the needs of everyone involved with the ship, from the owners and operators to the shipyard, passengers and operational staff. Ms Sparks said, “Understanding the client and passengers means we design an interior to meet real needs and requirements. We then design an interior that is not only comfortable for the passenger and looks great, but utilises spaces imaginatively and safely. When we specify products and materials our first step is to ensure the product meets Solas requirements. Then we select products that are lightweight and robust to ensure they perform in a highly demanding environment and are energy efficient where practical. So in a sense our choices are limited, therefore we need to be very imaginative to create something special.” Specifying lightweight products is crucial to keep operating costs down, especially for high speed passenger ferries. “A method to minimise weight is to utilise lightweight honeycomb panels for furniture manufacture and interior bulkheads,” said Ms Sparks. “These panels consist of an aluminium honeycomb structure which can be faced in a decorative laminate, plywood or other timber veneer finishes.” According to Ms Kinnison, “Since cabins are usually a bulk number on board, naturally weight efficiency is a consideration. Some owners are more interested in lightweight cabin furniture than others – it depends on the type of ship. Some operators have style preferences that may limit a genre of seating or furniture types. However, most owners are open to discussion and value design suggestions if it evolves their cabin product in some way. We would understand an owner’s vision and specify accordingly.” Ms Sparks commented, “We usually select
products or services from our own supply chain as we have already established whether they meet regulatory requirements and the supplier is consistent in meeting quality control measures and timelines. However, some owners have their preferences and we are happy to work with them, providing they meet our standards.” One project that Limecut was involved with was the 63m boutique cruise ship, Oceanic Discoverer, for Australian operator Coral Princess Cruises. “The client wanted the ship to have a unique Australian feel with a ‘wow’ factor,” said Ms Sparks. “We decided to draw inspiration from the Kimberly
www.passengership.info
region of Australia for the colour palette and use Australian timber veneers, Red Gum and Tasmanian Oak, to link the ship with Australia.” Midway through construction, the owner decided it wanted the vessel to be Solas-compliant. “This was when we were brought in to help as the previous designer was unable to provide the client with the style of interior required,” Ms Sparks commented, “However, the decisions on the dimensions of interior spaces had already been made. “To make the cabins seem larger we designed a very bold headboard. When we designed the furniture, such as the bedside cabinets and sofas, we reduced the overall dimensions so that the furniture would fit into the small cabins and give the effect that they were spacious. “One of our major challenges was the lounge: the client specified that the seating in this area needed to be flexible – to hold lectures on some occasions and be reconfigured as a lounge/bar. The requirement was to seat 78 passengers; however the actual area of the lounge was undersized and therefore made it very difficult to accommodate this number of seats. So the furniture needed to be light enough to be moved easily but [remain] stable. Some passengers were elderly so they needed chairs that they could get out of easily, which required chair arms. “We solved this issue with modular seating which had a variety of options: one or two arms, or no arms. We selected a compact style of chair, a square design rather than the typical tub style. This allowed us to fit many more chairs into the space without making the interior look cluttered and overwhelming. We also selected three fabric colours to break up the space effectively. Finally and importantly our custom design for the carpet was big and bold which made the space appear larger than it really was – a lot of sceptics didn’t believe this would work – but it did.” PST
Limecut Design was tasked with ensuring Oceanic Discoverer’s lounge was a multipurpose area
Passenger Ship Technology I Spring 2012 I 79
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