Zaha Hadid designs superyacht for Blohm + Voss

German shipyard
Zaha Hadid has designed a series of yacht concepts in collaboration with German shipyard Blohm + Voss, the first 90m vessel of which is now a fully workable design
(Image credit: press)

There's a sense of inevitability about the news that Zaha Hadid Architects has designed her first superyacht. Having moved slowly and inexorably into the orbits of the super-rich - be it through the elaborate furniture design created for Established & Sons or, more recently, a design for a high-end villa just outside Moscow - the architecture of Zaha Hadid has gone beyond the parametrically-driven creation of new forms and entered a new phase of cultural domination.

That the undeniably dynamic and vital nature of Hadid's architecture should have finally caught the eye of the international elite is no surprise. Up until now, Zaha's formally adventurous product design - be it for cars, tables, wine bottles, vases or jewellery - has played second fiddle to her architecture. Arguably, a yacht combines the two, being nothing more than a mobile building of exquisite complexity and craftsmanship.

The superstructure of a yacht is a perfect canvas for the Hadid aesthetic. Working in collaboration with German shipyard Blohm + Voss, the architect's concept actually embraces six yachts, with a 'Unique Circle' of five individually designed 90m yachts spawned from a 128m 'mothership' at the heart of the flotilla.

Words like fluidity and biology make perfect sense here, for the mothership is avant-garde and mould-breaking, quite unlike any boat design before or since. The lattice-like forms that wrap around the mothership's hull are classic evocations of the forms that have emerged from Hadid's architecture studio over the past two decades, while the extensive use of composite materials in boat-building offers up endless possibilities for seamless structural shapes.

The first of the 90m yachts, the Jazz, has been shaped up into a fully workable design. The superyacht industry has been relatively slow to translate some of the wilder conceptual excesses of the digital era into reality; it took Starck's 'A', designed for Andrey Melnichenko, and Venus, for the late Steve Jobs, to really cement the idea that a boat could be even more of a canvas for (expensive) expression than a house. Arguably Hadid has gone one further, embracing the new parameters of naval architecture with gusto.

Blohm + Voss is one of the world's major superyacht builders, having been responsible for Starck's 'A' as well as many others, thanks to its superlative facilities and close connections with designers of every stripe around the world. Whether the Jazz will eventually head down the slipway and off into a charmed life of charters and quayside dinners remains to be seen. But the combination of B&V and Zaha Hadid is a compelling one, and we don't doubt that someone, somewhere will be tempted to bring this extraordinary piece of aquatic architecture to life, whatever the cost.

Mother ship

The 128m 'mother ship' concept at the heart of the flotilla is avant-garde and mould-breaking, quite unlike any boat design before or since

(Image credit: press)

The lattice-like forms that wrap around the mother ship'

The lattice-like forms that wrap around the mother ship's hull are classic evocations of the forms that have emerged from Hadid's architecture studio over the past two decades, while the extensive use of composite materials in boat-building offers up endless possibilities for seamless structural shapes

(Image credit: press)

The naval architects

The first of five 90m yachts, the Jazz, has already been technically specified in detail by the naval architects of Blohm+Voss

(Image credit: press)

The various levels and decks of the ship

The lattice motif used in the mother ship extends to the Jazz - albeit in a more feasible form - with the upper deck comprising an interwoven network of meshes on the exterior. This exoskeleton connects the various levels and decks of the ship

(Image credit: press)

An opening

An opening in the exoskeleton gives way to a pool

(Image credit: press)

The design language is fluid and organic

The design language is fluid and organic, allowing a far greater connectivity between the various decks than is found in traditional yacht designs. Four further 'Unique Circle Yachts' have also been designed to fulfil the different requirements and individual requests of their designated owners

(Image credit: press)

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Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.