AERIAL AESTHETICS

Words  ::  Graham Chandler   //  Images  ::  Boeing

When Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal signed a purchase order for his very own A380 superjumbo passenger jet at last fall’s Dubai Air Show, he didn’t have paying passengers in mind. Although a standard A380 could carry 840 of them. No, he just decided he needed something bigger than his relatively puny 747-400 bizjet. His Palace in the Sky’s 6,000+ square feet of floor space will likely by fitted out by world-class interior designer Edese Doret Industrial Design with two dining rooms, a 600-square-foot master bedroom, games room and an Arabian desert-themed lounge replete with shifting desert scenes created with fibre optics. And perhaps even a whirlpool bath.
Such airborne decadence is the realm of royalty and the odd Russian mogul. Most modern business jet owners still favour the pamper factor but on a more affordable scale. “In recent years I’ve seen automotive design become a huge influence, especially its functional, cohesive design and efficient use of space,” says Cindy Halsey, Vice President, Interior Design, Engineering and Development at Cessna Aircraft Company. “High-end automotive design also sets an unprecedented expectation of quality. Customers climb out of their automobiles and step into their aircraft expecting the same amenities, style and comfort.” The trend is evident in the recent unveiling of the company’s biggest airplane yet: the Citation Columbus. “Never have we designed a concept that has such universal appeal to almost all who have viewed it,” she says.
Indeed, the automotive influence had Boeing hiring BMW DesignWorksUSA to come up with custom designs for its 787 VIP interiors. Unsurprisingly, beneath the main floor is a peekaboo garage that fits a top-of-the-line BMW. And a notable Swiss aircraft manufacturer, Grob Aerospace AG, has engaged Porsche Design Studio for its business jet interiors. “It translates into an interior with a clear modern feel, without being futuristic,” says Marc Galin, Head of Completions. “Designing a business aircraft interior is an exercise in balancing various imperatives.”
And balancing means tradeoffs. It’s not like redoing your living room. “In an aircraft, we don’t have the luxury of raising a ceiling, bumping out a room or necessarily simply making the space bigger,” says Halsey. “The restrictions in aircraft development and interior design are not for the faint of heart. Our designers are highly creative engineers who must balance and manipulate hundreds of regulatory factors that most would say are not worth it.” A host of crashworthy criteria, flammability criteria, as well as sophisticated environmental, static and dynamic certification tests overseen by worldwide aviation regulatory authorities such as the US Federal Aviation Administration must be heeded.
For the Full Article, Pick up Issue 11 +

Pictures:

Details: