TITANIUMISSUE • n°32 • 2022
The FFE Rule Personified
by Désirée Sormani
Luiz De Basto’s latest design personifies his form follows function ethos and also integrates the owner’s experience. The result is a harmonious, environmentally-friendly yacht brimming with innovation
94
Passion, vision and insight underpin the ethos at the prolific Miami-based De Basto Design studio. Founder Luiz De Basto is a Form Follows Function advocate but also brings an extra element to the process: “My design process involves going back and forth between Form, Function and Experience until they are one,” he explains. His latest design, presented with Permare at Monaco Yacht Show , is a case in point. The AMER 41 Explorer Yacht was commissioned in early 2022 by a repeat client for which the studio also designed the 127’ Far Far Away (2011). “In 2018, we started sketching ideas for a 50 metre with the tender deck kept forward. That’s when the idea for the cranes integrated in the superstructure was developed, a new system to launch and retrieve tenders quickly and safely, that can be applied to other yacht sizes,” explains De Basto. But Covid intervened and by the time the project restarted in 2022, the owners had concluded that a 50m was too big. The family also decided to do without a beach club on the lower deck. “Inste ad, the Flybridge was increased to 17 metres which, although it doesn’t look very conspicuous, accounts for more than 40% of the LOA,” says De Basto. The yacht shrank to 38m but ultimately an LOA and a beam of 9.7 proved the sweet spot to include two 8-metre-plus tenders, waverunners and a landing deck for a helicopter. Thanks to a high bow, innovative hull, advanced low-consumption and emissions propulsion system, heavy duty 8,000 kg cranes and a 4500 NM range, the AMER 41 Explorer Yacht really can venture to any area of the world. Her profile cleverly conceals her robust, challenge-loving character too. One of the surprise benefits of her aft house configuration is that the pilot house is forward, overlooking the tender deck. Its stunning floor-to-ceiling forward-angled windscreen offers 270-degree views while a floating console and futuristic electronic package lend the space an otherworldly feel. “My aim is to incorporate the demands of experienced owners into their lifestyle. In the Amer 41 Explorer, that meant not just resolving the functional side of an explorer yacht but also making the pleasure of superior aesthetics and experience an intrinsic part of yacht ownership”. luizdebasto.com
The AMER 41 ‘s hull will be innovative in terms of both shape and technology as well as an advanced consumption and emissions-reducing propulsion system. To side, from left Andrea Piccione of Head of Marine Sales Volvo Penta, Barbara Amerio Permare Ceo, Luiz De Basto and Juan Morillo Amer dealer in USA. Below, the radical new tender launch and retrieval system
95