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A Herculean effort on the part of Alfa Four’s design-and-construction team turned Theodore and Gianna Angelopoulos’ newest yacht into a gold-medal project.
by Jim Gilbert
photography by Ed Holt (Exterior only)
01/01/2005
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But the confident elegance of Alfa Four is
tempered with elements of drama and downright fun. The chiseled glass counters
in the salons employ edge uplighting, which adds a sense of excitement both by
day and night. Large windows in the salon and skylounge bring the sea directly
into the boat. Backlit cracked glass floors at the edges of the main deck foyer
and companionway bring a sense of motion and theater aboard. That effect is
augmented by a recurring “bubble” motif in doors, stonework inlays and in the
metalwork of the atrium staircase, which playfully hints at an effect somewhere
between dancing Olympic rings and silvery bubbles rising in a champagne flute.
The overall impact of the interior is as compelling as it is commanding, as
evident in Winch’s own description of the interior décor, “There are no
wilting flowers on this yacht!” All the more impressive is that Alpha Four’s
exceptional interior was completed from scratch in well under a year.
Winch and Mr. A credit both Oceanco and Mrs. Angelopoulos for the success in
bringing such an elaborate project to conclusion on schedule. “We couldn’t have
done it without the positive attitude at Oceanco. We did three years of work in
one year,” Winch said. “Mrs. A was very fast at making decisions. That was
terrific. It was exactly what was necessary.”
Mr. A describes the tight
schedule as a “case study” for future Oceanco production. “Most people can’t
wait three years for a yacht. It’s a problem when yachts take that long to build
because life changes. Ideas change. We are aiming at quicker delivery times.”
Praising his wife’s gold-medal-quality involvement in the interior design
process, Mr. A said, “As you can imagine, we didn’t have a lot of time in this
period to devote to the yacht. My wife doesn’t override designers or architects.
She supplements their ideas but never pretends to be a designer herself.”
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