Superyacht Design - Royal Falcon Fleet

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CraZy
COOl
Due to be launched later this year, the first yacht created
by the Royal Falcon Fleet, the RFF135, promises to change
our perception of yacht design. With the first 41m fast
catamaran approaching completion at the kockums
Shipyard near Stockholm in Sweden and another in build,
it is the brainchild of a private investor who has gathered
together an international team to develop a new-look
yacht aimed at the market for fractional ownership.
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RFF135
E
ntrepreneur and businessman
Mr Zaman is a colourful
figure with a snappy dress
sense who made his fortune in
telecommunications in South East
Asia. The RFF135 began as a personal
project some three years ago when
he was in the market for a private
yacht. Largely based out of Singapore,
he was intrigued by the fast ferries
that serve the island city-state and
especially the generous interior
volume the catamaran configuration
provides. He made further enquiries
and discovered the Australians are
leaders in the field of fast ferry design
and commissioned Incat Crowther to
come up with an initial engineering
concept for an aluminium catamaran.
The more Zaman became involved in the concept,
the more he realised he was looking at a commercial
opportunity. The notion of fractional ownership,
borrowed from the private jet industry, has not
caught on among Western owners, but Zaman
believes that Asian and Middle Eastern clients are
more receptive to the idea and this became the
operational principle behind the catamaran project.
“What I’m trying to do is crazy,” he admitted when
TOP yAChT
“If we can get
away with this
it will make a
huge difference
– it’s a game
changer.”
SYD caught up with him at the Dubai International
Boat Show. “But if we can get away with this it will
make a huge difference—it’s a game changer.”
The next step was to gather together a design
team of international standing able to convince the
market it was looking at a proposal that was not
only innovative, but also commercially viable. Fate
stepped in on an international flight when Zaman
found himself sitting next to Porsche’s Asia-Pacific
CEO, which led to a meeting with Roland Heiler,
managing director of the Austria-based company
Porsche Design Studio. Heiler was intrigued by the
project’s exterior and interior design potential, while
from a branding perspective bringing in the luxury
automotive brand ticked all the right boxes in
terms of marketing. The search then began for an
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MOCK UP OF THE MAIN DECK INTERIOR AT
GREENLINE YACHT INTERIORS IN DUBAI
“These kinds of projects
don’t happen very often
because it’s very hard to
bring about something new
and unconventional in the
yachtbuilding industry.”
outfitter to execute the interior proposal from
Heiler. During business and pleasure trips to
the UAE, Zaman often stayed at Dubai’s iconic
Burj Al Arab hotel, which was interior outfitted
by Greenline Interiors. Impressed by the highquality workmanship inside what is marketed
as 'the world’s most luxurious hotel', Greenline
Yacht Interiors (the sister company of Greenline
Interiors) was a natural choice for the RFF
Project. With Incat Crowther already responsible
for the engineering package, the dream team
was complete. Initial emphasis was placed on
defining and signing off the exterior design so
construction could get under way, while the
interior design developed in parallel.
A recent visit to the sprawling Greenline’s
Dubai facility, the largest of its kind in the world,
revealed the remarkable efforts that were made
to perfect the interior construction. It is common
practice to manufacture a mock-up of a corner
of the master cabin or main salon, but Greenline
went much further and pre-assembled the
entire main deck, complete with furnishings and
fittings, flatware and fabrics, and even mapped
out the teak aft deck. At the time of our visit,
Greenline was preparing to ship the whole
interior to Sweden for installation.
“The level of finish on this mock-up is a first
for us,” says Gianluca Ascheri, Greenline Yacht
Interiors’ sales and marketing director and
general manager. “It’s even fully air-conditioned
and the only things missing are the final LED
fixtures, audio-visual system and artwork.
The principal challenge was that the interior
had to be extremely lightweight. The weight
distribution, water-jet propulsion, top speed
of 36 knots and the need to remain below 500
gross tons meant we had to shave seven tons off
what an interior like this would ordinarily weigh.”
