BMW i is the vanguard, sustainability-driven sub-brand of the Bavarian luxury leader, and serves as a nexus for experimentation and deep questioning of the uncertain future of the automobile. And while its cars have yet to hit the world’s streets en masse, many of its innovations have trickled down into more mainstream BMW applications.

For Salone del Mobile, BMW i commissioned France’s Bouroullec brothers, who transformed a Milan courtyard into an abstract spatial expression of the brand. The resulting quartet of slowly-moving, fabric-fringed merry-go-rounds in no-gloss materials make for a serene space in which visitors are invited to contemplate what a shift towards electricity as silent motive force might mean for transportation design. Does the loss of a growling V-8 mean that a car should lose its aggressive look, as well? The space is an interesting subversion of the emotional, visceral “Ultimate Driving Machine” ethos its big-brother brand is iconic for, and likely provides insight into the future of BMW as a whole.