McDiarmid Design – 100m Superyacht | Design Market News

McDiarmid Design – 100m Superyacht

Following the international media coverage generated by yachts, The One50 – 150′/46m, Iwana - 85m, Duel – 100m and Conch 90m and fresh off the success of Iwana at the recent Monaco Yacht show, these new designs again push boundaries in superyacht styling.

The project sees a fresh thinking approach to the styling of a Superyacht and as always, inspiration is diverse and of a non nautical philosophy.

Continuing our monthly concept series alongside our day to day design work, this month we chose human anatomy in particular skeletal and ligament design and the principles of exo-skeletal design as our inspiration resulting in yachts ranging from 85 – 100m.

Design Thinking:

The design and styling of the superstructure takes it inspiration from the beautiful forms of the human skeletal and ligament system. These natural, organic forms are one of Mother Natures greatest engineering achievements while the glass Day Light Opening (DLO) represent the organs of the body – the guests and crew – encapsulated, protected and safe while at sea.

Further more we started to investigate exoskeletons and the possible interagration into superyacht design.

Looking to the car, aviation and rail industries, glass technology plays a crucial role in the structural integrity of the chassis’s of both cars and trains while doubling as a styling element. In sophisticated monocoque designs, the windshield and rear window glass is bonded in place and often play a crucial part to the structural integrity of automobiles and modern high speed trains. We looked at glass dominating the hull of the concepts and ultimately bringing more light into the yachts.

The traditional material choice for the hull is steel while the superstructure is in aluminium, the more common combination for yachts of this size, however we are starting to see certain composites being used more in yacht construction.

Inspired by the composite construction methods of the recently launched Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft this got us thinking.

Could a superyacht be produced from 100% carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP). Carbon fibre composites have a higher strength to weight ratio than traditional yacht construction materials like steel and aluminium and require less power and propulsion.

Does a suitable grade of this material exist? Maybe that composite has not yet been developed, maybe it exists or needs to be developed further. Maybe it’s a bio composite…who knows…

We were adamant about keeping a classic bow for one of the attached concepts but wanted to really push some boundaries with the styling of others. The aft section of the hull, superstructure and ‘Day Light Opening’ / DLO window graphics are there to be explored in terms of style.

Something new, exciting and ‘moving the game on’.

It is a concept after all which would require new ways in thinking for production but concept designs should offer an insight into what could be while at the same time entertaining the viewer.

A helicopter, custom tenders (namely ‘Tendon 1′ & ‘Tendon 2′) and toys are under consideration matching the exterior styling of the yachts.

Water toys include waverunners, sea scooters, windsurfers, kayaks, waterskis, wakeboards and a whole range of scuba and fishing gear.

Technical/Principal Characteristics for 100m:

Length overall: 100m / 330′

Beam: 18m / 58′

Power and type of engines in hp and manufacturer:

4 x MTU 3600 kw or

A hybrid power Diesel Electric propulsion system with pod drives, electric Voith Inline Propulsors/thrusters, Volvo Penta D16 MG gensets, Valance batteries