Leading design and innovation company Seymourpowell unveils full details of its visionary transportation concept, Aircruse -- a giant, vertical airship powered by natural energy and designed to carry travellers in style and luxury. For more information go to seymourpowell.com and http://blog.seymourpowell.com/2010/02/aircruise-a-giant-vertical-airship-powered-by-natural-energy-designed-to-carry-travellers-in-style-and-luxury-2/

1. PRESS RELEASE
Seymourpowell introduces the Aircruise – a clipper in the clouds
Visionary concept work for Samsung C&T explores the future of travel and transport
London, UK, 03 February 2010 - Leading design and innovation company
Seymourpowell is today unveiling full details of its visionary transportation concept, Aircruise
- a giant, vertical airship powered by natural energy and designed to carry travellers in style
and luxury.
Originally a self-generated project, 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.
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. The video can be
viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP15Vgt55Gk
Seymourpowell’s Aircruise concept presents an alternative take on the future, suggesting
‘slow is the new fast’. Jeremy White, transport designer at Seymourpowell explains, “The
Aircruise concept questions whether the future of luxury travel should be based around
space-constrained, resource hungry, and all too often stressful airline travel. A more serene
transport experience will appeal to people looking for a more reflective journey, where the
experience of travel itself is more important than getting from A to B quickly.”
On Aircruise, it is the very abundance of time and space that defines the luxury experience.
In a world where speed is an almost universal obsession, the idea of making a leisurely
journey in comfort is a welcome contrast. White explains, “The physics of the airship requires
a gigantic volume of lifting gas, yet simultaneously demands a relatively limited amount of
weight. This allows for a potentially large amount of space with relatively few people onboard
– a luxury for any traveller.”
White added, “It’s a world cruise not limited to the ocean, offering instead the dream-like
quality and absolute freedom of flight. Passengers can choose to dine thousands of feet
above a city, or take in the view whilst moving through the air over the ocean or a national
landmark.”

2. Lifted by hydrogen and powered by solar energy, the Aircruise concept also has obvious
environmental benefits. Seung Min Kim, design director at Samsung C&T commented, “This
was a dream concept project for us, helping to realise a future of sustainable buildings
combined with innovative and luxury lifestyle. In an age when environmental impact is a key
consideration for architecture, we are keen to extend this vision of the future by searching for
solutions that can be realised by 2015 – the year that many futurologists foresee as the
turning point for the future.”
Although only a conceptual proposal, the transportation design team at Seymourpowell
developed a detailed and achievable technical specification for the craft. See below for
further technical details.
***ENDS***
For further information contact:
Tim Duncan
PR Global, Seymourpowell
Email: tim.duncan@seymourpowell.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7386 2369
Full case study available at http://www.seymourpowell.com/#/case_studies/34/
Images available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/seymourpowell/sets/72157623175424001/
NOTES TO EDITORS
Proposed conceptual specifications for Aircruise as follows:
From the docking rig at the base to the tip, the ship is 265 metres tall. Hydrogen, the lightest
gas, is used as the lifting gas, and is capable of lifting around 1.2Kg per cubic metre of
volume. Large PEM hydrogen fuel cells will provide on board power and some drinking
water.
The volume of the main envelope in the ship is calculated at 330,000 cubic metres, which
equals 396,000 Kg of available lift at sea level (1,000Kg = 1 Tonne (t)).
Estimated weights:
Primary structure, envelope and systems 270t (reference – around the same weight as an
airbus A380 super jumbo, empty weight)
Consumables, water, ballast etc 20t
People (estimate max 100 people on board) 15t

3. Control deck and staff (20 staff) 6t
Bar/Lounge/communal zone fit out 15t
4 Duplex apartments at 5t each 20t
Penthouse apartment 12t
5 smaller apartments at 4t each 20t
Total load factor 378t
Available lift excess is therefore 18-20t or 20,000Kg of lift.
Part of the renewed interest in airships derives from advances in materials, structures,
stabilisation and clean propulsion technologies. Utilising composite frames and fabrications,
lightweight semi flexible structures can be built at large scales. Although large, this is
nevertheless a semi rigid ship, the primary tensioned structure consisting of 8 vertical
composite lattices supporting four main flexible envelopes, which contain 330,000 cubic
metres of hydrogen gas. Lower decks are ‘hung’ off these primary supports.
Each of the 4 external envelopes contains modular self-sealing lifting bags, minimising the
incidence of bag rupture and ensuring safe flight even with a major external skin rupture.
Automatic stability thrusters and altitude control using automatic adjustment of the gas
density ensures a smooth ride compared to previous airships. Although still susceptible to
storms and very poor weather, advanced weather radar and weather prediction systems
allow the ship to route around major problems.
Despite the perceived risks, hydrogen is used for its inherent lifting efficiency and as a power
source. Flexible photovoltaic (solar panel) cells cover the upper part of the envelope,
augmenting the primary power generation, in this case from fuel cells. Large surface area
PEM fuel cells generate the primary power for on board systems and turn low speed
compressors located in the mid section of the ship. This compressed gas is ducted to
provide directional thrust and auto stabilisation. Compressed hydrogen stored in parts of the
main structure provides fuel for longer ranges and by venting to the envelope or re-
compressing these volumes, altitude stability is achieved.
By combining the lifting gas and the fuel for thrust the overall weight of the ship can be
minimised, whilst ensuring a silent, pollution free passage. Water vapour is harnessed to
augment on board potable water.
The service ceiling is limited to 12,000 feet, given the attenuation of the atmosphere (the
hotel is not pressurised) and the limits of gas expansion within the envelope. If however,

4. there are specific locations of interest en route, the ship can drop down to within a few
hundred feet of the ground.
Cruising speed without tail or headwind is 100 – 150 Km/hr. This equates to journey times
that are appropriate to the cruise experience: London to New York in 37 hours; Los Angeles
to Shanghai in 90 hours.
Six-flight crew will include two flight engineers, and will fly the ship in shifts, given the likely
cruise durations. 14 support staff will run the hotel experience for the guest passengers.
About Seymourpowell – the shape of things to come
Already well established in transport design through large-scale projects for Midland
Mainline and Bell Helicopters, Seymourpowell is also the group behind the world’s first
hydrogen fuel cell bike, ENV, developed for Intelligent Energy. Like ENV, Aircruise is another
example of the group’s method of working back from the future – conceiving ideas for
products, behaviors and desires that could be, and then developing them for the present
day.
Seymourpowell is one of the world’s leading design and innovation companies. Founded in
1984 by Richard Seymour and Dick Powell, the London-based group of award-winning
designers has produced some of the ‘milestone’ products of the last two decades. The
company is now part of the Loewy Group.
Seymourpowell is currently 80 people, combining a design studio, research centre, materials
library and prototyping workshop.
Seymourpowell has a unique holistic approach to design and innovation, which combines in
depth experience and up to date intelligence about people, markets and businesses. The
company has the ability to forecast and interpret the vital implications of behaviors and work
out future scenarios to give its clients the confidence and reassurance they are making the
right decision.
Seymourpowell is skilled in exploiting ideas that create real value and always look to move
clients forward creatively. Seymourpowell is not just a company of visionary thinkers, but
future ‘doers’. Ultimately, Seymourpowell is about making things better: better for people,
better for business and better for the world.
Specialisms include design innovation, transportation design, ethnographic user research,

5. strategy and new product development (NPD), trends and forecasting, product design and
development, 3D structural design and 2D graphic design