To push boundaries and make progress in the superyacht industry, only bold questions can offer new answers.

In the near future, Owners may have a different vision of how they want to experience the world through yachting and will bring along new ideologies and approaches. How is this shift being reflected in today’s designs and build methods and how can the industry better understand Owners’ evolving needs? 

The answer requires bold thinking and a willingness to cooperate with similarly visionary colleagues on a global scale, both from within and outside the yachting industry. Oceanco’s major creative undertaking for 2020 looks beyond superficial design concepts and delves deeper into a progressive, holistic approach to a collaborative future of yacht building, Ownership and experiences; it is called NXT. 

For many years, Oceanco has been setting the benchmark in terms of challenging the paradigm through its boundary-pushing yachts. Now it intends to lead the way with this thought-provoking approach to the future of yachting.

THE FUTURE IS ZERO

In the pursuit of authentic innovation, meaningful sustainability can be achieved.

Although the exterior and interior styling of superyachts has progressed significantly over time, we still witness similar technical formats and standards that are deeply rooted in general proportions, form and gross tonnage. These standards have been so far developed and fine-tuned over time that they are hardly being challenged anymore, and the result is a stagnation in innovation.

Over recent years, attempts to jump on a “sustainable” bandwagon have led to the term becoming overused, detracting from its impact and value. Small steps to incrementally reduce environmental impact are somewhat positive but tougher, fundamental questions must be asked in order to make progress in any meaningful way.

The two central pillars of Oceanco’s NXT approach are innovation and sustainability, with a focus on finding meaningful innovations to inform every decision in building an authentically sustainable superyacht, and an ultimate goal of zero impact on the environment.

THE FUTURE IS NOW

Oceanco sets the benchmark in building next generation superyachts

The NXT approach delves deeper and broader than simply reducing the burning of fossil fuels to propel and operate the yacht. It considers how yacht Owners may want to experience life on the water in the future, in the most sustainable, enjoyable and rewarding ways possible.

It takes a daring, visionary yacht builder alongside nonconformist Owners to forge such new pathways in the industry. Oceanco has been challenging the status quo since its inception – setting the benchmark in terms of establishing trends. In 2013 Oceanco completed the world’s first Passenger Yacht Code vessel, Equanimity; and in 2016 it delivered 86m Aquijo, the world’s largest ketch. In 2017, Oceanco delivered 110m Jubilee, the largest yacht built in the Netherlands; and recently it delivered 106.7m Black Pearl, the world’s largest and most ecological Dynarig sailing yacht. Challenges and solutions from these superyachts gave rise to Oceanco’s ground-breaking LIFE platform, debuted onboard the 109m Bravo Eugenia, which features extended length while using an optimized hybrid propulsion system to improve fuel efficiency and minimize space allocated to technical equipment. 

The physical representation of NXT has been conceived by world-renowned designer Giles Taylor, Global Vice President of Design at FAW Group, whose vision for the future of yachting has been sculpted in white onyx and is captivatingly illuminated from within. This will be complemented by the expertise brought by TANK, an architecture and interior design studio that is celebrated for its contemporary approach to creating beautiful, inspiring and functional living spaces. Technical design and technology input for the Oceanco NXT ideology is provided by Lateral Naval Architects, a longstanding partner of Oceanco with a respected portfolio of projects to its name. A further and broad spectrum of industry expertise is being brought into NXT through Oceanco Co-Maker Unlimited, a collective collaboration strategy to optimize the way yachts are designed and built. Each of these stakeholders has a crucial role to play in upholding the Oceanco NXT promise to strive for meaningful innovation in how we create yachts that meet the needs of future Owners.

GILES TAYLOR: DESIGN THAT GOES DEEPER

Challenging the status quo calls for expertise from outside yachting to share new perspectives across standards, across borders, across industries.

The Global Vice President of Design at FAW Group, Giles Taylor is perhaps best known in the luxury world as the person who took Rolls-Royce in a new direction with his elegant  designs for Phantom and Cullinan, including the recent mould-breaking all new Ghost. He develops a holistic approach to design, digging deeper into how future consumers will engage all their senses in the objects he creates. His current work at FAW Group involves developing a new range of luxury cars with innovative and sustainable values for the next generation of global luxury customer.

Taylor’s aim was to share insight that would resonate with a new generation of Owners by shedding our preconceptions of what constitutes a superyacht, and instead understanding how future Owners’ value sets will dictate the way they want to live on board. The average age of superyacht Owners is likely to decrease compared to the last 20 years, with more emphasis on closely valued friendship circles beyond family, changing criteria for experiential escapism, and even the blurring of lines between “leisure” and “work” time.

To reflect this, Taylor believes future superyachts will need to be very different from what they are now, with fewer cabins and rooms allocated to specific activities. Guests should be able to enjoy the ocean in an open way, with features such as atriums and open-plan spaces rather than being cooped up in multiple smaller rooms.

“There is a future wave of customers coming who can afford superyachts but the current, tired equation connecting length, deck space and interior volume that has been used ad nauseam no longer fits with how they want to live their lives,” he explains. “They don’t want to cram in multiple lounges and cabins; they want to celebrate form and open space, with a more intimate experience shared among fewer close friends. Although practicality is important, a yacht’s design should connect with those who experience it on a deeper level. It should speak to you like a beautifully designed car or a transportive piece of music.”

Taylor asserts that attitude changes to displaying wealth among the most affluent will mean that Owners prefer the discretion of staying at anchor rather than heading to a port to show off their superyacht; and the yacht’s will become more important so that it is an element of beauty to enjoy from afar as well as on board.

“The challenge designers face is to imagine yachts as ocean-borne spaces that will attract environmentally aware millennials who believe that the ocean serves as a mirror to their green principles and an inspiration to be part of a future that is more in tune with a sustainable human-nature existence,” Taylor adds.

In creating the design, Taylor drew inspiration from the classic 19^th Century Americas Cup sailing yachts, with their long, sweeping lines, and references 1970s yacht designs from Jon Bannenberg which presented those on board with uninterrupted views forward and aft along uncluttered decks. From the perspective of artistic beauty, the profiles should be elegant and low, he adds, rather than looking to maximize every possible cubic meter of interior space.