Client: Emirates Airline
Agency: Pulse Group
Studio: Territory
Role: Lead Designer/Animator
Location: EXPO 2020 Duba
A whopping 8 interactive, immersive, and passive installations across 2 floors. Visual technology and experimentation was at the forefront. We used transparent LEDs, peppers ghost, virtual reality, 360 immersive projection and even robotic arms. I took the lead on three of the installations The Science of Flight, Thrust & Propulsion, and Design Your Perfect Aircraft.
EXPO 2O2O - Emirates
The Science of Flight
A 1 minute ambient explainer piece on a stunning peppers ghost screen. The hologram effect worked beautifully with a wonderful sense of parallax between the front and back screens.
Thrust & Propulsion
Set in-front of a life size jet engine are 6 transparent touch screen LED’s. Our job was to create an informative interactive experience about different aircraft engine types, Hybrid, Electric, and Scramjet.
First job was to research and model each engine. The GE9X Turbine engine was the base for the Hybrid as it’s the beast powering Emirate’s new Boeing 777X fleet, I found a model of the casing online and set to work filling out the turbines and details within. For Electric I researched and found the Siemens SP260D Electric motor which is an incredibly capable and runs at 95% efficiency. I modelled this from reference images and then designed my own fan casing for it to sit with-in. The Scramjet was much simpler as is the beauty and concept of it, I just had to learn exactly what that was. I wanted something that looked technical but also beautiful so I rendered various line and geometry passes and subtly blended them through a combination of frosted and thin transparent glass to get something that felt somewhere between the schematic and physical world.
Engines signed off it was now about creating an engaging experience. I came up with a dynamic camera move rotating around the engines as they explode out and then set about designing the UI.
Design Your Perfect Aircraft
It’s in the name and as the first to experience this I really did design my own perfect aircraft. With the various customisations we were planning (distance, wing shape, and fuel type) I knew that we were going to have a total of 16 aircraft (some choice pathways blocked, no electric scramjet for instance).
My research phase took me to some incredible but not that inspiring looking concept planes from NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and AirBus. So I went about isolating the technical and design elements that were new and exciting and a very real future in aviation. Concepts like box or folding wings, blended wing, wide body and totally window less aircraft. Combining this with the different engine types, distance parameters and an additional one capacity (for size variance). I created a matrix to then brief in a concept artist. Working closely with the artist we went through several rounds of revision on each of the 16 which you can see below.
We then went into modelling & texturing. A mammoth task made larger in that each aircraft was to have 4 texture sets. An Emirates ‘standard’ and then 3 colour options which you can personalise ‘in-game’. Cinema 4D and Substance Painter were used to deliver the final assets.
As much time and effort in the aircraft they are but a part of the full experience. In tandem I also had to design the UI which is split across 3 screens. Eye level transparent HD LED in-front and separated regular screen to give a holographic effect. Then the user interface at desk level was on a 4k touch screen.
3 UI phases to design. Parts selection, personalisation and then the test flight! The below is the animation and design bible I made which was then handed over to the team to build/code in Unreal.
For the nerds
I got a real kick out of designing the aircraft and am delighted to say they were received spectacularly by the client. At one point there were talks of making miniatures of them to sell at the pavilion!
To understand each aircraft better in the design phase I wrote blurb for each one. If you’ve made it this far down the page then you might enjoy this as well.
01. Short Haul / Split Wing / Electric - 'The Bus'. Almost public transport level. A city to city jumper. Very short take off and landing. Range of about 300 miles for 40 passengers and overhead luggage only.
02. Short Haul / Split Wing (Box) / Bio Fuel - Small private jet box wing for around 20 passengers. Best for taking you and your clients from Zurich to Madrid is comfort and class.
03. Short Haul / Split Wing / Hybrid - Electric Fan arrays embedded in the wing give serious grunt for take off and manoeuvring where the gas tail jet maintains comfortable cruise speed in this low cost European city hopper. Frequent economy flights with up to 60 passengers and luggage.
04. Short Haul / Split Wing / Hydrogen - 100 passengers flying into the future in this windowless, folding tip aircraft. Will get you to the Arabian peninsular from London, the maximum range for Short haul aircraft. 120 passengers and full luggage.
05. Short Haul / Blended Wing / Electric - European City hopper with a transparent glass ceiling for up to 30 passengers.
06. Short Haul / Blended Wing / Bio Fuel - Evtol for 40 passengers to get out of the city and to.... another city. Runs to the maximum range of the short haul class to get premium/business class passenger in and out of city centres.
07. Short Haul / Blended Wing / Hybrid - Electric fans mix with gas jet for an efficient 100 passenger economy flyer.
08. Short Haul / Blended Wing / Hydrogen - Top Speed and low flight times in this 120 passenger plane to reach the upper limits of short haul flying.
09. Long Haul / Split Wing / Bio Fuel - 50 passengers enjoy a touch of luxury along with the eco credentials of the plane. Not the fastest but certainly one of the most comfortable.
10. Long Haul / Split Wing / Hybrid - The Whale. 400 passengers from 1st class to economy on two decks. Front facing gallery window on upper deck. Cockpit in lower portion of the plane. Powered by 4 hybrid gas turbines and 2 electric. Huge advanced solar panel array on roof which takes care of most passenger related energy consumption.
11. Long Haul / Split Wing (Box) / Hydrogen - Catering for all class of traveller but primarily a long haul economy plane capable of making London - Sydney in 20 hours. 200 passengers.
12. Long Haul / Blended Wing / Bio Fuel - Elite level private jet. No expense spared on the interior. Luxury in this slight form over function 20 person jet capable of Long Haul journeys just not all that fast, which is good because you won't ever want to get off.
13. Long Haul / Blended Wing / Hybrid - The Yacht is the largest plane in the fleet and chosen by many as a flagship aircraft. 500 passengers economy through to 1st class on two decks with a gallery at the front. Electric Engines in the wings make for a quick start where the central gas turbines take care of cruise.
14. Long Haul / Blended Wing / Hydrogen - 300 passengers enjoy fast flight times in this hugely powerful blended wing plane.
15. Supersonic / Blended Wing / Hydrogen - 20 passengers fly faster than the speed of sound in minimalist luxury. A windowless fuselage adds to its strength and aerodynamic profile. Interior screens communicate the flying environment.
16. Hypersonic / Blended Wing / Hypersonic - The dreams of science fiction made reality. Flying at the highest altitude of any commercial aircraft up to 300 passengers traverse the globe at hypersonic speeds. This plane runs a dual engine system with huge advancements in heat management and live feed flight technology. Breaking the sound barrier at a near vertical trajectory it then flies high enough that level cruise flight at +mach 5 that has no interference on the ground. Not cheap but certainly a class of its own.