SEPTEMBER 2008

Pleasure trip Making the journey more attractive Railway Interiors Expo show preview All routes lead to Amsterdam The rise of the double decker Different approaches in Europe and America

The official publication of Railway Interiors Expo 4, 5, 6 November 2008, the netherlands

Rai lway Interiors International SEPTEMBER 2008 Published by UKIP Media & Events Ltd

by Jon Lawson

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Get ready for Amsterdam, the preview is on page 24

Creating any new train is a challenge, but when that train needs to traverse the highest route in the world, there are also vital safety elements to consider
he Tangula Express is a new, high-end service that will start running on the 4,000km Beijing to Lhasa and Beijing to Lijiang routes in 2009. The operators plan is that on their five-day/four-night journey, the Tangula Expresss 96 passengers will be carried in 48 luxury suites with queen-size bed, en-suite bathroom, broadband internet, flatscreen TV and DVD player, and can enjoy 24-hour butler service and on-board guides, and have a choice of two dining cars in the middle of the train. To meet the level of luxury expected, the Tangula Express will feature custom-designed interiors created by New York design company Elskop Scholz. One of the founders of the Tangula project approached Ins Elskop, who he had originally met at architecture school, in October 2006. The initial brief was ambitious: Our clients dreamed of building a new train with all the amenities of a 6-star hospitality property, explains Elskop. Put simply, they wanted to build the most magnificent train in the world. This would be a purpose-built train, not a retrofit of existing rolling stock. Although the design is inspired by the sense of luxury of the great trains, it is not supposed to be historical or sentimental. The underlying inspiration is modern, forward-looking, and representative of the new China. Elskop Scholz chose to see the design as a luxury hospitality project in a train format. The company began with extensive research on China in various cultural fields, drawing inspiration from architecture and design and from history and art. The project had a very tight timeline from the start.

INSET: The brief was to make the most magnificent train in the world

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documents that allowed us to fine-tune materials and surfaces as details were developed and refined. At the same time, we commissioned or built numerous models or mock-ups that we took to China to reinforce the visual concept and communicate the desired finish level, including a wall extrusion system, wood finishes and sculptural metal pieces. The mock-up phase was also used in a slightly different way than is usual in train production. Elskop Scholz advocated the concept of a working mockup, one that was a live tool to work out complex relationships and material junctures as well as spatial concepts, rather than as a finished representation of the design for corroboration. The overall envelope was mocked up with finished materials, into which the various furniture or cabinet elements were inserted after they had been worked on individually. There were also many individual mock-ups of separate elements that served to resolve any issues. The seating, a particularly sensitive element, and the complicated window shading system underwent extensive prototyping. The bathroom/dressing room module was modified many times to develop size and exact relationships best suited to comfort and aesthetics. Although there were many mock-ups, they were treated more as a laboratory rather than a finished model for emulation. While Elskop Scholz continued to refine the interior design of the train, the manufacturer was producing a great number of production drawings. This process highlighted areas that still needed work. The resulting questions were answered either with sketch drawings, by email, or in intense design charettes conducted at the factory in China. The builders documents, however, constituted the definitive version of the project and were the basis on which the train was constructed.

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above and right: Design inspiration comes from luxury hotels

We decided to use many different modes of representation to communicate our ideas to all the parties involved, says Christopher Scholz. For the concept design we used a computer, hand sketching and preliminary material boards, as well as image boards to help organise our ideas. Each of these methods fed back on each other in various iterations and we constantly re-evaluated, so some ideas fell by the wayside, and others were used in the final design. While this was happening, the company was digesting the complex technical requirements of the design. A large-scale and dimensionally accurate exchange of documents began with manufacturer Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation Ltd (BSP). Scholz explains, This

Lighting-up time

combination would help us grow from concept to design development knowing that we were on the right track for manufacture. As we are architects, we used architectural language to convey the spatial planning moves.

We decided to use many different modes of representation to communicate our ideas to all the parties involved
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As is often the case in rail design projects of this size, the clients and the builder requested regular 3D renderings to ensure that all parties were happy that the project was going in the right direction. However, unusually, Elskop Scholz decided to go the extra mile: We felt that the 3D views would not capture the entirety of the spaces, so we elaborated a system of rendered plans and elevations, taking our line drawings and rendering them in Photoshop with colour and textures similar to the intended final design, notes Elskop. These became working

Elskop Scholz invited specialist Dr Linnaea Tillett and her team at Tillett Lighting Design Inc to join the project. The challenge was to come up with a design that transformed the environment from the purely utilitarian to something authentically and appropriately luxurious, says Tillett. Were not covering up the reality that a train is an industrial machine, but softening that reality to comfort and indulge its passengers. As common functional lighting fixtures typically used on trains were not suitable for a luxury environment, even the 26 non-decorative fixtures had to be custom-designed. These include downlights, art lighting, and shower, walkway and reading lights. LEDs were chosen for their small size, long life and colour-changing capacities. Tillett says, Unlike incandescent sources, which have a rich quality of light due to their various lengths of light waves, LED sources only emit one length of light wave. To get around this, the designers reshaped the quality of the light. It was a new way of looking at how warmth and complexity are created, adds Tillett. We surrounded the LED sources in luxurious materials and rich diffusers. The idea was to affect a kind of magic and transform the experience of a 21st-century light source into the timeless appeal of candlelight and incandescent glows. The lighting fixtures in the suite cars, corridors and scenic lounge all feature an elegant natural surface of mica. These thin slices of stone give texture, and as the sun passes during the day, the mica transforms unobtrusively. At night, these fixtures become luminous. The nickel sconces next to the windows are inspired by old train lanterns. Their mirror-like surfaces are designed to reflect the passing landscape during the day, and when the sun goes down, the sconce interior is illuminated by tiny diffused LEDs that mimic candle light.

