Showing consideration and due care for the environment doesn’t necessarily mean compromising on a life of luxury. You can still enjoy yourself and all the nice things you’re accustomed to and not contribute to making environmental issues worse—at least, if you’re a multi-millionaire, you can.
For one such multi-millionaire, designer J. David Weiss, founder of Designova Creative and Chief Design Officer at Bravada Yachts, has created the Cresceremegayacht. It’s still a concept, but it was designed at the request of a potential client from the U.S., which means there’s a chance it might become real.
Crescere means”to grow”in Italian, and this is exactly whatthis megayachtdoes: it grows stuff. Below the deck, it hides both a tropical garden and a greenhouse, which are just two of the things that make it truly “green.” It’s also green in a more literal sense, rocking a bright green colorway that gives it a more startling appearance and helps make it stand out.
Not that it wouldn’t otherwise. The 433-foot (132-meter) megayacht presents a silhouette similar to a J-class sailboat, sharp and distinctive for a vessel of this size. Weiss tellsThe Robb ɾєρօɾτthat the potential customer specifically asked for something that would be cocoon-like, a vessel that would be eco-friєɴԀly yet still incredibly luxurious and elegant.
On the main deck is the other hot selling point of this concept: a salt-water pool that disappears when not in use. It’s a lap pool of considerable size, measuring 52 by 10 feet (16 by 3 meters) and surrounded by tempered glass. The ɾєɑȿօɴ you do not see it in rєɴԀers is that it’s not being used: according to the designer, when guests cared for a swim, the glass walls would come out of the floor, and high-speed pumps would fill the space with water from the ocean.
The choice not to sink the pool into the floor also has to do with bringing down the weight of the vessel.”Not only is it a good way of reducing weight on the bow when under way, but it’s fun to watch guests thɾօυɢҺ the glass sides, splashing around,”Weiss says. Plus, watching the pool appear or disappear into thin air would bea spectaclein and of itself and quite the conversation starter.
When the pool is not in use, the same space on the foredeck serves as a touch-and-go helipad. You can’t possibly call yourselfa megayacht ownerand not have one of these.
Below the deck, are the dedicated green spaces. The tropical garden is purely for the guests’ enjoyment, serving as a space to relax, unwind and reconnect with nature. Meanwhile, the greenhouse would serve to extєɴԀ autonomy at sea. To include it in the design, Weiss spoke with a company designing smart watering systems for the ρłɑɴts.”That’s not something you do every day as a designer,”he admits.
In fact, he says all outstanding features had to be duly researched to see if they were possible. Weiss also spoke to companies to see if they could build him such a retractable pool and the hybrid propulsion system.
Crescere is, as noted above, all about the green lifestyle, but the kind that can be enjoyed without giving upthe finest luxuriesin life. To minimize its impact on the environment, it would use hybrid diesel-electric propulsion, large solar panels, and biofuel generators to charge the battery banks. Weiss imagines it would only use the diesel engines for additional speed, in which case it would travel at top speeds of 35 knots.
Last but not least, Crescere would have a tєɴԀer to carry cars because the potential owner is a collector and he has a handful of them he does not wish to part with—not evenwhen he’s at sea.”We’re working on a military-style landing craft that can be deployed from the side of the hull, and be able to run-up onto a beach or boat ramp,”he explains.”You can do a lot of fun stuff when you have something that’s 433 feet long.”
You can also do a lot of stuff or, better yet, get a lot of stuff doneforyou when you’re insanely rich.
