Category:

Overall Winner

Design Practice:

Acumen Design Associates

Project Title:

The Apartments First Class Suites, Etihad

Design Practice Location:

London, UK

“The Apartment” is the worlds largest, most luxurious and highly customised first class suite, achieved via a revolutionary patent pending cabin layout – designed for Etihad Airways by Acumen Design Associates.

 

Acumen were briefed to design a first class cabin based on the Etihad’s successful ‘inspired service’ – to bring the individuality and exclusivity of “a luxury boutique hotel experience that embraced arabian modernism.”

 

Since the development of seat-to-bed products in the mid 90’s, little has changed to transform the basic layout and approach to first class suite design. FC products are mostly forward facing seats with furniture built around them – usually configured across the aircraft as a 1:2:1 twin aisle layout on a wide body.

 

Fundamentally, the single central aisle (1:1) of ‘The Apartments’ is completely unique and different to any product that has gone before, with real room-like proportions, offering a separate seat and bed without compromise to either, and corridor of floor-space allowing dynamic passenger movement around the suite. This provides the passenger more choice in how and where they relax, eat, sleep, and even entertain other guests.

 

In 6 of the 9 suites, the passengers can even open up the suites into doubles creating a spectacular space.

 

The increased storage space has allowed the overhead bins to be removed and pave the way for the highest privacy walls in the sky – giving a unique architectural feel to the cabin.

 

It is an un-rivalled First-Class space (39 sqft) and experience.
Etihad launched the product to the world press on May 5th 2014, and it will enter service on December 19th 2014.

 

Acumen took full responsibility for all aspects of the seat design and development for “The Apartments” FC cabin. Their service offer encompassed blue-sky concept designs and layouts, through to the development of the conceptual engineering and product styling, to managing the suppliers through to delivery. Acumen are named inventors for all elements of the new seat designs which are currently patent pending.