When a designer admits a yacht was “one of the most challenging projects” he and his team have ever taken on, you know you’re in for something special. That’s the case with Bristolian II, seen here, which is from the drawing board of Philippe Briand, the well-known sailing-yacht designer, and the construction shed of Yachting Developments, a New Zealand yard specializing in performance composite sailing yachts.
The owner, who had a 28-meter (92-foot) sailing yacht previously, told Briand he wanted this superyacht to be completely different in design, yet one that sailed just as well. As a result, the 120-footer is constructed of carbon composite with a lifting keel and modern styling, based a lot on Hamilton II, a famous cruiser-racer that Briand also designed (commissioned, incidentally, by Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan).
To comply with the owner’s request for “’out of the box’ lines,” Briand says, the pods you see aft, protecting the watch areas, were designed to echo the profile of a Maserati from the 1950s. The deck lines as a whole presented quite the challenge, he adds, since the owner wanted a voluminous coachroof providing panoramic views yet minimal superstructure height along the entire cockpit, so that any guests reclining on the seats would still be able to enjoy the view. After many sketches and even more pondering, inspiration struck Briand: The ‘bionic’ form of the coachroof and the ‘Maserati’ form of the pods are two independent forms which stretch out their arms to encircle a large cockpit in the middle!”
The out-of-the-box thinking extended to the interior, too. The owner wanted a wider saloon than usual, but one that was tucked to port, opposite a panoramic dining area that was raised. Briand’s solution: an asymmetrical room.
If you’re interested in learning more about her, you can see plenty of pictures and read a construction blog on her official Web site.
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