Together with its specialist suppliers, Greenline
came up with an ultra-light honeycomb substrate
that features a composite skin, which in turn
required modifying the system by which the
panels are pressed. The final product weighs
2.2kg per square metre, with the same strength
characteristics yet weighing half as much as
standard panels. Wafer-thin layers of marble
or stone do appear on board, but the palette
of materials is linear and clean rather than
ornate and rich. A principal feature of the main
deck design is the open-plan layout, with a
sightline accentuated by a curving strip of
stained bamboo decking that extends from the
aft deck through to the forward windscreen.
Accommodation for 10 guests is on the
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main deck with a presidential suite and a VIP
stateroom on the upper deck, while the 12-man
crew quarters and services are housed in the two
hulls (the captain’s cabin is located on the upper
deck behind the wheelhouse).
With regard to the exterior styling, Porsche
Design Studio was determined to avoid the
conventional profile of power catamarans.
“We wanted to emphasise the hulls and the
fact that between them there is a very different
superstructure based on a specific aesthetic,”
says Heiler, who oversees the design and
development of all the non-automotive Porsche
products, from sunglasses, watches and sports
equipment to fragrances, mobile phones and
yachts. However, he was formerly chief designer
at the Porsche Styling Studio in Huntington
Beach, California, where he worked on projects
such as the Carrera GT and the Cayman models
and the design process behind the RFF135 was
very similar to one he followed as a car designer.
“The process can be applied to all sorts
of industrial products and not just transport
design,” confirms Heiler. “You need to be aware
of the technical parameters, but at the start you
also need to have a very free and open ideation
process. If you want to come up with something
fresh and new, you don’t want to be overloaded
with too many technical considerations. Using
this approach we came up with the initial sketch
that triggered Mr Zaman’s approval. The hard
part is then making that design work, but it’s a
process that works for automobiles, yachts and
many other products.”
Last but not least is the fact that the RFF135
is designed specifically for fractional ownership.
Previous attempts to apply this elusive business
model to yachting have been launched on a
small scale with only limited success. Zaman,
on the other hand, is looking to establish a fleet
of dozens of yachts stationed around the globe
and tap into his contacts in the Middle East
and emerging Asian markets to attract
a new generation of wealthy consumers for
whom fractional ownership is a cost-effective
path into yachting.
“These kinds of projects don’t happen very
often because it’s very hard to bring about
something new and unconventional in the
yachtbuilding industry,” concludes Heiler. “It was
really in the spirit of Porsche Design to start with
a clean sheet or paper, to have a lot of design
freedom and to work with a very open owner like
Mr Zaman.”
JUSTIN RATCLIFFE
JUSTIN RATCLIFFE
IT IS COMMON PRACTICE TO BUILD A MOCK-UP
OF A CORNER OF THE MASTER CABIN OR MAIN
SALON, BUT GREENLINE WENT MUCH FURTHER
AND PRE-ASSEMBLED THE ENTIRE MAIN DECK
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THE FIRST RFF135 IS APPROACHING COMPLETION
AT THE KOCKUMS SHIPYARD IN SWEDEN
ROlAND hEIlER
PORSChE DESIgN STuDIO
porsche design Studio was established in
Stuttgart in 1972 by alexander Ferdinand
porsche, grandson of the brand founder,
and moved to its current location in
Zell am See, austria, two years later.
Managing director roland heiler served an
apprenticeship as a technical draughtsman
with porsche and graduated with an Ma
in automotive design from the royal
College of art in london. Before taking
up his current post, he has worked as chief
designer at the porsche Styling Studio and
head of exterior design with audi aG.
porsche design has worked on smaller
yacht projects—how was this experience
transferred to the rFF135 project?
In 2003 we began working for a Florida-based
company on several boat projects starting
with a 28ft sport yacht, which was built by
Donzi in Sarasota. The idea of this boat was to
create a powerboat that resembles the quality
and feel of a high-end sports car. Later, Royal
Falcon Fleet acquired most of the assets of this
company and marketed the boats under the
brand name Royal Falcon Fire.
