6 Jaw-Dropping Superyachts Designed by Architects

Generally speaking, architects are brilliant and creative people with a wide range of talents. That sort of versatility is part of what makes them good architects in the first place. But let's be honest. Just because some people are good at a lot of things does not mean they're good at everything. Take yachts, for instance.

For whatever reason, architects like to design yachts. It doesn't matter if they know anything about how boats work or what actually makes a vessel seaworthy. They like to design yachtsespecially superyachtsand they like them flashy. What tends to ensue is an elastic set of assumptions about the balance between form and function. Or lack thereof.

Let's look at a few examples, and try to discern the yachts that can actually float from the yachts that look like the architect's design software got a virus and just mashed up a bunch of volumes into a single alien form.

S

Here's a great example of a famous architect who likes forms that seem highly incompatible with nautical engineering. Hadid recently designed this "concept superyacht," which, to be frank, looks like a cross between a moth-eaten cigarette and an alien turd. Boatbuilder Blohm+Voss said in a press release that Hadid "created an intense connectivity between the various decks and elements of the design." She created something intense alright.

S

It's almost hard to tell if this is even a boat. Shaped like some sort of ray, Timon Sager's futuristic ship, dubbed the Bairim, features a no-resistance design that's meant to let it zip through the ocean with efficiency. The wide open cabin makes for a comfortable living space, with floor-to-ceiling windows on either side and, apparently, a movie theater. Because that's what everybody wants to do with then get on a boat: watch Jaws.

S

You probably know Norman Foster's style from "The Gherkin" in London or the Hearst Tower in New York City. Believe it or not, his firm's aesthetic carries over into its nautical work. The 120-foot-long Ocean Emerald was christened in 2009 and is currently shared by a bunch of multi-millionaires. The outside looks like a chrome-plated cocoa bean. The inside looks like a Norman Foster museumsince he literally designed every surface and object on the boat.

See the rest here:
6 Jaw-Dropping Superyachts Designed by Architects