any feature wall and all loose furniture.” The large and beautiful master
suite, the largest of six cabins on board, was stripped of its finishes
almost entirely. “What was dark we made light, what was light we
made dark,” the designer says with a laugh. “We were just stubborn.”
One of the biggest jobs, which involved metal work, was the
reconfiguration of the sundeck and the spa pool, which was rotated
to create a huge, private sunbed area and carve out space “for a
champagne or tapas bar”. More changes happened on the main deck
aft, where the seating area was expanded and reconfigured to
accommodate an outdoor cinema, and the lower deck, where the large
beach club had gym equipment added. One of the most complex tasks,
surprisingly, was fitting a copper light fixture to the curved walls of
the redesigned staircase.
“This whole thing [the staircase] was the most challenging for
Heesen. That and the bulkhead in the sky lounge [which was redone
to take out a secondary crew passage and install a 2.2 metre mirror
television in the reconfigured upper saloon],” the designer says. “The
structure of the stairs was there, but they had to take the whole thing
out and rebuild every single step, do the millwork and the wall panelsThe interior of Laurentia, as it exists now, is the confluence of its
lead designer’s and the client’s visions. “The common denominator is
that we try to create sophisticated, simple designs, but always
warm, cosy and relaxing, which is the purpose of a boat, at least
for the clientele that we have,” says the lead designer on the team.
“We have never worked with a client who expected a more formal
use of the boat.”
An interior rethink is a common experience when stepping into a
build at such a late stage. The yacht’s interior had been done for
someone else. “It was nice but busy, but it had extremely good bones.
We told our client, ‘We think we can make it work’ and he said, ‘OK,
make a list of everything you would change without hesitation’. To our
huge list he added his own changes. Then he said, ‘Go back to Heesen.
If they can deliver that in time for me to use this summer, we have a
deal.’ And ‘that’ included relocating the [spa pool], adding awnings,
changing a bulkhead on the sky lounge. It was huge surgery.”
The white oak with wenge accents on the surrounding bulkheads
remained, as did taps, mirrors and vanity units. But “we changed all
the flooring, ceiling panels, fabrics, all the leathers, all the wallpapers,
“It’s a beast of a boat. It’s an incredible sea boat, strong and eficient. She is
740GT, the largest 55 metre platform built at any recognisable shipyard”
http://www.boatinternational.com | July 2018151