Led by AlmaDesign, a Brazilian/Portuguese consortium that included Brazilian airframer Embraer (Booth No. 741), hit the cabin design jackpot in March with its Project LIFE executive private jet cabin design, winning top prize in the “Visionary Concepts” category of the recent Crystal Cabin Awards in Hamburg, Germany.

The cabin concept was developed by AlmaDesign with the team of Amorim Cork Composites, leather specialist Coruo Azul, the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management (INEGI) and SET engineering, all of Portugal, in partnership with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The consortium’s efforts culminated in a cabin mockup in which design is “focused on the use of natural and sustainable materials.”

According to the LIFE team, inspiration for the jet interior and prototype full-scale mockup came from natural structures, based on a symbiotic relationship between natural and artificial elements, “providing a harmonious environment where technology is subtly pervasive [rather than] being imposed on the passengers.”

“Project LIFE is the result of an initial desire to demonstrate our capacity and that of Portuguese industry in generating and aggregating new capabilities for innovative and eco-efficient solutions,” said AlmaDesign president Jose Rui Marcelino.

Embraer acted as the international consultant for the project by placing its technological development team and its Center for Interiors Validation at the disposal of the group.

An investment of approximately $2.3 million in Project Life was co-financed in Portugal by funds from Compete-Qren, a Lisbon-based group created to encourage exploration of new technology and science.