A Hybrid Superyacht?

Vripack and Nobiskrug develop a 184-foot hybrid superyacht concept.

Where other yachts might have a retractable Bimini top, this concept has a mesh canopy to create a sense of drama.Courtesy Vripack

Marnix Hoekstra, a creative director at the Dutch design firm Vripack, says it has always bugged him that when guests step aboard a yacht aft, they’re often at least one level of stairs away from the space where they want to be with other guests. Solving that problem became one of the influences behind the 184-foot concept yacht that Vripack recently released with German builder Nobiskrug. Stepping aboard and moving throughout the yacht is intended to feel less like being on, well, a yacht and more like entering a free-flowing, high-end residence in Hong Kong or Dubai. Spaces are asymmetrical, the use of glass as a structural element is profound, and design elements actually change the way guests can feel while moving about.

Looking for the typical aft tender stowage? It’s up at the bow, where there are folding bulwarks for launch and retrieval.Courtesy Vripack

“What is prime is the flow of people on board, and how the layout is completely derived from giving the maximum user experience,” Hoekstra stated in a press release. “Hallways are shaped wider when you enter them and narrow when you exit, so that it draws you in; the shape invites you on board.”

To solve the aft-entry challenge, Vripack created the space shown in the photo above at right. “This means you’re always visually connected, or just a couple of steps away, from the family and friends you want to meet,” Hoekstra says.

This hybrid concept from Vripack and Nobiskrug has asymmetry, big glass and “pancake” engines.Courtesy Vripack

Note the extensive use of glass in the exterior (above left), including a transparent glass balustrade that runs the length of the vessel. The side walls of the superstructure are all structural glass, with no metal.

To create space for these and other design ideas up top, the engines had to take up less space below. The hybrid propulsion system includes flat, wide, “pancakelike” powerplants that left more vertical area for designers to play.