Megayachts, reimagined

 

The BBC has an article by Ken Whysocky about very pretty (and very expensive) toys:

To most people, a yacht is just a yacht, an über-expensive toy for the one-percenters. But even the World’s Most Interesting Man might raise an eyebrow at the Alen 68, sprung from the loins of high-end Turkish boatmaker Alen Yacht, with help from the world-renowned, London, England-based architectural firm Foster + Partners.
The new Alen model emerged from a 68-foot prototype custom-built for a Monacan businessman who already had worked with Foster + Partners (designer of the McLaren Technology Centre and Apple’s new headquarters) on another project. “This client wanted to build the coolest 68-footer out there and Foster said: ‘Let’s do it,’” says Alp Ozcan, owner and chief executive officer of Alen, headquartered in Istanbul.
What did Alen gain from partnering with a landlubber firm lacking boat-design chops? In short, creative objectivity. “Because they have no experience, they look at boats in a totally creative way, uninfluenced by conventions,” Ozcan explains. “I’ve never seen an exterior and interior design as sleek and original as this.”
By eschewing traditional yacht interiors, which hide walls with modular built-in furniture, Foster instead fashioned a space that embraces the visible, sinuous contours of the hull; part spaceship and part Dubai penthouse. The use of bleached oak, white leather, stainless steel and white onyx only enhances the elegant, minimalistic vibe.
On the practical side, this design sensibility also results in twenty percent more space than conventional 68-footers. This enabled Foster to develop a flexible interior “pod” that can be configured in up to three cabins. The yacht also features two kitchens, one above deck and one below. “It’s basically a floating house,” Ozcan says.
But don’t dismiss the Alen 68 as an all-show-and-no-go newbie; with a twelve-hundred-gallon fuel tank and sixteen-hundred-horsepower from a pair of V12 diesel engines, this sleek-as-a-seal water nymph boasts a cruising speed of forty knots and a maximum speed of forty-five knots, enough to get you to St. Tropez in time for that swank, A-list dinner party.
The Alen 68 costs about four million dollars, not including a design fee. Ozcan expects to build three or four a year; maybe even one for the World’s Most Interesting Man.

Rico says he's not sure he'd buy one, even if he had the money (which he doesn't), but he knows someone who would, and almost does... (And, while neither of us is the World’s Most Interesting Man, we'd at least look like him.)