Samsung Aircruise concept

Looking to the future with vision and strategy is fundamental to Seymourpowell’s design consultancy and innovation strategy. Applying this strategy to the transportation sector, we created the Aircruise concept – a giant, elegant ‘clipper in the clouds’ airship. This captivating and romantic vehicle caught the attention of Korean electronics and construction giant Samsung which now uses the concept to showcase its own visionary outlook on the future.

Thinking on a grand scale
The concept for Aircruise is centred on a future for lighter than air vehicles. Airships typically need large volumes of a lighter than air gas, in this case hydrogen, with a comparatively smaller space for payload. Aircruise’s environments offer capacious spaces with a low density of passengers – an appealing model for a calming cruise experience. With enormous room for living, dining and relaxing, as well as scope for dramatic and inspirational public spaces, the idea of a hotel in the skies became the focus for the vehicle.

Slow is the new fast
Airships hold a particular place in the common imagination, conjuring images of romance, luxury and exploration whilst travelling. In a world where speed is an almost universal obsession, the idea of making a leisurely journey in comfort is a welcome contrast.

We considered the global appeal of the contemporary luxury hotel, but instead of standing in a fixed location, the clipper moves, combining the pleasures of retreating to a hotel with the excitement of the journey itself. Where there are locations of interest en route, the ship can drop down to within a few hundred feet of the ground, to glide over the Serengeti, the Amazon or the Great pyramids.

Aircruise is one definition of the future of the luxury travel experience, blending the indulgence of a fine hotel with the dreamlike quality and absolute freedom of flight.

An engineering challenge
Aircruise poses an enormous engineering challenge. Although a conceptual proposal, the transportation design team at Seymourpowell developed a detailed and achievable technical specification for the craft.

Lift is provided by hydrogen, the lightest gas, and the clipper is powered by large hydrogen fuel cells. The four external envelopes contain modular self-sealing lifting bags, minimising the incidence of bag rupture and ensuring safe flight even with a major external skin tear.

Its construction would demand the very latest advances in materials, structures, stabilisation and clean propulsion technologies, although the only real barrier is financial investment.

Harnessing visionary design
The value of such future-looking innovation was recognised by one of the world largest conglomerates, Samsung. On seeing the Aircruise concepts, Samsung Construction & Trade paid Seymourpowell to further develop the concept, adding detail to interiors, layouts and the travel experience. The resulting CGI concept video is now used jointly by Seymourpowell and Samsung C&T as a challenging and inspirational possibility in industrial design and transportation innovation.

Click here to view the press release with proposed technical specifications.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP15Vgt55Gk