Luxe et al are delighted to announce that Oceanco have been shortlisted for the Concept Over 40 Metres Award in The International Yacht & Aviation Awards 2018.
Tuhura’s exterior styling is reminiscent of early canoes; dugouts and other vessels used hundreds of years ago by indigenous people all over the world but is, in fact, a vessel designed for the 21st century. With the exterior design, Lobanov Design pays homage to the basic primal forms. Tuhura evokes a sense of exploration and discovery. The name, ‘Tuhura’ is derived from the Maori verb meaning: to discover, bring to light, unearth, open up, explore, and investigate.
The main inspiration for the interior design is East Asia and the Pacific islands. Achille Salvagni refers to the interior as a “brushed teak habitat” (floors, walls, ceilings) including thin reveals in gunmetal and natural bronze with tatami floors. Lobanov’s exterior design works well with the interior and is inherently flexible so that the yacht can be designed in any size from 80 to 120 meters in length. Tuhura’s hull and propulsion system have been developed in collaboration with BMT. The hull has been conceived with multiple horizontal windows, utilising an advanced glass technology that consists of a series of dots, allowing the view from within to be completely transparent, while from the exterior, the windows appear the same colour as the hull, disguising their appearance.
Progressive and creative thinking extends to all the systems aboard. LuxLab, the custom design label from Van Berge Henegouwen (VBH) has joined the team to ensure that Tuhura is an extremely “smart boat.” Not only are there controls for HVAC, lighting, audio, video, curtains and such, but controls will also monitor behaviour aboard regarding preferences such as music and temperature. Furthermore, there are plans to create a 360-degree room, a multipurpose space for both interactive design and information.
“The project works so well because we’ve gone back to the basics” says designer Igor Lobanov, “We’ve made things simple. The shape of the hull is so natural to the water environment! The whole project is an exercise in extreme simplicity supported by extreme sophistication of the state-of-the art technologies.” According to Dirk de Jong, Commercial Director at Oceanco “This is a technically challenging and intriguing project, Tuhura is 100 percent Oceanco DNA.” She is designed for someone who has a true pioneering spirit and who desires to break the moulds of convention.