Club class: Virgin Atlantic has brought new thinking to the generally prosaic passenger lounge.Airport lounges An airport lounge is a lounge owned by a particular airline (or jointly operated by several carriers). Many offer private meeting rooms, phone, fax, wireless and internet access and other business services, along with provisions to enhance comfort such as free drinks and snacks. , as an architectural type, are at the anonymous end of the design spectrum. Their main function, other than reminding passengers with expensive tickets that they don't have to slum slum Densely populated area of substandard housing, usually in a city, characterized by unsanitary conditions and social disorganization. Rapid industrialization in 19th-century Europe was accompanied by rapid population growth and the concentration of working-class people it with the general public in waiting areas, is to offer free alcohol, calorie-rich snacks, and corporate furniture that you wouldn't want at home. Softroom's Clubhouse at Heathrow, for Virgin Atlantic 'Upper Class' passengers (so British), has changed all that. Their design is a piece of genuine innovation, prompted by Virgin's impressive in-house design team which re-analysed the way passengers might wish to use the inevitable waiting time between check-in and flight departure. So successful has the exercise been that travellers are spending up to four hours in the Clubhouse, rather than the anticipated two. The reason is simple: there is plenty to do, and plenty of (free) services to enjoy. Why not get your hair cut? Or a manicure, massage, tanning tanning, process by which skins and hides are converted into leather. Vegetable tanning, a method requiring more than a month even with modern machinery and tanning liquors, employs tannin; its use is shown in Egyptian tomb paintings dating from 3000 B.C. , sauna or spa session? Alternatively, do some reading in the library section, watch planes from the roof garden, or watch the kids as they enjoy the playground zone. And needless to say, there is plenty of food and drink on offer: a 14m long cocktail bar, a deli section for light refreshments, and more substantial meals from a brasserie bras·se·rie n. A restaurant serving alcoholic beverages, especially beer, as well as food. [French, from brasser, to malt, brew, from Old French bracier, from Vulgar Latin . The architectural approach has been to treat the main space in the 2500sqm interior as a flowing two-level 'landscape', with furniture and columns used to identify different areas, and walls kept strictly to the perimeter areas. The result is what the architects call a series of 'landscapes and vistas'. Longer than a jumbo jet, the size of the facility allows this concept to work well, enhanced as it is by a sweeping ceiling treatment which successfully disguises the original low floor to ceiling height in an old multi-storey concrete structure. Working with structural engineer Neil Thomas The Reverend Neil G. Thomas is the Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles, California. The Metropolitan Community Churches is an international movement of churches reaching in and beyond the gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, and inter-sex and environmental consultant Patrick Bellew, Softroom's Christopher Bagot cites the treatment of ventilation as key to the elegance of the design solution: all services were removed from the original suspended ceiling, with air now passed through furniture elements round sculpted sculpt v. sculpt·ed, sculpt·ing, sculpts v.tr. 1. To sculpture (an object). 2. To shape, mold, or fashion especially with artistry or precision: plaster columns. For passengers who want to feel pampered pam·per tr.v. pam·pered, pam·per·ing, pam·pers 1. To treat with excessive indulgence: pampered their child. 2. , it is all incredibly easy: at the base of the same concrete building, your limo arrives for VIP check-in; you are then driven up to the Clubhouse level and in you go. Any hand luggage is deposited, you check if shoes need cleaning, and off you go to whichever treatment you have ordered in advance. Any last-minute requirements you might have in terms of advice about flights, destinations or hotels, can be dealt with by a concierge service overseen by the Clubhouse general manager, formerly of the Savoy Group. The feel is hotel service, but with business facilities also included (intent connections are available throughout the facility). There is a play element as well, which was one of the findings of the Virgin team: passengers like games. So the 'Den' section includes a pool table, retro [Latin, Back; backward; behind.] A prefix used to designate a prior condition or time. video games See video game console. (obviously beloved of middle-aged male passengers who have achieved financial success), plus films, and tv sports coverage, all viewed from extra-deep sofas. The quality of furniture and materials throughout is impressive and well chosen, giving distinct identity to very different parts of the facility, for example the spa facility. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This is an unusual interior; aptly contemporary, it doesn't conform to Verb 1. conform to - satisfy a condition or restriction; "Does this paper meet the requirements for the degree?" fit, meet coordinate - be co-ordinated; "These activities coordinate well" the pattern of dilute modernism of much airport design, but nor does it fall for the antique look so beloved of British hoteliers when it comes to offering luxury services. Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950 in Shamley Green, Surrey, England), is a British entrepreneur, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 must be pleased with the increase in passenger numbers the Clubhouse has helped to generate. For us ordinary mortals, we can only hope that the Formula One standards achieved here (with a price tag of [pounds sterling]11m) somehow rub off on the travelling experience for those of us in carriage class. P.F. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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