Lily Yacht Concept Blossoms From Oceanco and Vripack Collaboration

The curving, opening and closing petals of a water lily were the inspiration for a bold superyacht design meant for owners not content with commonplace styling and deck arrangements. The Lily yacht concept additionally is fully within the realm of realistic engineering and construction.

Oceanco approached Vripack to design a proposal for its Beyond Custom collection. Similar to Oceanco’s Simply Custom design concepts, the Beyond Custom projects have a technical foundation from Lateral Naval Architects. There’s more of an emphasis on forward-thinking systems for future proofing, though, along with daringly different aesthetics serving purpose. At 331 feet (101 meters), the Lily yacht concept “is a testament to what’s possible when design meets advanced construction and engineering,” says Paris Baloumis, Oceanco’s group marketing director. Indeed, according to Marnix Hoekstra, Vripack’s co-creative director, “Lily neatly straddles the line between blue-sky thinking and buildability.”

Vripack’s choice of a water lily’s form is pretty evident in the design aft. The angles mimic curving leaves, wrapping around asymmetric and overlapping decks. Significant amounts of glass characterize those decks, too. Altogether, the split-level layout and glass break with traditional literal and figurative barriers separating guests from the surrounding environment.

Although boarding takes place on the main deck, the configuration further breaks with tradition. The Lily yacht concept main deck—a.k.a. leisure deck—features a water’s edge pool, a gym, a wellness area, and a watersports gallery. It also has a bar and dining area forward. The leisure deck is the megayacht’s central hub, with 13-foot-high (4-meter-high) ceilings. Perched above is a lounge and balcony. Here, too, overlapping lily petals inspired Vripack, as did how they meet at the flower’s center. “We’ve echoed that structure transversely by layering the decks to create split-level platforms and one and a half deck heights,” he notes.

More surprises come deeper into the interior. For example, a glass mezzanine and stairway lead guests to three double staterooms and an open-plan cinema. Just beyond them sits a fun suspension bridge for reaching an equally fun children’s play area. Six more guest staterooms are on a split-level guest deck—three on one level, three on the other. Every guest stateroom is 538 square feet (50 meters) as well. Overall, these and other common areas are purposefully intimate, accommodating multiple generations of family or groups of friends.

Where typically you’d expect to find the wheelhouse you instead find the owners’ apartment. Spanning 4,840 square feet (450 square meters), and once again a split-level arrangement, it’s a private haven. The sleeping area in on one level, half a deck below indoor-outdoor relaxation spaces. Specifically, a lily pond (fittingly, for the yacht concept’s name) is open to the outside, and in proximity to an elevator from the leisure deck. Also outside and exclusively for the owners is a 3,390-square-foot (315-square-meter) sundeck. Lending the sensation of being outside when inside, floor-to-ceiling curved windows complement the enclosed areas. Notably, one-way film lends privacy.

On a technological front, the yacht concept Lily introduces a few important differences. Firstly, an oval opening above the owners’ apartment brings fresh air inside. Vripack and Lateral Naval Architects studied ways to ensure the air naturally flows throughout the decks. This of course lessens reliance on air conditioning and therefore energy consumption. Secondly, the yacht concept Lily has a virtual bridge, relying on cameras and display screens rather than traditional wheelhouse windows. However, port and starboard windows and balconies let the captain and crew—33 in total, by the way—check proximities during maneuvers and take advantage of the outdoors.

Lastly, and significantly, Lateral Naval Architects has engineered the Lily yacht concept for evolving fuel supplies. Methanol-reforming fuel cells and dual-fuel methanol-diesel engines are part of the engineering package. The fuel cells, using “green” methanol, will handle hotel loads. (Green methanol is methanol resulting from clean production methods.) The engines, meanwhile, can operate on diesel, HVO, or methanol, with dedicated tanks at the ready. They’ll turn a relatively new but proven-efficient system from ABB, the Dynafin. Briefly, it’s a rounded propeller with individually controlled blades. The thrust they produce mimic whale and dolphin tail motions. They also produce less sound and vibration. Lateral Naval Architects has been working with ABB to adapt the Dynafin for even more designs.

From this technology to the avant-garde looks, Lily “represents Oceanco’s drive to deliver a fully realizable yacht for an owner ready to embrace the future,” Baloumis says.

Lateral Naval Architects lateral.engineering

Oceanco oceancoyacht.com

Vripack vripack.com