Acumen Design Associates has achieved further shortlist success in the International Yacht & Aviation Awards 2015. The multidisciplinary design firm will also compete for the Commercial Cabin (Economy / Business Class) Award, with Etihad Airways’ ‘Business Studio’.
In 2008, Etihad Airways embarked on a search for a leading design agency partner to design the future cabin interiors for their new fleet of A380 (and latterly B787) aircraft. With an ambition to be the ‘best airline in the world,’ Etihad outlined a vision for their project that would build on their success and continue to redefine airline travel. The EDC – Etihad Design Consortium brought together three companies. Acumen was chosen to design the on-board seating across First Class, Business and Economy. Factorydesign was tasked to design the passenger experience and cabin interior such as galleys, lavatories and passenger destination zones. Honour Branding’s role was to coordinate the project and interface with Etihad. The vision was to bring the individuality and exclusivity of a ‘Luxury Boutique hotel experience – that embraced Arabian modernism’.
Etihad’s ‘Business Studio’ aims to be the game changer of business class travel. This product, exclusively designed by Acumen Design Associates provides unprecedented real estate to the business class passenger, rivalling the space, luxury and comfort of most airlines’ first class seats.
This unique FWD and AFT seating configuration combined with staggered, interlocking ottomans allowed Acumen to maximise the amount of real estate for each business class passenger without compromising the overall seat count.
The layout has individual aisle access for all passengers (i.e. no stepping over another passenger to get to the aisle) and offers a large, flexible environment for every passenger to relax in – a space to rival some other airlines First Class products.
The Etihad ‘Business Studio’ takes the business class product offer to the next level and offers an unrivalled passenger experience.