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Seventeen motor yachts in the 2007 Global Order Book are what
brokers call "significant yachts"—vessels greater than 250 feet (76 meters).
We asked U.S. designer Jonathan Quinn Barnett and UK designer Andrew Winch to
explain the paradigm shift that arises when creating yachts destined to be among
the world’s largest.
Top: Jonathan Quinn Barnett. Bottom: Andrew
Winch. Bottom photograph by Justin Ratcliffe. (Click images to enlarge)
"Yachts up to 60 meters are for sharing with family and
friends," says Seattle, Washington–based Barnett, and as such usually follow the
arrangement developed for smaller yachts. "When the brief is over seventy
meters, the owner has already decided he’s going to play in the size game. He
wants something special, and I find these clients approach the discussion with a
different attitude; a sense of ‘let’s see what we can do.’"
In this rarefied air, highest-quality finish is a given. The
intense focus of design revolves less around guest cabins and more around the
toys—how to stow and launch them, how guests access them and where to house the
special technicians such toys require. Huge toys, such as 60-foot tenders,
require huge volume, and the issue becomes making sure owners and guests
don’t lose touch with the sea they sought to enjoy in the first place.
"One of the biggest problems [in] designing a yacht over one
hundred meters is creating the ability for the passengers to interact with
the ocean when the yacht is six or seven levels high. The access has to be comfortable and [on a] human scale," says Barnett.
From Jonathan Quinn Barnett. Top: Foyer to an underwater observation
lounge. Bottom: ROV control room. (Click images to enlarge)
While Barnett applauds the long, open aft areas fellow
Bannenberg protégé Tim Heywood brought to Limitless and Pelorus,
many yacht owners are unwilling to assign so much real estate to cascades of
open decks. This, says Barnett, has brought about the introduction of beach
clubs—resort-style spaces within the lower hull that open by means of shell
doors and foldout bulwarks to create elegant, sea-level platforms. On yachts
larger than 75 meters, there is so much room abaft the engines that space
can—and should—be allocated to lounges and not just
lazarettes. When initial engineering drawings for the 126-meter (413-foot)
high-tech masterpiece Octopus, a yacht complete with a flooded submarine
bay and an equally large diving center, had neglected this feature, one of
Barnett’s first charges was to develop a user-friendly "beach club" on the
starboard aft quarter.
Beach clubs also must incorporate ways to comfortably
embark people in tenders when the big yacht may be anchored a mile or more
from a sheltering harbor. The yacht may be holding steady, but passengers will
still need to transfer to tenders or sport boats affected by waves or swell.
"One of my clients is quite uncomfortable with the idea of
getting in a bouncing tender," notes London-based Winch. "He finally said,
‘Look, just figure out a way to launch the boat with me already in it.’"
For Barnett, the mega-commission often presents the opportunity
to design completely custom tenders to match the style of the yacht. His first
such opportunity was with 72-meter (236-foot) Coral Island in 1994, while
he was design project manager for Jon Bannenberg. The custom tenders he drew for
Coral Island were built by Vikal in Australia and became the basis for
the limousine-style tenders Vikal built for yachts such as Boadicea and
Rasselas.
Top: Original limo tender. Bottom: Sketch for a beach club on a
140-meter proposal. (Click images to enlarge)
Of course, clients are increasingly asking for openings to the
sea within the accommodations via French balconies and terraces. "It’s a
romantic idea but challenging in terms of engineering," says Barnett. "There may
be glass walls behind the shell doors [that are] closed much of the time, but
you still have to make fabric and hardware selections for humidity and salt air.
Each of these spaces needs its own air-conditioning system with a compressor
that shuts off automatically when the wall is opened, to prevent
condensation.
"On yachts this size, the owners travel with security personnel
and assistants who are not yacht crew, and we include a separate staff area with
mess and lounge. But there are increasingly others aboard who are neither guests
nor crew, such as photographers, celebrity chefs, scientists, guides, pilots and
specialist engineers. Do they dine with crew or with officers, with personal
staff, or do they have their own mess?"
