May 11 2010

Seymourpowell Aircruise concept wins Condé Nast Traveller Innovation and Design Award

Seymourpowell is happy to announce that its Aircruise concept has won a prestigious Condé Nast Traveller Innovation and Design Award. At the awards ceremony on Monday 10 May, Dr. Paul Thompson, Rector of the Royal Collage of Art, presented Seymourpowell with the award for ‘Best project in Aviation’.

Seymourpowell’s winning Aircruise concept – a innovative transportation design for a giant, vertical airship powered by natural energy and designed to carry travellers in style and luxury – was included in the awards shortlist drawn up by a panel of expert and high-profile judges from across travel, lifestyle and hospitality sectors. The shortlist was published in early April on the Condé Nast Traveller website where the magazine’s global readership was invited to vote for the winners in each of the 10 categories.

The Condé Nast Traveller Innovation and Design Awards, now in its fourth year, aims to celebrate excellence from across a range of related sectors encompassing transport and infrastructure, culture and style, consumer technology, retail, leisure and sustainability. The winning Seymourpowell design received the highest number of votes in the Aviation category, which also included projects from British Airways, Qatar Airlines and NASA amongst others.

Introduced in early 2010, Seymourpowell’s Aircruise is the concept design for a hotel in the sky, with low passenger numbers and huge internal spaces offering room for living, dining and relaxing, as well as scope for dramatic and inspirational public spaces. The initial design proposes a bar/lounge zone, four duplex apartments, a penthouse and five smaller apartments.

Originally a self-generated project, the concept subsequently captured the imagination of Korean giant Samsung Construction and Trading (C&T).  Driven by its interest in new materials for building, Samsung C&T appointed Seymourpowell to refine the idea and produce a detailed computer animation of the proposed experience to illustrate this visionary approach to the future.

Other winners on the night included iPad by Apple, designer Paul Smith, Anya Hindmarch, Anish Kapoor, Zaha Hadid and Virgin Galactic.