ON THE HORIZON
Luiz DeBasto and Oceanco create the concept yacht Vector, with a superstructure they say is actually possible to build.
GLASS GONE WILD
Some yacht designs are so super cool that you imagine they can only be a pipe dream. But 344-foot (105-meter) Vector—a collaborative concept by DeBasto Designs and Oceanco—is more than a pie in the sky. “Without any aesthetic sacrifice, our advanced Oceanco engineering makes Vector perfectly feasible,” says Dirk de Jong, director of design and innovation at Oceanco.
Vector’s superstructure would be built from continuously curved and angled glass. “Glass is utilized in this yacht not only as a design feature, but as a construction material,” says Luiz DeBasto, principal of DeBasto Designs, adding that the enclosed part of the superstructure would be sole-to-ceiling glass. “It is enclosed because it’s facing forward and more exposed to the weather.”
Looking from the inside out, guests would have sweeping views, but a treatment on the glass means the yacht also would offer privacy from the outside looking in. The glass would be tempered to withstand force, would have UV protection and could be fogged with the push of a button.
The glass superstructure would be engineered with much the same treatment as the captivating glass structures one sees at many of the Apple stores. “With leading-edge technology, the number of weight-bearing structures can be kept to a minimum to allow for a totally seamless effect,” de Jong says.
While DeBasto has been designing a diverse range of yachts for two decades, the five-deck Vector is his new love. “Vector is pure,” he says. “The aft decks are open to nature, which is the natural approach to the layout of a long-range oceangoing vessel.” A hot tub would sit under the radar array for a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding seascape.
Other features would include a beach club and wellness area, an aft-deck swimming pool and a bar with dual access from inside and outside the pool. DeBasto says the pool could even be surrounded by real sand, perhaps gathered from the finest beaches of Brazil—he says the grains could be kept slightly wet and protected with a canvas cover when not in use, for the ultimate in bringing the beach to the boat.
“This collaboration with Oceanco is a harbinger of next-generation, over-80-meter vessels,” DeBasto says. “Plus the design is very versatile, as the overall concept can have many different shapes. Vector is just one of them.”