Boat International recently explored the 60m CRN superyacht Darlings Danama in Genoa.
The yacht was designed with two central owner requirements in mind – quietness in cabins and a spacious interior, enhanced with a sculptural interior design by land-based architects Cristina & Alexandre Negoescu.
‘The boat is quite particular,’ says Luca Boldrini, CRN sales director, ‘he wanted absolutely to have an architectural style inside, but something that maybe he would not create in a house. On a boat he uses say 60 or 70 days a year, he wants to do something one step further, something a bit different.’
For this style, which showcases flowing interiors, volume is all-important. Giovanni Zuccon of Zuccon International Project was chosen to pen the superstructure because of his experience in wringing extra space from designs – a skill honed by working on smaller yachts.
Zuccon worked through a painstaking process of design that he describes as ‘slow research, step by step, attempt by attempt.’
‘To give an example,’ he says, ‘when we are asked to reduce a space for any reason (we weren’t on this boat), we do not reduce a single space but we re-design the entire layout - we do not take one metre from the design of a cabin but 10cm from five cabins. To maximise the volumes in a yacht for me means to have a control of any space’s dimension and ergonomics, to search for the perfect balance.’
On to this maximised frame Cristina & Alexandre Negoescu laid a contemporary design, with extensive cabinetry sculpturing the walls of communal areas into sinuous curves and open-plan bathrooms giving cabins an airy feeling. The colour palette is predominantly cream and white, with accents of champagne, taupe and grey. There was a focus on reflective surfaces and the decorative scheme includes include moon-gold and silver leaf wall panels, white lacquer ceilings and velvet cushions.
The effect is chic and relaxing, a mood accentuated by some clever technology in the owners’ cabin. As well as extensively sound proofing the yacht, CRN worked with partners to develop noise-cancelling speakers, which are installed in the bedhead of the owners cabin. Tests have proved successful: ‘The comfort level is outstanding,’ says Boldrini.