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“if you analyse the function of an object,
its form often becomes obvious.” in what
ways is this famous quote by Ferdinand
alexander porsche relevant to the design
of the rFF135?
The design of the RFF135 is deeply influenced
by the fact that it is a catamaran. In profile
most catamaran configurations, such as ferries,
look very much like monohull yachts, but we
put an emphasis on a new contour that is
clearly related to the catamaran concept. Even
when viewed from the side, the RFF135 has
a distinct silhouette unlike any other yacht.
That proved a challenge because catamarans
have a tendency to dive and bury themselves
in heavy seas. Together with Incat Crowther
we had to develop a kind of keel feature to
minimise the shock impact on the central
structure. Although this feature was not
originally there, we’ve grown to like it because
it lends the design credibility and serves a very
practical function.
What does car design share with yacht
design and could there be more synergy
between the two disciplines?
Traditionally, yachts have had a fairly standard
form language, which has a lot to do with the
way boats are designed and built. In the case
of the RFF135 we combined the same dynamic
design language, as well as the design
process, that we adopt for high-end sports
cars. Together with the catamaran concept the
result is quite revolutionary. And, of course, the
design is based on the principles established
by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche [who passed
away in April 2012, Ed.], which are still the
basis of our design philosophy today. A pure,
timeless and unmistakeable design signature
characterises all Porsche Design products.
With regard to possible synergies, it is my
observation over the past 15 years that design
and engineering processes have become more
similar between the two industries, partly due
to the use of identical software programs.
MAIN SALON
What was the design brief for the exterior/
interior design and to what extent was the
design team at porsche given a free hand?
The brief from Mr Zaman was radical but also
was very clear and short: he basically asked for
a spaceship on the water. Accordingly, we had
all the freedom to come up with an innovative
design theme. Typically, however, the reality
catches up with you when it comes to function
and one of the challenges was to create a new
look that also performs well at sea.
porsche design is a leading luxury
brand—how is the concept of ‘luxury’
incorporated into the interior and
exterior design of a yacht?
Superyachts are the epitome of exclusivity;
they are among the most valuable and rare
objects money can buy. While most yacht
interiors try to include as many luxury features
as possible, we had the advantage of the
generous catamaran floor plan with its 12.5m
beam, which is literally a luxury in itself.
how long was the design phase and
what were the main challenges that had
to be overcome?
The real challenge was not necessarily rooted
in the design task itself. The design process
of the RFF135 was in co-operation with the
Australian naval architects Incat Crowther;
they took care of the hydrodynamic, structural
and propulsion issues and we took care
of the aesthetics. The hulls were not very
complicated, but we spent a lot of time
refining the bow together with the engineers
to find a contour with the look and feel of
our key sketch that would also be seaworthy.
However, perhaps the most complex part
of the process was the fact the design,
engineering and production took place in
three different countries. The design was done
in Austria, the naval engineers are located in
Australia and the shipyard is in Sweden. During
the early stages we had regular meetings in
Singapore at the RFF company headquarters
to define the concept. Later and up to this day,
all regular meetings have taken place at the
shipyard in Sweden.
how did the fact the rFF135 was conceived
for fractional ownership influence the
interior design and layout?
Fractional ownership means that people with
different tastes and preferences are living
aboard the same yacht. This works to our
advantage because within the Porsche design
language there are many variations, from
the very cool and contemporary to the more
intimate and cosy. So the RFF135 draws on
technical elements such as brushed metal
surfaces, but combines them with warm
wooden floors, soft fabrics and leathers to
create a welcoming interior design that can
appeal to different personalities, or at least not
put people off. Every fractional owner should
feel like an owner, which is why the upper deck
is reserved for his or her use, while the guest
suites are located on the main deck with crew
cabins in the hulls. However, I believe the
layout follows a well-defined logic and would
not have to be dramatically different if the
yacht had only one owner.
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