Designs from tomorrow
From its focus on outward-facing innovation to its urban playscapes, Celebrity Edge was designed to leave the future behind.
A boutique resort experience with uninterrupted vistas
HOW DOES one go about designing the world’s first US$1 billion (AU$1.3 billion) cruise ship, the most luxurious of its kind? For Celebrity Cruises – keen to ensure every aspect of Celebrity Edge would be a departure from old-school thinking about cruising – the answer was as simple as it was unexpected: throw out the rulebook and assemble a team of world-renowned designers who have never worked in the industry before.
From the parabolic ultrabow designed to glide more efficiently through the water to the world’s first cantilevered moving platforms, a team of architects, interior designers, stylists and landscape artists have been commissioned to create a showcase of the most spectacular spaces at sea. Among them, Tom Wright of WKK, the internationally acclaimed British architect behind the Burj Al Arab and lead designer of public spaces for Celebrity Edge Series, and Kelly Hoppen CBE of Kelly Hoppen Interiors, in the UK, a multi-award-winning interior designer and lead designer of staterooms for Celebrity Edge Series.
A two-year design process (the first ship ever to be designed in 3D) began with a focus on what is perhaps the ultimate travel luxury heading into the future: a connection to place and a sense of feeling anchored in the present. Every inch of the 306-metrelong ship, through its unique outwardfacing innovation, was designed to inspire and help guests feel more connected to the sea and destinations they’re visiting, explains Wright.
“The main pool deck has been turned inside out, terracing the pool loungers to look out towards the port side so guests can watch as new destinations come into view,” he says. “The roo op was transformed into a living urban playscape, and unique asymmetrical ramping allows guests to traverse the whole space and constantly find new perspectives.” It’s a new way of thinking about luxury at sea so that Celebrity Edge never feels like a ship, but a boutique resort experience with uninterrupted vistas.
Luxury cruise ship or not, it can’t all be about the ocean of course; a seven-tonne chandelier creates a sense of occasion in THE GRAND PLAZA, while 650 square metres of glass (the most glass in any public room in any ship) sets the scene in EDEN, a three-storey venue cemented in cu ing-edge design and lush greenery that transforms from day to night. Even the windows have been specially glazed to prevent solar heat from penetrating and thereby reducing the amount of air conditioning required to cool the ship.
That said, it’s MAGIC CARPET, a cantilevered, floating platform – the first of its kind and a modern-day engineering marvel – that is truly the jewel in Celebrity Edge’s crown. Soaring up to a height of 13 storeys over the sea, the Magic Carpet is designed with comfortable seating,
a full bar and space for live music performances, so that it provides a distinct experience for every deck it visits. What then, of the ship’s 1,467 Edge Staterooms and the two-storey Edge Villas? One might discuss the addition of INFINITE VERANDAS, where, by the press of a bu on, the living space transforms into a balcony, or the staterooms’ in-room automation. One could mention that, through thoughtful design, almost all staterooms and suites allow for a kingsize bed with exclusive Cashmere™ Ma ress, and offer a number of inter-connection options, making it easier for larger families to travel together. For Hoppen, however, the beauty in these spaces remains in the simplicity. “The staterooms and suites on Celebrity Edge are more like apartments than hotel rooms, and certainly unlike any other offering at sea,” she explains. “I wanted to create a home-away-from-home feel that was both luxurious yet harmonious. I took a ‘less-is-more’ approach, designing the spaces to be beautiful, sophisticated, and not overcrowded with unnecessary furniture.”