The new Peninsula Hotel London is likely to become a popular destination of jet setters, which may partially explain why there’s now a 2,700-pound scale sculpture model of the Concorde hanging overhead inside Brooklands, their rooftop dining destination inside the classic-era British aviation and motorsport inspired space.
Created by industrial design firm Discommon, the sleek aerodynamic silhouette of the Concorde was installed to become the centerpiece and focal point of the luxury hotel’s restaurant, an “homage to British aviation and cars” that required several feats of engineering. The challenges faced were not only in piecing together the sculpture comprising a dizzying 11,420 components, but perhaps more so in getting a gargantuan, fully machined aluminum object overhead and safely secured.
Discommon founder Neil Ferrier affectionately calls the project “the world’s most accurate jigsaw puzzle,” as the speedform silhouette is pieced together with 400 custom machined panels secured by over 3,000 brackets and 8,000 bolts that fit together with the utmost precision. Over the span of three years in design and development, Discommon considered every painstaking detail, taking on various roles and responsibilities from engineering to manufacturing to final install.
“This was a hugely complicated feat of design, engineering, problem solving and manufacturing that demanded nothing short of our best,” notes Ferrier, “Over the past three years this passion project has presented us with the opportunity to push the boundaries of design and deliver a culmination of creativity, engineering expertise and design intricacy that we are truly proud of. We are honored to present our ode to British aviation in flight at the monumental Peninsula Hotel.”
While a hypersonic jaunt across the Atlantic to London, or anywhere by Concorde, is out of the picture (the jet’s last retiring flight was in 2003), Discommon does offer a Concorde-inspired duo of commemorative designs – a poster print of their 3D model, alongside a walnut speedform sculpture of the jet.
