The sensory pleasures of transport re-imagined
As the Hyperloop moves from dream closer to reality, the company reveals the designers rethinking the nature of travel
Airplane-style interiors will be enhanced by stronger sensory elements. Visual by Teague
Imagine you are in a cramped space, unable to see outside and with no sight of what’s ahead.
Exciting, huh? Well, perhaps not. Sounds rather like lockdown.
But it’s also the basics of what a ride on the Virgin Hyperloop might be like, stripped of the creative finesse. This 600mph+ technology, using maglev trains in a vacuum tube, aims to deliver a public transport vehicle that can move faster than standard air travel. That would take passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 45 minutes.
But besides raw engineering innovation, the human interface of the design is crucial — and is just starting to be revealed.
Clues on the crucial customer experience are indicated by the identity of the extensive creative team at work. The iconic industrial design firm Teague is central, along with architects BIG (Bjarne Ingalls Group). Visuals by both have been recently updated, including photography from the first short ride on the 500m test track. For that maiden test trip, real employees (not crash test dummies) were strapped in, albeit at speeds well below full operational aspirations.
But it is with the work of sound design from Man Made Music and the ‘olfactive design’ firm 12.29 that we might start to dream of a next generation sensory experience that can convert sitting within an oversize cigar holder, travelling through a tunnel at body-shredding speeds should anything go slightly wrong, into a place of desirable but affordable luxury.
For all that there have been sceptics, after many years of development the project is now in detailed design with recent tests on a track under the Nevada desert. Full service delivery is still projected to be at least five years away.
We perhaps should wish the team at Virgin Hyperloop all the best in giving us something to look forward to. This continues to be a high wire creative act for our time.
