Technicon Design’s innovative IXION Windowless Jet concept has been shortlisted in two categories of the 2014 International Yacht and Aviation Awards.
Created by the international design agency’s French design studio just outside Paris, the Windowless Jet proposal was first conceived for the National Business Aviation Association show to demonstrate Technicon’s creative design, digital modeling and visualization capabilities in the transportation design sector.
“The ethos of the project is simple, to challenge current thinking and propose something a little different,” says Gareth Davies, Design Director at Technicon’s French Studio “It has to be credible and relevant, yet provoke discussion.”
Davies planted the seed to “break out of conventional thinking” with his team, and set the groundwork to develop a new exterior and interior for a business jet.
“We quickly settled on the controversial yet interesting idea of removing the windows from the cabin and using existing or very near future technology to display the exterior environment to the inside surfaces of the cabin via external cameras,” says Davies. “Removing the windows allows for weight reduction, simplifies construction and opens up an enormous spectrum of possibilities for interior design. We wanted to couple this with amorphous solar panels which power the low voltage systems on board and thus offer a unique visual dynamic for the exterior.”
“The user experience is greatly enhanced by directly engaging the passengers with the environment outside, to the point of exhilaration by giving an unhindered panoramic view from the inside,” he adds. “Parallax barrier technology allows the passengers to see different views at the same time on the same screen.
“A myriad of potential cabin moods and themes open up by tailoring the images or ambiance that is displayed, even by mimicking a more traditional interior if desired.”
Now in its fourth year, the International Yacht and Aviation Awards features 18 categories across the yacht and aviation design industries. With a maximum of 10 entries per category the chosen entries are decided by a shortlist panel before being presented online. Voting — which is open to industry professionals as well as the general public — will begin April 7 via the Design Awards website and continue through to May 9th, when the winners in each of the categories will be presented.
See the full list of shortlisted yacht and aviation projects for this year’s Yacht and Aviation Awards here: International Yacht and Aviation Awards 2014
