Petersburg design studio develops transparent city bus for FIFA World Cup

“St Petersburg is a very beautiful city but at times, its beauty is lost in our everyday life. We decided to create a bus that would help visitors, football fans and citizens enjoy St Petersburg. In addition, the design would, like the red London bus, become the hallmark of the city and a tourist attraction,” says Alexander Grigoriev, architect at design studio Oneione.

The bus is completely transparent. It's easy to look around and enjoy the architecture of St Petersburg, especially the upper floors of buildings in the city centre, which are not usually seen from the windows of public transport. The bus narrows at the top, in order to improve visibility. A resilient frame-mesh is resistant to shock, because the load is distributed throughout the body and after compression, restores shape. Cellular coverage of durable flexible plastic, which does not break can be easily repaired by replacing by any single element.

The design of a streamlined shape and texture of the bus, which is also reminiscent of a ball, and the cells and fish scales, are inspired by the Gulf of Finland and the fact that St Petersburg is a major port.

“At the heart of the city, many people pass only two or three stops, so on the lower deck, there are almost no seats – places for the elderly and mothers with young children and those who are uncomfortable to climb to the second floor. The upper deck has seating for those who are planning a long trip around the city.”

The studio is not only in industrial design, but has also designed interior design concepts for the network Bona Capona restaurants, created a navigation Expoforum, designs of cottage homes and individual interiors in leading Russian and foreign fashion magazines.