But Lily’s unconventional design is more than just a series of pretty shapes. They add up to a functional and buildable superyacht of the future.
Some superyacht concepts border on fantasy, others cling to reality by making uninspired, minor tweaks to proven designs. Oceanco and Vripack have moved in another direction with the elegant 101-metre Lily, a concept that would be the wildest yacht on the water, if it finds an owner, but is also highly functional.
The Dutch shipyard—maker of some of yachting’s most groundbreaking builds, Black Pearl and H3 among them—tasked design studio Vripack to come up with a yacht for clients they call “changemakers who want to leave a mark.”
Never shying from designing its own superyacht paradigm-shifters, Vripack has introduced dozens of concepts ranging from a “pandemic-proof” explorer yacht, an ultra-wide 26-metre and a 54-metre superyacht with an innovative layout and a cigar lounge as the cherry on top. Vripack happily took up the challenge for Oceanco’s second-gen Beyond Custom series, which follows its Simply Custom series from six world-class design studios.
“Lily neatly straddles the line between blue-sky thinking and buildability, which is exactly what Beyond Custom is all about,” said Marnix Hoekstra, Vripack’s co-creative director.
Vripack employed multiple inspirations to bring Lily to life—a sailing superyacht with its unbroken lines, a spider-like web for the interior, but mostly the concept’s namesake, a water lily. “Viewing the yacht from the aft reveals an exterior that wraps around like the curving leaves of a protective cocoon,” says Hoekstra. Lily’s asymmetrical, split-level design optimizes sightlines and airflow, but also maximizes owner and guest spaces on board. The gigayacht is more than graceful, claims Hoekstra. “It’s buildable.”
The yacht has no side walkways or terraces, giving the appearance of a smooth, closed-off otherworldly watercraft. The superstructure, however, is lined with one-way glass windows that allow onboard privacy and exceptional views of the ocean.
The interior has both folding and overlapping decks that appear unconnected, a perception aided by the extensive use of glass and split levels that diminish real barriers. “We were struck by how a lily’s petals overlap one another and only touch at the center of the flower,” says Hoekstra. “We’ve echoed that structure transversely by layering the decks to create split level platforms and one and a half deck heights.”
The main “leisure deck” has a 3-metre-high ceiling attached to a wellness area, waterside swimming pool, gym, and watersports gallery. The interior also includes a glass mezzanine and stairway leading to nine guest staterooms, an open-plan cinema, and even a children’s play area accessed by a suspension bridge. The owner’s split-level quarters on the top deck measure 450 square metres and are joined to an almost equally large private deck and terrace (with, of course, a lily pond.)
Lily will have Lateral Naval Architects’ Energy Transition Platform (ETP) and hybrid Dynafin propulsion and fuel cell technology, standard on all of Oceanco’s Beyond Custom series.
“Lily is a testament to what’s possible when design meets advanced construction and engineering,” Paris Baloumis, group marketing director at Oceanco, said in a statement. “It represents Oceanco’s drive to deliver a fully realizable yacht for an owner ready to embrace the future. Lily is not just a statement of intent; it’s a yacht ready to be brought to life.”
