manufacturing, it is finished in a ceramic coating
chosen because of its stability over time as well as its aesthetic
merits. Small areas of the coating were laser-etched away to reveal
the mirror finish of the aluminium material beneath it. Like every
piece within the timepiece, including the Bespoke ‘double R’ monogram,
they were individually machined from solid stainless-steel billet and
polished by hand prior to assembly.
Themes from the clock are paired with the instrument dials,
sharing materials, techniques and execution. They feature the same
repeated guilloché pattern, as well as brushed and polished brightwork
and frosted white inserts, recalling the colourway of the motor car.
STATEMENT OF A COSMOPOLITAN LIFESTYLE
Reflecting the patron’s international lifestyle, the
motor car is specified with left-hand drive to facilitate its use
around the world. This international dimension was so important to the
commissioning client that the Coachbuild Collective wanted them to
experience the motor car in multiple locations around the world before
it was built. Coachbuild designers used the marque’s ‘holodeck’ to
facilitate this – a unique virtual 3D environment in which the client
uses an advanced virtual reality (VR) headset to view the motor car as
it would appear in specific locations around the world.
ARCADIA DROPTAIL: AN ELEGANT SPACE IN THE DROPTAIL CANON
While every Rolls-Royce client is different, they
each share a powerful strength of conviction, and this individual’s
requirements were clearly stated from the outset. However, translating
these complex, highly personal sensibilities into a coherent, workable
design was the product of a significant body of work. It was here that
the Coachbuild process, with its unprecedented investment of time –
over four years in total – and uniquely close relationship between the
client and the marque, paid incalculable dividends.
Coachbuild designers invested many months examining and
interrogating the client’s tastes in everything from clothes and
furnishings to food and travel destinations. From this, they defined
and codified an aesthetic rooted in the client’s truth and experience;
an objective portrait of their internal world and external
surroundings, backed by the certainty and authority of the design
team’s own discernment, understanding and professional judgment. Other
family members, notably the client’s daughter, also become engaged
with the process. When the final design was ready, the client’s wider
family were invited to review it: all agreed that it perfectly
captured the client’s aesthetic and character.
The client derived enormous pleasure from having their tastes
and identity so clearly rationalised and projected back to them.
Indeed, the process revealed the client had a far more modern outlook
than they realised, defined by lightness, the use of natural materials
and a clear passion for precision. Arcadia Droptail has since become a
reference point for the client’s commissions from other luxury houses
and architects.
This unique expression of Rolls-Royce Droptail reflects this
remarkable client’s confidence, clarity of vision and long-term
relationship with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Its significance lies both
in its exquisitely minimal execution and the unique skill of
Rolls-Royce Coachbuild designers in capturing the sensibilities and
soul of an individual.