A new concept superyacht unfurls, courtesy of Vripack and Oceanco

To the untrained eye, concept yachts are pure entertainment, adrift from reality or day to day practicality, existing purely to showcase formal adventure and material exploration. For the industry, they’re also elaborate calling cards, a way to lure potential customers into a world where anything is theoretically possible, should pockets be deep enough.

They also serve as showcases for unusual talent combinations – witness the partnership between Zaha Hadid Architects, Jason Bruges Studio and Vitruvius Yachts that gave us this conceptual Royal Yacht.

What we have here is the work of Vripack, a Dutch design studio with a weather eye on the emerging trends, markets and demands of a younger generation. Lily is a 101-metre concept design developed in collaboration with Dutch shipyard Oceanco inspired, unsurprisingly, by a water lily. The internal arrangement and hull all demonstrate an asymmetric approach, without compromising on space and amenity and improving views, light and the movement of air.

The lily analogy comes in at superstructure level, and the way the yacht’s overlapping decks and swooping hull evoke a lily closing its petals around its core. The accommodation stretches to a dedicated leisure deck, complete with children’s ‘play nest’, along with nine 50msq double guest cabins and an open-plan cinema.

The 101m length is uncommonly generous, even in a world of blossoming superyacht scales, so it comes as no surprise to discover that the designer’s have found space for a helicopter landing pad, along with tender docks and hangars for four vessels and the helicopter itself.

Vripack’s co-creative director, Marnix Hoekstra, explains that Oceanco wanted a yacht design ‘for the change makers who want to leave a mark,’ adding that ‘this new generation is quite experiential and appreciates multi directional design, [which] resulted in a radical and fresh layout within a unique outer shape.’

Should Lily ever be built, it would combine an elegant, unbroken sailing yacht-inspired steel hull and aluminium superstructure, complete with huge amounts of one-way glass to bring the sea into the interior without compromising privacy. Sun shading is high on the agenda for this generation, and the main leisure deck includes a waterside pool and gym.

The internal accommodation is arranged off a series of half decks, with a glass stairwell and mezzanine at the heart of the boat. The owner’s cabin – a typical place to showboat – is across two levels, with its own private sundeck and even an ‘interior lily pond’. As to where Lily is actually piloted, Vripack have proposed a ‘virtual bridge’ set amidships rather than at a high central point, freeing up space and views for the owner.

Vripack’s vision is part of Oceanco’s ongoing ‘Beyond Custom’ design series, a portfolio of formal, material and technological innovation that demonstrates the outer reaches of modern shipbuilding technology. A hybrid Dynafin propulsion and the latest fuel cell technology are proposed, vastly reducing the running costs and carbon footprint of the yacht should it ever be launched in the real world.

‘[Project Lily offers] a boundaryless onboard experience, like the ocean itself, providing pure freedom within the whole concept,’ Hoekstra concludes, ‘It reflects our belief that it’s in the uniqueness of an idea where the true value for the future owner lies. Lily neatly straddles the line between blue-sky thinking and buildability.’

Vripack.com, @VripackDesign, OceancoYacht.com, @OceancoYacht