Imagine your yacht having completely unrestricted space—without a single bulkhead—along nearly 85 percent of the main deck. It’s a far cry from every megayacht in existence and in development. It’s also within the realm of reality, though, due to the work of Lateral Naval Architects. The design studio created a new technical platform it calls Free From Bulkheads to liberate owners, designers, and fellow engineers from common constraints.
Adrien Thoumazeau, the R&D coordinator and a senior naval architect for the studio, says that yacht design has actually evolved. However, he adds, some aspects remain firmly within the proverbial box because they meet regulatory requirements. No one has thought to re-think those solutions, either. “While every custom superyacht is unique, the technical backbone has evolved into a standardized solution,” Thoumazeau explains.
“We’re always looking to challenge ourselves and think outside the box in finding new ideas where the user experience could be elevated,” he continues. Lateral Naval Architects specifically wondered whether a technical platform could allow for a lack of limitations above the waterline. That led to the Free From Bulkheads solution—which began with, seemingly strange enough, imagining a skateboard.
A skateboard made sense to the studio because, like yachts, its “machinery” lies beneath the board (a.k.a. decks). Above the board, meanwhile, essentially anything is possible. With the skateboard idea in place, the studio created a tween-deck engine room, vs. the standardized space. It’s the dark-blue section amidships in the technical layout above. Related to this, dark blue denotes all technical areas aboard, while light blue denotes luxury space. Additionally, the studio raised freeboard (the distance between the waterline and the main deck) by about three feet (1 meter).
Ultimately, the result is nearly 230 feet (70 meters) of unrestricted luxury space on the main deck, within a 273-foot (83.3 meters) LOA. Put another way, that’s 84 percent of the yacht’s length. Furthermore, the Free From Bulkheads platform provides an astounding 9,687 square feet (900 square meters) of luxury space. It comes within a 45-foot (13.8-meter) beam and 2,500 gross tons of volume, too.
Lateral Naval Architects didn’t stop there. It tapped Michael Leach Design to give stylistic form to the Free From Bulkheads platform. With floor-to-ceiling glass nearly everywhere, the effect from inside should be transformative. Michael Leach himself points to how the first open deck is just 5’2” (1.6 meters) off the waterline. “This technical platform offers a fresh approach, freeing up the normal constraints of an 80-meter yacht,” he concludes.
Lateral Naval Architects lateral.engineering
Howard
This is insanity in naval architecture, you need watertight bulkheads remember the titanic. Only and idiot would design this.
William Froude
I think if you read the detail you will find there are watertight bulkheads to meet damaged stability requirements. It is above the lower deck that they have managed to eliminate them, and still meet requirements.
Not that hard to understand.