Innovation and Design Awards showcase travel design icons

(Alastair Callender)

An eco-concious billionaire's toy and floating hotel have emerged among the public's favorite travel design concepts at the Condé Nast Traveller Innovation and Design Awards 2010.

The fourth annual awards ceremony on May 10 featured ten categories of design and innovation that will affect the way that we travel, shortlisted by a panel and selected by readers of Condé Nast Traveller magazine.

Judges praised the work of British boat designer Alastair Callender, whose 58-meter long yacht concept topped the sustainable category, featuring energy-gathering photovoltaic cells and propelled using wind, solar and marine power.

Readers voted for the giant Aircruise airship concept as the best of the aviation category. The enormous floating hotel concept would complete the London to New York hop in 37 hours in silent, eco-friendly luxury.

Florence's new TAV high-speed rail station, designed by Foster + Partners, won the best infrastructure category.

It has been designed to improve high speed rail connections around Florence and has won considerable acclaim for its impressive design, arching roof and green technology.

Slightly more out of this world, Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise SpaceShip Two was picked as readers' transport favorite, promising to take travelers into space for $200,000 (around €150,000).

Apple's new iPad was travelers' firm communication technology favorite, described by the magazine as "the perfect synthesis of form and function."

The shortlist for the awards was picked by a panel of acclaimed judges in the world of food, design, tourism, transport, climate change, art and journalism.

http://www.cntraveller.com/magazine/innovation-and-design-2010/

The Winners

SUSTAINABLE: Soliloquy superyacht concept designed by Alastair Callender
AVIATION: The Aircruise by design and innovation company by Seymourpowell
CULTURE Joint winner: Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy of Arts/Zaha Hadid for MAXXI, National Museum of XXI Century Arts
LEISURE: Living Architecture by Mark Robinson, Dickon Robinson and Alain de Botton
INFRASTRUCTURE: Florence TAV Railway Station by Fosters + Partners with Arup
TRANSPORT: Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise SpaceShip Two designed by Jim Tighe, Bob Morgan and teams
STYLE ON THE MOVE: Paul Smith, for both his limited edition Evian bottle and homage to Arne Jacobsen's Cylindia for Stelton
GOURMET: Monkey Bar, New York (Graydon Carter, Jeremy King and Jeff Klein; designed by Carter & Basil Walter)
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY: iPad by Apple
RETAIL: Anya Hindmarch Bespoke, London