LIFE was designed by Portuguese companies such as Almadesign, Amorim Cork Composites (a member company of CORTICEIRA AMORIM), Couro Azul, INEGI and SETSA, with the active involvement of the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The LIFE project is a future vision for an executive cabin interior, offering a comfortable travel experience through the combination of sophisticated technology solutions and sustainable natural materials like leather and cork.
One of the innovative aspects of the aircraft interior design is the thermal and acoustic comfort provided by the use of CORECORK sandwich panels covered with natural leather and Corkleather. The aircraft's roof, side panels and seats are covered with cork as well as other advanced composite materials including carbon fibre. This translates into a significant decrease in weight and effective thermal, acoustic and vibration insulation gains.
The project resulted in an innovative full-scale mockup, showcasing the technological capabilities and synergies of the Brazilian and Portuguese companies.
The Crystal Cabin Award is the only international award for excellence in aircraft interior innovation, considered the "Oscar of Interior Aviation" and is promoted by the Senate of the City of Hamburg, with an extensive panel of representatives from major manufacturers, world-renowned engineers, experts, academics and journalists in the aircraft industry. The objective of the award is to motivate companies and R&D institutions to develop products with an innovative design for aircraft cabin interiors.
The Crystal Cabin Award 2012 is sponsored by Airbus, Aircraft Interiors Expo (Reed Exhibitions), Aircraft Interiors International Magazine, Apex, Assystem, Bishop, Diehl Aerosystems Holding, Ferchau Aviation Division, Jetliner Cabins, Rücker Aerospace, Silver Atena, Sgs Germany and Zodiac Aerospace.
Several world-renowned companies such as Airbus, B&E and Lufthansa Technik competed for the Crystal Cabin Award 2012. LIFE was a finalist together with C&D Zodiac and Diehl Aerospace.
The LIFE project was funded by NSRF - National Strategic Reference Framework - and was aimed at integrating skills in various fields: from engineering to design; from cork to leather resulting in innovative aircraft cabin interiors.