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right Huge efforts went into getting the lighting just right in the dining areas

We considered the manufacturer an integral partner and collaborator rather than simply the implementer of the design in helping to bring this complex project to fruition, says Scholz. We understand that it is customary in typical train-design workflow for the designer to complete the design phase and then hand it over to the manufacturer for production. Given the compressed timescale, the finish requirements of the project, and the physical and cultural distances to be bridged, such a conventional sequence was not possible. We considered it important to have a constant dialogue with the manufacturer, he adds, so that we could explain our intent and explore detailing and feasibility during the design phase and through documentation.

Jumping the language barrier

To successfully work together, the Elskop Scholz team and the client had to communicate freely without relying purely on a common language. Elskop says, The solution was to find ways to bridge communication between two different cultures at both spoken language level and in design language. We spent time getting to know each other and found methods that enhanced our communication. At first we worked with a translator but after a few sessions decided to forego third-party interpretation, instead we tried out our common visual language in drawings. This system proved to be a great success, resulting in very exciting design sessions. The team felt the Tangula design was too complex to be designed in a traditional sequential and linear way, so a more parallel and integrated method of work was adopted. An engineer designer working in isolation on his or her portion of the train shared information with colleagues working on related parts. In this way, concept, design and detail could be simultaneously explored, producing integrated solutions across disciplines. We could not follow our usual architectural sequence of design, refinement, documentation and production, notes Scholz. Different

timelines were at odds with one another, and we had to accept the locking in of certain designs at less than ideal moments. Rather than working with the usual linear sequence, we had to conceptualise and design in parallel without losing track of the design vision. This meant deciding on key elements early in the schedule to anchor the whole, while sometimes being forced to withhold final resolution of certain elements later than might have been optimal.

Brought to book
To help get the design message across and ensure all parties were fully informed about progress, Elskop Scholz took the unusual step of publishing four books, which were distributed to the client, the manufacturer and the Chinese government. The first in the series was a leather-bound presentation affair with a print run of just three. These books became a very useful resource for us, says Elskop. As we updated the design, we used internetbased publishing resources to print the books, knowing that they could also be used for marketing purposes before any mock-ups were produced. It kept the government in the loop regarding our plans, and helped us to organise the complex project in our own minds.

Flexible trend
There has been much discussion about flexible interiors in the industry, and the Tangula Express is no different. One of its distinguishing features is that it offers a luxury environment with flexibility catering to different hospitality travel preferences, such as large groups, weddings, corporate events and business meetings, as well as customised sleeping arrangements. For instance, the dining car needed to seat 24 people for dinner as well as open up for a cocktail party or meeting. Our challenge was to offer these options within a very limited envelope, says Elskop. We designed

custom tables and beds that change function seamlessly through complex mechanical solutions. The dining tables are capable of folding flat to the wall for special occasions. The bed can be a lounge seat, a single bed, or half of a double bed as the occasion may require.

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Moving parts, though unavoidable, were downplayed in favour of giving a feeling of solidity, stability and comfort. We wanted to emphasise familiarity with the object rather than technological prowess, she continues. We didnt want a contraption that met all these requirements, but rather a piece of furniture that looked familiar, but magically acquired different uses. A lot of our most challenging work is now in fact invisible! on-board climate is carefully controlled. The

enrichment system uses well-proven Chinese technology, says Scholz. It works by removing the nitrogen from the ambient air, to increase the oxygen percentage inside. In addition to this, there are masks in all the suites and public areas, just in case a passenger needs more oxygen.
In keeping with the 6-star status of the rest of the train, the communications technology and web access is planned to be among the best. Although no final decisions have been made, Scholz is able to confirm that it will be a satellitebased system. We are going to offer on-board internet access, television access and automated billing and process management. All the staff will be equipped with PDA-type WiFi units to take orders and monitor the inventory. In time, full telephony will also be available. The Tangula Express could take luxury train travel to the next level. It will open up previously remote areas to tourism, and it is hoped that it will convince people that air travel is not the only option for long journeys across China.

A lot of our most challenging work is now in fact invisible!

Material gain
Materials were sourced from various locations. Some speciality items came from the USA, but most were sourced in China. Stone, personally selected by Elskop Scholz, was cut to specification and sourced from Shenzen and Guangzhou. Wood veneers came from a Shanghai distributor and were all custom-laid, and wool carpet was sourced and custom-coloured in China. Metal work is mostly from China, stainlesssteel metal mesh was produced for walls, and hardware elements were custom-plated in nickel. The aesthetic of the design and the travellers experience involved balancing contrasts. Colours are an important part of the design but are not considered in an arbitrary manner or in isolation, rather in concert with materials and textures. The suites are designed to be private and calm, quiet and meditative, and the corridors and dining/ scenic cars are more vibrant, with greater contrast to encourage people to mix. The interiors are more than a feast for the eye. They are also an invitation to touch, a stimulation for all the senses, providing a variety of experiences during a five-day stay, Scholz observes. Materials and surfaces were selected in contrasting pairs: soft/ hard, vibrant/calm, lustrous/opaque. One unusual aspect of the interior is the oxygen enrichment system, which is necessary to prevent guests suffering from altitude sickness as the train traverses the Himalayas at over 16,500ft (5,000m) above sea level. The railcars are not hermetically sealed and pressurised, but there are no opening windows and the

right The mix of textures is evident

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