As one of several studios invited to create Oceanco Simply Custom superyacht designs, Hot Lab embraced its Italian roots and came up with a design whose name says it all. The Hot Lab Superleggera 80 yacht concept doesn’t just play with light. It makes owners and guests feel lighter, at ease, and content.
The name of the 262-footer (80-meter) translates to “superlight” from Italian. “A design worthy of the name must evoke emotion,” asserts Antonio Romano, the studio’s co-founder. “Otherwise, we would all make incredibly optimized and utterly sterile boats.” Fellow co-founder Enrico Lumini explains that the starting point was soft, clean lines hinting at sailing-yacht styling and revealing strong continuity. “In addition to this, we aimed to break some recurring patterns,” he adds. For instance, instead of a typical transom with stairs cascading downward, “we concealed both under a veil of teak.” The reason? “When we design new items, we focus on certain details, chasing the goal of constant incremental innovation.”
Though these are somewhat subtle differences compared to other designs overall, the Hot Lab Superleggera 80 yacht isn’t entirely subtle. In fact, the studio wanted owners and guests to feel the wow factor in a few areas inside. Firstly, an atrium soars 16 feet (five meters) high on the main deck. Secondly, the beach club is luxurious, a chic lounge with a bar adjacent to an opening platform and extra-large skylights for an extra-airy ambience. It’s an open plan, too, with the gym, which also has an opening platform. (How many gyms look more like a luxe club?)
With seven staterooms for owners and guests, the Hot Lab Superleggera 80 yacht still affords clients full personalization. The studio prides itself on interpreting an owner’s vision through the lens of Italian design. “Italian design is first and foremost elegant,” Lumini notes. “For us, it means designing ‘less,’ removing rather than adding, cleaning rather than cluttering.” Additionally, the studio’s tagline, Architecture for Voyagers, plays a leading role. “It means conceiving the yacht as a perfect blend of style and utility, between practicality and beauty,” he says. “Practicality is emotional—it’s the sensation that reaffirms to the owner, every time they experience it, that they made the right choice. The right designer, the right project, the right yacht.”
With a blend of contemporary and classic sophistication and abundant alfresco relaxation areas, the Superleggera 80 should be the right fit for someone. “If our design doesn’t evoke emotion, then we are not designers,” Romano says. “Superleggera aims to draw a smile. One must admire it and smile inwardly, as if to say, ‘There it is, I’ve found it, this will be my boat.’”
Hot Lab hotlab.it
Oceanco oceancoyacht.com
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