On board Heesen's lunar-themed 60m superyacht

Aside from its successful range of five 50-metre-plus series platforms, Heesen offers two custom approaches: clients can start from a blank sheet of paper, or they can start from one of the Dutch yard’s concept designs. Ceres is one such design – a new steel 60 metre with a Van Oossanen Fast-Displacement Hull Form. It appealed to one Middle Eastern client, and the process of fashioning the concept into his own vision began. The yard design team and Frank Laupman, founder of Omega Architects, together reviewed the exterior and layout in detail, effectively redesigning the whole vessel.

Perfectly positioned to work these changes into stylish exterior lines, Laupman had a long-standing relationship with the yard. Laupman studied architecture and city planning at Eindhoven University of Technology and developed his industrial design expertise in different managerial positions. He guest-lectures at the Delft University of Technology. 

His relationship with yachts started with Heesen’s pelican-beaked bows such as those of 50-metre Satori and 37-metre Lady Ingeborg in the early 2000s, moving on to a different approach a decade later with aluminium fast-displacement 65-metre Galactica Star and, later, fuel-efficient hybrid Home. Yet another reinvention wasn’t such a stretch. For the interior, Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design got involved at the suggestion of the yard and the team was complete.

The layout was a central point of work. “This was a Middle Eastern client. He liked to be with a lot of people on board, so he wanted to have a private owner’s deck,” says Peter van der Zanden, general manager of design and development and engineering at Heesen Yachts. This relocated the master suite to the upper deck, where Heesen would ordinarily place an upper saloon. 

He also wanted a touch-and-go helideck, “so we made the sundeck heavier for a landing area and we enclosed the mast with an atrium for the guests who arrive with the helicopter”. Placed where Heesen might have put a spa pool on an open deck, this is a spacious area with a lift and pilot’s cabin. The yacht was originally designed with three decks, but these changes necessitated the fourth – making this Heesen’s first four-deck boat. 

There are a few standout artisanal pieces, including a cream cut-leather wall covering that snakes around the central stairwell. “It depicts the deep sea on the lower deck, with fish and coral, towards land on the main deck, with mountains and trees, and then into the skies, with birds. Ultimately, on the sundeck you enter outer space, and we have a big representation of the moon,” says Costerus. 

“We purchased a slice of moon rock at auction, a little slab of meteorite, which has been proven to be made of the same material as the moon”

This is a running theme throughout Lusine, which means “moon” in Armenian. Even the letters on the yacht’s nameplate run from thin to thick to represent the phases of the moon. Star constellations in straw marquetry, inlaid with palladium and studded with moonstones, flank the main saloon dining table and there are moons scattered subtly through the scheme, in lamps and even deck inlays. 

Perhaps the most meaningful example is the small coffee table at the aft end of the main saloon, the owner’s favourite spot in which to sit. Inlaid into the centre is a slice of that moon rock.

“We purchased one at an auction, a little slab of a meteorite, which has been proven to be made of the same material as the moon,” says Costerus.

The utility of the interior was defined down to the smallest detail. “On the practical side of things, we knew a lot, even down to how many drawers there should be in his bathroom cabinet,” says Costerus. “When you lie down in bed, you are able to control the lighting and the window dressings not from the headboard, as you see on many yachts, but rather from an inclined section of the nightstand.” The design team was briefed on everything from the size of built-in laundry baskets to the position of toilet brushes and the direction in which toilet-roll holders point. There are built-in digital clocks everywhere. “Seeing the time was incredibly important,” says Costerus.

“The owner said, ‘Frank, my countertops should be lowered to 60 to 65 centimetres,’ so 10 centimetres lower than usual,” recalls Laupman. “‘I also want my chairs to be lower’, so we took a few centimetres off the legs.” To maintain views when seated, Laupman lowered bulwarks on the main aft and owner’s aft decks.

There are other design quirks throughout the layout. On the master suite’s aft deck, privacy has been assured by replacing the traditional deck staircase with a retractable ladder. It
looks substantial and smart when deployed, but hides away beneath a sealed hatch under a sofa when not in use. A sprawling foredeck lounge in front of the wheelhouse “more or less functions like a majlis,” says Laupman, referring to the private Middle Eastern style of saloon where male guests are received. 

“When you lie down in bed, you are able to control the lighting and the window dressings from an inclined section of the night stand”

There were geographical considerations too, such as “upgrading the air-conditioning and chiller units, as they would like to sail in Dubai, where we have to cope with a seawater temperature of 35 degrees,” says van der Zanden. “[There can also be] a lot of sand in the air, so there were some filters for the engine room.”

Would Heesen suggest any of the changes to a future 60-metre Steel Class client? “Just a few, for instance, the bigger windows, which we should copy because it brings something,” says van der Zanden. “But the majority are so specific that we won’t copy them.” As a calling card for Heesen to create a highly customised 60-metre, however, Lusine has universal appeal. 

First published in the January 2023 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.