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The designers of Octopus and Platinum share the unique challenges and possibilities of space planning for the largest yachts.
by Marilyn M. Mower
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12/01/2006
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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.’"
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