From Andrew Winch. Top: The four-story atrium designed for Platinum, with double-helix staircase. Bottom: The two-story salon on the 122-meter has a balcony for
orchestras. (Click images to enlarge)
Often the location of cabins and mess for the supernumeraries
is dictated by their need to access the owner and guest areas, stairways or
elevators. "Some of my clients are very involved in this process, and some have
no idea where people come from when their presence is requested," Barnett
says.
"While the number of guest cabins doesn’t increase
arithmetically with increasing length, one thing that needs to increase with
beam is headroom." Barnett typically specifies 2.1-meter overheads for crew
areas, 2.5 meters for corridors and guest areas and three meters for special
feature areas.
With extra length and beam comes the option of separate
vertical circulation paths for owner and guests, including multiple elevators
and divided guest areas so that some guest cabins may have access to the owner’s
private rooms while others do not. Sometimes, says Barnett, the owner will
request more than one suite to call his own.
"Privacy is the No. 1 luxury today, and promoting privacy is
part of the design," says Barnett. "The owner of the hundred-meter yacht
wants more than places to work, entertain and sleep, such as a place for his
hobbies and service pantries devoted exclusively to his use if he likes to get
his own snacks without the intrusion of crew.
"If there are children, their needs must be considered from the
earliest stages. What is to be their access to their parents’ spaces? Are there
teachers or nannies? They need play areas. But with the build time, I need to
design areas that will be appropriate to the children four years from now," says
Barnett.
Winch—creator of the original drawings and exterior styling for
the 158-meter (525-foot) yacht now known as Dubai—currently has
designs of 122, 130 and 170 meters under construction. The 122 is a
SOLAS-classed, 36-passenger reconfiguration of a 90-meter ship; the 130 is a
new- construction project in Germany; and the 170 is the replacement for Kingdom 5KR
for Saudi Prince Al-Waleed
bin Talal, which, when completed, will take the title of world’s largest
yacht.
Top: A rendering of the owner’s lounge, decks seven
and eight, aboard the new 170-meter Kingdom,
under construction. Bottom: Luxury stadium seating, in the 122’s
cinema. (Click images to enlarge)
"With projects over one hundred meters, the
sky—literally—is the limit," says Winch. The 158-meter project Winch
designed as Platinum—originally intended as a royal yacht for Brunei—and
completed as Dubai for the ruling Maktoum family has a four-story atrium.
"They have them on cruise ships, so why not on a yacht? It’s the best way to get
light down into the vessel," says Winch.
"I’m currently doing a lot of double-height spaces. The 122,
for example, has a double-height salon with surrounding balcony. Instead of a
single spiral staircase, we have room for a double staircase like a helix." An
atrium-style circulation area makes such a grand statement," says Winch. His
latest designs, like hotels, feature more than one. "Lots of atriums," he
enthused. "I love them; I love the light."
Perhaps the most significant design impact is the elimination
of the need for multipurpose spaces. Skylounges no longer need to double as
theaters, taking away the problem of ensuring sight lines to the screen.
Dedicated cinemas with appropriate acoustics and light locks are increasingly
possible on yachts in the 65- to 70-meter range, as long as enough ’tween deck
space is available to accommodate stadium-style seating.
Dining rooms no longer have to also be boardrooms, and
there is space for special interests just as there is on an estate, says
Winch, such as libraries, galleries and room for collections and special sports.
Dubai, for example, has an indoor squash court. Indoor swimming pools,
spas, and game and playrooms for children are just a few more options available
with increased length, beam and displacement.
Because owners of yachts greater than 100 meters are more
likely to arrive by helicopter, Winch has been wrestling with design concepts
for an additional formal entry for his clients, this one from a helipad or heligarage. "In some cases," says Winch, "we need to provide both vertical and
horizontal access from the helicopter area to the owner’s accommodations. In
other cases, there will be multiple helipads to consider, with entrances for
guests and owners. Of course, placement of helipads can create horrendous
conflict with any outdoor living area; the downdraft from the helicopter will
blow away any cushions and light
furniture and empty the water out of a
swimming pool."
Perhaps the moral to the story is that as a paradigm shifts, so do the
problems.
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