Zaha Hadid created five different-length versions of Unique Circle Yachts for Blohm+Voss, which is still looking for a first buyer to fulfill the concept. The exoskeleton is built from an interwoven network of supports meant to look like something organic from the sea, say, waves of kelp swaying between one another. There is no hint of what the designer calls the “strict horizontal order” of various decks. Instead, countless diagonals intermingle and flow.
Blohm+Voss has completed technical specifications for the 295-foot version, which would have a draft of 13 feet, a beam of 52 feet, a cruising speed of 14 knots, a top speed of 16 knots and a range of 5,000 nautical miles. It also would hold Lloyd’s Register classification.
“In the past, in the era of steam liners, there has been an attempt of utilizing shipbuilding elements in architecture,” said Herbert Aly, who was Blohm+Voss CEO during this project’s conceptual phase. “Zaha Hadid and her team have taken this ethos and created a bold new vision and a new benchmark in the design of superyachts.”
Given the flexibility of the Unique Circle Yachts concept, Blohm+Voss thinks it is a good match for the builder’s own tradition of adapting and customizing designs to suit owners’ requests. The strength of the concept is not just functionality and form, the builder says, but also “effortless adaptability” to whatever cruising goals clients may have in mind.
