THE FLAW OF THE COMPETITIVE CONCEPT

The new-build market is in a perpetual state of one-upmanship, with each brand vying to create the next big thing, but there’s a danger this will move the focus away from vessels that are safe and sustainable.

Some people or, more specifically, people who don’t work on boats look at aspirational design concepts and feel a sense of awe and inspiration. Others, especially those who do work on boats, tend to have a more apathetic approach. Where some see incredible glass structures and multifunctional spaces, others see little more than another gimmick, another hydraulic with the potential to fail or break, or something that’s going to be an absolute pain in the backside to try to keep clean.

To the best of my knowledge, I don’t know of a single design concept that hasn’t been lauded by the media. This is strange because some of them are absolutely ridiculous. The media is partly to blame for this, although it can be hard to understand the difference between concepts that have genuine potential and those that are simply created to generate attention online.

I do see the benefits of extreme concept designs. I see how they are necessary to help people visualise just how creative and innovative superyachts can be. When I first began reporting on superyacht designs, my main issue was with the enormous gulf between the boring, yet feasible, concepts and the wild and wacky ones that were nowhere near any definition of ‘feasible’. The gulf in the middle is where the rarest breeds reside: the ‘conceptual concepts’. These are the golden nuggets that offer genuine innovation.

The top of the superyacht food chain is a ruthless place, with companies stuck in a state of having to constantly capture the imaginations of the financial elite. It seems that as of quite recently, the most popular method of doing this was to attach a brand’s name to an inspiring design concept. Having a design concept is not just about attracting clients, though; it has also become the shipyards’ passive way of competing with one another in an attempt to show the rest of the market how good they are and to indicate a benchmark for their future aspirations.

This quest for innovation and originality has created a virtuous cycle of creativity and competition, with each new design raising the bar for the next. As the world’s wealthiest seek to stand out from their peers, they demand evermore ambitious and daring concepts, challenging designers to explore uncharted territories.

The new-build market is in a perpetual state of one-upmanship, with each brand vying to create the next big thing, the most outrageous design, the most ludicrously priced item. It’s an endless game of who can outdo who, and it’s all done to stand out from the crowd. But there’s value in asking if it’s really necessary to design a superyacht that looks like it belongs in a science-fiction movie just because it’s ‘different’.

When manufacturers start competing with each other using inconceivable design concepts, they lose sight of what luxury is really all about. There’s the potential to fall victim to creating something that will make headlines but forgetting about the most important thing of all: the customer.

Luxury should never be about gimmicks or publicity stunts. It should be about creating something of real value, something that will enrich the lives of those who own it. Inconceivable design concepts might make for a good headline, but when they begin to stray into the realms of fantasy, they start to become dangerous.

Lürssen, Feadship and Oceanco are most probably the frontrunners when it comes to stand-out concepts: the 98m Alice concept, the 82m Pure concept and the 131m Aeolus concept. When comparing these, it’s clear that each yacht has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Lürssen’s Alice is ideal for guests who value modern design and ample outdoor space. Feadship’s Pure, on the other hand, is perfect for those who prefer a more classic and elegant design. Finally, Oceanco’s Aeolus is the yacht of choice for those who value cutting-edge technology and futuristic design (see feature on pages 47-53).

The people behind these designs will vehemently argue that they are all possible, but without a proper and honest feasibility study, their true value is fractioned.

As a crude example, take the world’s tallest building, the 2,722ft Burj Khalifa in Dubai, widely regarded as a towering symbol of human achievement, yet it doesn’t have a proper sewage system.

The building’s height creates something of a logistical nightmare, meaning that the amount of pressure needed to pump sewage up to the top of the building is astronomical and would create too much of a strain on the city's existing waste-water treatment system. So one of the most impressive-looking buildings in the world needs to have its waste taken away by a small fleet of sewage trucks.

This is the antithesis of innovation. It’s bizarre to think that the Roman Empire was building better, efficient and sustainable sewage systems more than 2,000 years ago than the world’s top architects in the 21st century with their unlimited finances. But this is what happens when the environment is almost too aspirational and competitive. If oversights such as this can occur on land, they can also certainly be made at sea.

When superyacht builders compete with one another through their design concepts, they’re forced to come up with new and innovative ideas. This means that they’re constantly pushing the limits of what’s possible in terms of engineering, materials and technology and, as a result, we’re starting to see more and more impressive superyacht concepts that actually have a lot of thought put into them. However, there’s the danger of the focus moving away from creating vessels that are safe, functional and environmentally sustainable.

The pressure to constantly outdo one another can potentially create an even stronger culture of secrecy and exclusivity, with builders unwilling to share their ideas and innovations with others in the industry. MS