Project Utopia takes super-yacht design into the space age

A UK company’s vision for a radical new-look yacht offering the deck space of a modern cruise liner has won the Superyacht Design of the Future award at the recent Monaco Yacht Show.

Described as an “avant-garde concept design,” Project Utopia is being developed by the British Maritime Technology (BMT) group in partnership with the Yacht Island Design company (www.yachtislanddesign.com) from Nottingham in the English Midlands.

The BMT designers started with a blank sheet of paper and have produced a craft that rejects the traditional yacht-like appearance in favour of a vessel that looks more like a spacecraft.

James Roy, yacht design director of BMT’s Nigel Gee subsidiary, said of the Superyacht Owners award: “The level of enthusiasm around Project Utopia has been overwhelming and it is great that the judging panel of these awards has recognised and duly credited the concept as a real and possible vision of the future.

“The origin of Utopia came from a client’s brief, which was to have ‘a piece of floating real estate that could be moved between nice locations’. I remember very clearly a moment of excitement when the design team realised that the project would not necessarily have to end up looking like a traditional yacht.”

He continued: “The seed to create a project outside the bounds of normal proportion and form had been sown and the intervening years saw us take inspiration from all areas of naval architecture. We concluded that if we removed the perception that a yacht had to be a mode of transport then the creative envelope could open up considerably.”

Research has shown that many such vessels are used more for luxury accommodation than travel.

BMT Nigel Gee, based in Southampton, southern England, is one of the world’s largest independent maritime design consultancies and has broken the traditional naval architectural mould to celebrate 25 years of “innovative design”. Its expertise recently included masterminding the design and engineering of the world’s largest (44 metres) sailing catamaran.

James Roy added: “To celebrate this quarter of a century of innovation, Project Utopia pushes the boundaries even further.” The result is a gigantic four-legged circular platform that measures 100 metres in length and width with 13 floors that offer the equivalent deck space of a modern-day cruise liner and enough room to create an entire micro-nation.

The main accommodation and service spaces span 11 decks with the uppermost deck covered by a retractable canopy. On the 13th floor, there is an observatory with 360-degree views where the occupants would be 65 metres above the water surface.

BMT says the platform also offers a “bewildering” amount of space for interior design options such as a retail district, theatre, a culinary zone containing a mix of restaurants, and an entertainment zone featuring bars, nightclubs and a casino.

Each platform leg supports a fully azimuthing thruster that can be linked to the other leg thrusters to move the craft to a new location at slow speeds. Despite its shape and size, Utopia presents the smallest possible profile to the water surface and employs the same design principals for minimum motions in even the most extreme sea conditions.

A large central structure bisects the water surface, acting as a conduit for the mooring system that is a critical element of the design, as well as housing a wet dock for access by tenders. In addition to tender access, the design features four helicopter pads.

James Roy said that although the Utopia concept is for a novel type of yacht, its design could have much wider potential. He explained: “We see greater application in floating resorts, casinos, or adapting the label of a ‘yacht’ to a ‘personal island,’ coming back to the brief that inspired the project - a piece of floating real estate.”

Final word from the BMT design chief: “Pioneering design ideas such as Utopia are exactly the types of projects that our team excel in. Our forward-thinking approach and unrivalled state-of-the-art engineering experience allows us to work closely with designers, stylists and shipyards, to bring these ideas to life and lead the market into the next generation of naval architecture.”