When it comes to superyacht design, there will never be a shortage of creative thinkers who push the envelope of what’s possible. In fact, yacht designers who continually challenge the status quo make it possible for adventurous (and lets fact it, an extremely wealthy owners) to build bigger and bigger private yachts that are unlike anything that have been built before. And while not every “concept yacht” will get built, megayacht concepts are exciting simply because they give us a glimpse of the future of yacht design where money is no object and where only limitation is the human imagination (and good taste)!
So, with that in mind, I’ve compiled my list of the best megayacht concepts of 2018 to celebrate the creativity some of the world’s most radical large yacht designers, and maybe inspire a would-be owner to go for it and build one!
Art of Life
Art of Life, a 350-foot-long concept designed by Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design in Holland, takes the classic schooner form into the superyacht stratosphere.
“For Art of Life,” Sander Sinot explains, “we augmented this classic yacht type to an innovative motor yacht concept for the present day and the years to come. For the interior, we choose to focus on things in life that really matter, such as spending time with your loved ones, beauty and art. The integrated architecture of the design offers the owner a haven of privacy and the sensory stimuli for both inner peace and exploration of the beauty and richness of the world around us.”
The entire design is about spaciousness. The private owner’s area is reached by a private staircase and unfolds as a grand haven of light by multiple skylights and floor-to-ceiling windows, offering views all around.
The panoramic stern lounge of Art of Life, with its large floor-to-ceiling slanted window, offers a spectacular view of the yacht’s wake as it disappears into the distance. The expansive upper deck lounge with full-glass facades and open decks and ever-changing views that will never cease to inspire.
The indoor health & beauty center is located on the lower and main decks and features a connecting area with an open, architectural staircase for an exceptionally spacious effect.
The fly bridge atop of the bridge deck, unique by design and function, is perfect for enjoying expansive views of the surrounding world with family and friends. The vast exterior al fresco spaces are perfect for dining, lounging and partying at sea or in port.
Tuhura
Dutch superyacht builder Oceanco has broken the mold with its latest concept yacht that was just unveiled the Dubai International Boat Show. The nearly 400-foot-long Tuhura was conceived in collaboration with the Lobanov Design studio, BMT Nigel Gee, and interior designer Achille Salvagni to be unlike any yacht on the market. And they succeeded.
The exterior styling is reminiscent of early dugout canoes that the ancient Polynesians made across thousands of miles of open Pacific Ocean. And while this state-of-the-art yacht is designed to be a technological marvel with every conceivable comfort, the thinking behind the design was to celebrate our basic and primal desires to explore and discover. In fact, the actual name, ‘tuhura’ is derived from the Maori verb meaning: to discover, bring to light, unearth, open up, explore, and investigate.
“Our Tuhura is a simple idea,” explains Igor Lobanov, “The thought was to take a natural shape similar to those seen in the earliest canoe-type craft and augment it multifold to a larger scale, using modern technology.”
The main inspiration for the interior design is East Asia and the Pacific islands. Achille Salvagni refers to the interior as a “brushed teak habitat” (floors, walls, ceilings) including thin reveals in gunmetal and natural bronze with tatami floors.
Acionna
Yacht designer Andy Waugh has a reputation for pushing the envelope with his superyacht design concepts, and his latest, a 574-foot-long superyacht he calls Acionna is as audacious and unconventional as the others. It’s obvious Acionna is designed to challenge preconceptions about truly large yachts that tend to have homogeneous style. But its exterior styling is actually much less radical than some of his other concepts. His proposed propulsion solution on the other hand is as “outside the box” as it gets.
According to the design brief, the enormous interior space available in such a large vessel could include almost any feature desired including a full size squash court, helicopter hanger and a Olympic-size indoor pool. It’s designed to have eight decks including an enormous main saloon with panoramic curved glass overlooking the aft deck pool.
This area leading down to the swimming platform is designed to be a central ‘island’ where the owner and guests can relax completely surrounded by the pool and accessed via a tunnel aft and a bridge forward. The main pool is also designed to flow down the sloped transom and into a lower pool of the swim platform.
Meanwhile, more space will be dedicated to the propulsion system in comparison to conventional designs because Waugh envisions Acionna to be powered with hydrogen using a similar system currently being tested in cruise ships and ferries. If the power used to manufacture the hydrogen is purchased from renewable energy sources the yacht could be said to be ‘zero impact’.
Any of these design firms will help you imagine a megayacht that will transcend your wildest dreams. And if you’re inspired to find our more, be sure to tell them I sent you!
