layout. Mrs Doris was very involved working out those details to make sure
her family would be happy.”
There were two major points to the design brief. The first was a bright
interior and the second was enough variety of spaces in which the multiple
generations could gather, relax and dine. “I was designing for people in their
70s as well as young teens – a tough audience,” Benini says. “On one thing
they were very clear: they did not want a dark boat. The son suggested pale
sycamore for the joinery. As you can see, we used it throughout the boat for
flowing consistency. This colour for the panelling and various similar tones
became our palette.” Yachtline1618, the joinery manufacturer that fabricated
the minimalist interior envelope on award-winning Sybaris, was tapped to
execute this equally stylish décor.
One look at the main deck layout shows how the family lives beyond
their cabins, and there are six of those below deck. The cockpit area down
four steps from the aft deck is designed as an outdoor living room
complete with an unobtrusive ofset bar. The aft deck itself can be shaded
by an awning. The cockpit area is a multifunctional lounge with ample
seating and the primary al fresco dining area with a table that expands to
seat a crowd under cover.
Substantial curved glass and steel doors open to the saloon with its
rounded modular centreline seating. The Giorgetti sofas are positioned
in the centre of the room instead of built in under the windows. This is
because, when the boat is sailing, this area is less afected by heel, and the
sofas also keep people from disturbing a conversation in the saloon as
they pass through on their way to the accommodation stairway, the bridge
or the media space on starboard or the formal dining area on port.
Orienting the dining table fore to aft preserves a great deal of interior
space and tucks it neatly out of the way. A pair of pocket doors can close
it of should it be needed for quiet games or business calls.
The deeply curved sofas flank a beautiful triangular cofee table under
a highly unusual overhead treatment, with a suspended black glass oval
and LED strips. The black glass is meant to represent a horizontal slice ofA long corridor to six cabins on the lower
deck showcases the pale sycamore used for
joinery throughout. Note the flush door
openings and the recessed lighting, which
creates a sense of travelling to a destination“ON ONE THING THEY WERE VERY
CLEAR: THEY DID NOT WANT A DARK
BOAT. THE SON SUGGESTED PALE
SYCAMORE FOR THE JOINERY. AS YOU
CAN SEE, WE USED IT THROUGHOUT
FOR FLOWING CONSISTENCY”183