Several design schools give students the opportunity to hone their skills with leading shipyards and stylists. While some of the students go on to obtain jobs with those firms, others are striking out on their own.
Gael Le Maux is one of them. Having studied with both Espen Oeino and Oceanco, he is now a partner in France-based Citadel Yacht Designers, along with fellow young designer Arnaud Anseeuw. Citadel has several concept projects that it hopes will garner attention, some designed by Anseeuw, and some designed by Le Maux. One that Le Maux is particularly proud of is the one you see here, Element.
The 71-meter (233-foot) megayacht has a superstructure “like contemporary architecture,” Le Maux says, while “the hull was inspired by aircraft carriers.” Element does have a more modern, even militaristic styling. Note the extra-large, extra-long windows in the superstructure, too.
Element also reflects a major trend in the industry: reducing environmental impact. To that end, Element will rely on fuel cells for propulsion. (Certainly, fuel-cell usage aboard superyachts is likely several years away, but the technology is advancing in the automotive field, among others.) Le Maux also intends for the yacht to reuse some waste water. Even the decking material is “greener”: bamboo, not teak.
Carrying through the concept of an aircraft carrier, Element has liberal open deck space. The foredeck features both a helipad and a huge pool, accompanied by a bar. There’s an additional pool, dedicated to the owner, on the uppermost deck. There’s also an additional helipad down one deck from there, aft. This would be a convenient owner-only helipad, given its proximity to the owner’s deck, complete with terrace.
Concept projects often don’t become reality, for different reasons. Some can’t properly be engineered, while others are simply a designer’s way of expressing him- or herself without a client’s restrictions. But it’s still interesting to see how the next generation of designers hopes to impact the industry.
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