LIGHTWEIGHT MANUFACTURING
The world’s first fully flat bed, designed for British Airways
An ambition to be sustainable is influencing how material suppliers produce materials, with many now re-using the by-products of their manufacturing processes to reduce waste. This is being informed by a concept called the ‘circular economy’, which is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. As consultant designers and design engineers to aircraft cabin interior projects, Tangerine’s contribution to the design of the cabin product and customer experience is relatively insignificant to the overall carbon dioxide impact of the planes themselves. However, it can be of influence in one key area; helping to reduce weight with considered material choices and design decisions. For Tangerine’s creative director, Dan Flashman, weight is a critical factor. He says, “Advances in prepreg carbon fibre, as well as 3D printed metallic parts
offer great potential and are fast being used by seating manufacturers. These new materials bring new mechanical properties, inviting us to totally re- think the status quo to make best use of them. This has been a catalyst for innovation, especially for the Economy Class seat, where weight and space are so important.” Material thickness, laminate thickness and weight are really important in how you design for aircraft. When there are limitations on virtually everything within the cabin, design becomes a bit of a balancing act. Ultimately these limitations mean that aircraft interior designers must think outside the box when it comes to balancing advancing customer expectations with reducing product weight; as additional weight is a lifetime increase, because the plane burns more fuel for every flight of its life cycle. Alex Loudon, design lead at
Tangerine, agrees: “Although humans’
needs haven’t changed much, expectations have altered drastically. However, cabin space and size have pretty much stayed the same. It is a metal tube as it always has been. The challenge is meeting and exceeding these shifting expectations while working within the same dimensions.” Plane interior designs are a crowded
and overworked landscape, so it has become harder and harder to innovate. One area of improvement may be a move away from wide-body jets to more fuel-efficient narrow-body jets for long haul, which in turn will lead to new cabin layouts. Although the physical space hasn’t changed, the internal landscape has rapidly evolved in recent years with First Class of yesterday becoming the Business Class of today and an expectation of the ‘Super’ First Class cabin emerging on some scheduled airlines. The upside to this is that perhaps the super-rich can be persuaded to ditch their private jets in
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