Welcome to the special “20th Anniversary” section of Top Yacht Design. Here we present to you, day by day, the best stories, yachts, characters we have covered in these 20 years of Top Yacht Design, from 2006 to the present day.
Taken from Top Yacht Design no. 01/2015 pp. 65/71
Admiral 47 Entourage: tribute to futurism
From Luca Dini and Dragana Maznic: the Admiral 47 Entourage.
Inovative, eco-friendly and, most significantly, a futurist manifesto for interior design. Entourage is an Admiral from the 47m Maxima series. She was launched by the Italian Sea Group and awarded RINA Green Plus class notation by Prince Albert at the Monaco Yacht Show. A steel displacement yacht with an aluminium superstructure, this tri-deck has a range of 6,000 miles and exterior lines styled by Luca Dini. “Entourage was a real challenge, laughs the designer”. ” We were asked to boost volumes to the utmost but keep her under 500 GT.” One of Entourage’s most successful ploys is her asymmetrical upper deck. “The starboard side features an opening balcony while we created a walkway on the portside that links the aft cockpit, the pantry and the stairs to the lower deck,” continues Dini. “Entourage is more traditional in style than the yard’s recent offerings. But thanks to an interplay of solids and voids, large windows and contrasts between the glossy white of the hull and the matt window areas, the result is a classic but still very modern, contemporary yacht.”
The Italian Sea Group’s Style Centre is also keen to emphasise other features such as Entourage’s drop-style bulb designed specifically to optimise her performance figures which, for a full displacement yacht, are astonishing. Or the fact that her garage has dimensions normally only seen on a 55-metre. Also noteworthy is an under lower deck high and large enough to accommodate both a laundry room and a cold room. Entourage’s interiors have a traditional layout but that’s where convention ends. Dragana Maznic’s interior design has transformed her into a truly offbeat craft in the most positive meaning of the phrase.
Her main deck is home to a relaxation and a dining area, the galley, the master suite, a gym designed by Antonio Citterio and fitted out by Tecnogym, and a steam room. Mirrors are the leitmotif on this deck: two by Tonelli on either side of the entrance are faceted and there is also another behind the dining table made of a patchwork of tinier mirrors. The sofas are by Flexform, the dining table by Minotti and the chairs by Cassina. The unusual chandelier is the Mercury designed by Ross Lovegrove for Artemide. Four guest staterooms lie on the lower deck but the upper deck is spectacular with a sky lounge featuring more Flexform, Cassina and Minotti pieces, a sun pad forward and a large open-air area aft. The bridge and captain’s cabin are also forward. The sundeck is shaded by a large hard top and offers a dining table, sunning area, whirlpool tub and wet bar.
Almost all the deck furnishings are designed by Paola Lenti. “The owner’s brief demanded a boat that provided a luxury refuge from everyday life and dominated by art, sport and outdoor activities,” explains Dragana Maznic. “To lighten things up, most of the walls on the decks have been replaced by full-height windows,” she continues. “The internal bulkheads have been reduced to an absolute minimum too which really made a lot of work for the yard’s technical office!” Even the walls on the main staircase have been replaced by large glass panels and Exploded Iceberg, a transparent Moss&Lam sculpture consisting of a parallelepiped in which futuristic acrylic icebergs have been suspended. The paintings in the guest cabins and the one facing Exploded Iceberg on the stairs are all by Vinicio Momoli. A series of photographs by Michael Dweck, entitled Mermaid, adorn the walls of the owner’s suite.
The sculptures, paintings and photographs aside, some of Entourage’s furnishings would almost qualify as art works in their own right too. This is particularly true of some of the rugs and the woven occasional tables in the sky lounge and on the sun deck. Pieces that enhance their surroundings without weighing them down and perfectly fulfil the owner’s brief for a luxurious yet modern yacht. A brief that Dragana Maznic and the Admiral Style Centre worked to perfection, seamlessly interweaving space and light into the equation.
by Giuliana Fratnik
