The French company Technicon Design has just won First Prize in the International Yacht & Aviation Awards for their design for the Ixion Private Jet. It is hardly surprising: the fuselage looks transparent, as though the walls and roof were an enormous single window through which passengers can see the fantastic views offered by the Earth from the air. However, in reality, there are no windows. The company dispenses with the small cabin windows and converts the lateral and upper parts of the plane into a large viewpoint, completely covering them in flexible screens which show the surroundings captured by cameras installed on the exterior of the aircraft.
The aim of Technicon Design was to challenge our current concept of what a plane is, but not to have a proposal which was pure fantasy. They wanted a construction which was feasible using the latest existing technology and they have undeniably reached their goal. The result is a completely innovative and aesthetically elegant design, currently targeted at private company jets.
According to the company’s Design Director, Gareth Davies, omitting windows also simplifies the plane’s construction and reduces its weight, thereby reducing fuel and, in the long term, maintenance costs.
Multifunctional Panoramic Screens
The exterior cameras capture 360 degree panoramic views, but the interior panels can either display the surroundings in real time or they can act as screens to watch films, hold videoconferences or offer three-dimensional landscapes as if the passengers were flying over the Amazon jungle, a beach or the Eiffel Tower.
There is no construction date set for the Ixion Private Jet yet, but the aeroplane design of the future is already here.