Lürssen delivers 114m Nausicaä, featuring advanced glass engineering

There are yachts that push boundaries, and then there is Nausicaä. Delivered by Lürssen at 114.2 metres, the vessel known during its build as Cosmos is a statement in glass, scale and engineering ambition. It brings Australian industrial designer’s Marc Newson’s design language into full realisation.

“The delivery of Nausicaä has given me a profound connection to my great-grandfather, Friedrich Lürssen, who built the world’s first motorboat in 1886,” says Peter Lürssen. “I am incredibly grateful for that. While innovation drives everything we do, Nausicaä has truly broken new ground.”

The yacht features a continuous glass band that wraps around the entire upper deck. While much of it is glazing, the intersections of bulwarks, doors and technical spaces are finished in the same material language, creating the impression of an uninterrupted ribbon of glass. The feature culminates forward at the 19-metre wide observation lounge, which sits directly below the fully certified bow helipad.

The Skydome: engineering a floating glass observatory

One of the most remarkable architectural elements is the Skydome – a glass structure composed of seven panes, each measuring 3,000 × 2,800mm, 62mm thick and weighing 1,050kg. This uppermost vantage point houses a 56 square-metre owner’s office with a head height of 3.15-metres. There is an adjoining sky terrace for a private al fresco retreat directly connected to the study.

The engineering behind the Skydome required each pane to be hot-bent by gravity under precisely controlled conditions. This process was validated through multiple prototype bending and lamination tests on full-size 1:1 mock-ups, before a single production pane was made.

“Innovation in glass has long been a hallmark of Lürssen,” says Lürssen. “We continue to push the boundaries of scale and structural complexity, creating spaces that are both aesthetically dramatic and functional for our clients. It is rare to find a modern Lürssen yacht that does not break new ground in glass engineering.”

Open aft deck designed for performance, leisure and utility

Nausicaä‘s open aft deck spans the full 18-metre beam and is centred around a Jacuzzi and swimming pool. That’s said to be long enough for laps and deep enough for diving. Further aft, a large dry dock handles the yacht’s 12.5-metre sportsfish tender via a sledge system that extends over the swim platform into the water, rated to a 16-tonne load capacity. Once deployed, the tracks retract, transforming the tender well into a sheltered teak-lined space. Further protection comes from a flat hydraulic beam that can close off the space.

The company says that every aspect of Nausicaä (interior and exterior) is custom Marc Newson.

“It is extremely challenging for a design project, of any description, to literally deliver on the vision conceived and presented at concept stage,” Newson says. “Here, I am very proud to say that every detail, at every scale, has been realised at the most coherent level. Working with an immensely creative client has enabled rare opportunities to push the boundaries and test the limits of form, material and functionality.”

Executing this vision was an exercise in creative engineering, moulding natural and organic shapes out of unforgiving materials. There are hardly any flat architectural surfaces, and Nausicaä is shaped by curvatures and louvred details.

Developing vast cylindrical steel forms that are geometrically precise, identical in size and mirrored in design was no easy feat. This detail appears throughout – along the exterior aft deck, framing the main aft entrance, across numerous exterior doors and extending all the way to the exhaust mast.

Nausicaä has an Ice Class 1D hull which means it can cruise safely in light ice conditions. The design architecture complements planned itineraries, and – as mentioned – there’s an extraordinary amount of glass throughout for panoramic views.

Future-ready systems and methanol fuel cell provision

In terms of propulsion, there’s a diesel-electric plant that comprises five engines – two primary and three auxiliary – and which drive fully electric Azimuth pods. The battery plant delivers up to 2MW which is sufficient to power all hotel systems simultaneously at peak load. This allows the yacht to operate silently, with zero local emissions, for extended periods.

There’s also provision for a future methanol fuel cell.