Feature 4 | MEGA YACHTS Architecture meets ship design
Ashish Gupta, an Indian-based architect more used to designing buildings, recently stirred up the mega yacht market with his latest 150m yacht design Maharaja that draws on his architectural background.
M
aharaja is the latest concept from Ashish Gupta, who started moving into yacht design in 2003. Mr
Gupta won an award in 2000 for one of his latest architectural designs and in 2003 saw him starting on his first yacht project. “Te owner approached me aſter he had
seen my architectural designs and offered me a project. I wanted to take a week away to research ideas before I agreed, as this type of project was new to me,” comments Mr Gupta. “Te owner wanted the yacht to be “made in India”, with Indian design and built in India,” he adds. Tis first project bore Mr Gupta’s first yacht
design, Ashena. In 2003 at the same time of taking on his first vessel Mr Gupta also launched his company Beyond Design. Aſter Ashena, Mr Gupta was commissioned for another yacht design in 2008, Indian Empress, that pushed Mr Gupta’s designs further as the vessel was larger than first one, he said. Ashena is 45m in length overall (LOA), where as the Indian Empress is 95m LOA. Maharaja the latest design of yacht, which
is still at concept stage, has pushed Mr Gupta further. Te planning of the 150m yacht has allowed for Mr Gupta to incorporate design features from the previous two projects, but has also allowed him to capture the architectural design aspect of his work. Mr Gupta also highlights that one of the key
features of the vessel is that it has been designed “inside-out”. Te idea is to create more open spaces and allow more light to come on to the decks. Te yacht also features a large open breakfast area that was inspired from previous meetings with the owner of his other designs. Mr Gupta said: “I had visited many yacht
shows and been on yachts before designing Maharaja and I found that all were similar with some detail being different here or there and then there was Wally yachts. I wanted to design something that I had never seen before and also thought that the industry deserves better in big yacht design as well. I designed the yacht “inside-out” with all areas connected to the sea every-time. Form
62 Maharaja incorporates architectural design with modern day mega yacht design.
followed function and when I envisioned Maharaja 150 I was sitting on the aſt deck of Indian Empress. All the new upcoming concepts around
had few balconies folding out and the superstructure colour being different, but no genuine future yacht concept which will appeal to the young tycoons as well as reigning tycoons. Maharaja has the ability to attract all generations of industrialists which was my goal” Mr Gupta enlisted the help of Dutch-based
naval architecture firm Stolk Marimecs to turn his designs into reality. Willem Stolk, naval architect, Stolk Marimecs has said that he believes that Maharaja is a plausible concept. He also highlighted that at the moment this vessel is very early in its design stage, and with a closer look there are features that will need to be changed to make it apply with class rules. “As the boat design stands the design of it
is a cross between a conventional boat and a wave piercer, which is not possible. What will need to be looked at is turning the recess in the hull into a more conventional shape,” he comments. Mr Stolk adds that Maharaja is an
exceptional design and that with Mr Gupta’s architectural background and not being tied to technical restrictions it allowed him to push the boundaries of ship design and the traditional look of a vessel. However, he adds when making the design into a real vessel the rules and regulations with which it will have to comply will have to be taken into consideration.
The 150m Maharaja will incorporate green technology into the final design.
“We have already addressed the design and
know that we will review the hull shape, outer bows, the low freeboard and weight [as there is a lot of glass in the design], which will impact the stability of the vessel,” adds Mr Stolk. Te vessel will also feature the latest ‘green
technologies’ onboard and will be powered by diesel-electric engines. At the moment Mr Gupta and Stolk
Marimecs are talking with brokers and yards about the yacht concept, though the recession has impacted the yacht market drastically, Mr Gupta said: “A 150m boat isn’t easy to sell in this current market. We are expecting to get back on track with this design shortly though and expect to be working on it properly by the end of the year.” Mr Stolk said that at the moment there
is a lot of interest in Maharaja, but no one is buying. He also expects that a client may come through from either China or Korea, as the shipbuilding in these countries remains strong. He added that for the yacht market to start to improve it will need owners and builders to take a chance on innovation. NA
The Naval Architect July/August 2010
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