Your Boat Through a Different Lens
When I was a younger man, the definition of the word “design” seemed relatively narrow, more industrial and functional in nature: buildings, cars, airplanes, furniture, parks. These days, it seems everything is designed, curated or deconstructed (the latter two being poor relations, but related nonetheless). For better or worse, the notion of randomness is in full retreat.
Designers now lay hands on nearly every aspect of our lives. Their influence has expanded across a broad range of sensory and environmental landscapes: lighting, sound, aromas, the food on our plates at restaurants. They’ve even crept into our very essence, with scientists now toying with the idea of designer babies.
Most of that’s great. The world is a more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing place than it once was. But in the hands of amateurs, “design” can be a bit much, something I realized recently while watching a friend set up for a party. He was fussing over the hors d’oeuvres table, moving bowls of nuts here and there and arranging cheeses and meats according to anticipated foraging patterns. I gave him a hard time about it, and he said he was “curating” the table. (Really?)
I have much different conversations within the world of professional designers—yacht designers in particular—who always make for fascinating chat. Their palette is a steel or aluminum box that moves through a harsh environment, and their efforts must dovetail with the desires and tastes of the most demanding clientele in the world. That’s a tall order, but what they produce often blows the mind, whether that means shaping a yacht’s exterior lines, curating the interior spaces or sourcing exotic woods and custom furniture.
Also mind-blowing is the rapid evolution of the tools these professional designers use. While the proverbial cocktail-napkin sketch may still form the genesis of many projects, long gone are the days of drafting tables, pencils and squares. The keyboard and mouse are the primary tools, and computing power is the enabler. Not that long ago, custom builders would construct plywood mockups of staterooms and salons so a client could get a tangible sense of what his yacht’s interior would be like. Today, 3-D computer-aided design produces ultra-realistic renderings easily changeable at the client’s whim.
And now, advances are rapidly eclipsing even that level of technology. In her piece “The Future is Now,” Kim Kavin explores the nascent discipline of virtual reality in yacht design and construction. As computer processing power expands, clients can now “walk” through yachts and experience the spaces as if they were real—before construction begins. Unlike in the days of plywood mockups, a client wearing an Oculus Rift headset can stroll the companionways, enter the heads and look through the virtual windows. He can tour his yacht with the designer before construction starts and change elements he doesn’t like. And in the case of one builder that is experimenting with the technology, he can combine real-life champagne and caviar with their digital representations “on board” a concept yacht, in real time.
In the hands of professionals, including those who design yachts, virtual reality opens a world of enticing possibilities that will affect not only how our boats are built, but also how we use and enjoy them.
Some experts say we’ll soon be able to indulge in virtual cruising in exotic locales while sitting on our sofas at home—an interesting concept that has pros and cons. There will be fun to be had, for sure, but to my thinking, nothing will ever replace the sensation of wind in my hair and salt spray in my face in the random, undesigned environment that is the sea.
the Quay, 1535 SE 17th Street, Ste. B201, fort lauderdale, fl 33316 PhOnE: 954.761.8777 WEb: yachtsinternational.com
gAry dESANCtiS grOuP PublishEr gdesanctis@aimmedia.com
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