Q3 MATERIA- LIST

SOLID LIQUID In theory at least, is visco-elastic and not a solid substance. It also happens to be very strong—stronger than many metals—making it a safe and versatile structural material. Yet although land-based architects have been innovating with glass for decades, the yacht building industry has been slow in catching up. SYD investigates a see-through world that

JUSTIN RATCLIFFE has yet to be fully exploited.

52 53 Clockwise from below: three glass sculptures by Czech artists (Vasicek, Frydrych, Rybak) and glass tiles by Crystal Caviar. MARTIN FRANCIS JUSTIN RATCLIFFE

What is most surpris- ing, despite Starck’s to- tal denial of nautical Facing page: clockwise tradition, is that this from top left: Martin extreme bathroom Francis; his Sultan 126 concept was configuration actu- developed from the iconic curved windows

ally works. MARTIN FRANCIS of Eco (bottom). CAVIAR CRYSTAL 54 55 KISMET LURSSEN

aNASTASIA OCEANCO O ceanco / B. G eldek LURSSEN / KLAUS JORDAN

56 57 artin Francis is widely her noticed. Francis specified curved windshields of Parisian buses, “Toughening glass by heat is ago and perhaps one of the reasons Having managed to make the panes considered the guru glass throughout the superstructure—a which are designed to reduce not unlike tempering steel and why Eco has never been emulated, both curved and distortion free, the next Mof glass in superyacht solution that is as innovative today as it internal reflections. It seemed like overcomes this weakness. The despite the fact that modern chemical challenge was to prove to the Lloyd’s circles. And for good reason. was then. Francis recounts the story of an interesting thing to try and I glass is heated to a semi-plastic toughening and more recent bending surveyors that they were strong enough He began his career as how it came about: made a full size mock-up on the state and then chilled very quickly processes are less costly. for the job as storm shutters could not a furniture designer and “I’d been working on the roof of my house. We had the with cold air. The outer skins cabinet maker, but quickly project for a couple of years for final showing in Palma where we harden to form a crust, while the moved into architecture Azcarraga. He had owned two showed the owner a presentation inside cools slowly and shrinks, “The idea for Eco’s when he collaborated with radical Bannenberg yachts, Azteca with various overall lengths and putting the outer skins into Norman Foster on a number and Paraiso, and wanted the the same superstructure, they compression. So when you bend curved windows of groundbreaking projects same military styling. In the end, looked much better at 72 metres. the glass like a beam you have in the ‘70s such as the Willis, we weren’t getting any closer He took one look and said, ‘That’s to overcome the pre-stress or Faber & Dumas head office to a final solution, so Azcarraga the boat I want, if you can build it compression in the bottom half of came from the in Ipswich. By adapting told me to get some other to the right price.’” the beam before it breaks.” so-called ‘patch’ fittings people involved. Amazingly, I was A German subsidiary of , To create the curves the glass is windshields of developed by the glass requested to subcontract both ironically called Flat Glass, was heated then passed between two manufacturer Pilkington Bannenberg and Giugiaro, the contracted by the builders Blohm matching moulds to deform it into the Parisian buses...” (the inventors of ), Italian car designer, to do some & Voss to make the curved panes desired shape (about a third of a circle). Francis devised a cladding styling studies. Both came up with using simple toughened glass. Adco When the moulds were pulled apart, “The moulds at the time were be fitted to the rounded windows. system for the building schemes that were eventually Technik GmbH, another leading glass a bank of air jets shaped to follow the made of wood with little screw “We did finite element by which enormous panes rejected by the client, who then manufacturer, was also consulted and exact same curvature, cool the glass jacks to adjust them like the staves calculations based on a worst case of toughened glass were said he was interested in buying installed the all-glass fitness room uniformly. Therefore the initial tooling of a barrel”, continues Francis. “I scenario of asymmetric loading if a suspended by a single bolt. Carinthia VI. That got me thinking, aboard the yacht (the Rostock-based was hugely expensive as different calculated that we needed at least wave went over the foredeck and company specialises in marine projects moulds were required for each size of A decade later Francis joined forces because we’d been working Below: these one spare piece of glass for each wedged itself under the bottom and has supplied several megayachts, glass. In fact, Francis remembers the with Peter Rice and set up RFR, a on a brief for a 60-metre yacht lamp shades pane because they were going to of the glass”, continues Francis. including Al Mirqab, Rising Sun, final cost of each pane was around consultant engineering firm in Paris. with faceted styling and now he destroy the moulds. To this day— “Lloyd’s accepted our calculation, Limitless, Kismet and Skat). aboard Kokomo 6,000 deutschmarks or roughly 3,000 Together they advised on the glass was looking at a 72 metre. So I touch wood—none of the spares but required additional storm euros—a considerable sum 20 years structures of the Museum of Science & went back to the office and said, “Glass is incredibly strong were made have been used.” mullions that could be fitted in Technology in the French capital, for ‘let’s start over again, and forget in compression and very weak from recycled which they perfected and patented the brief.’ The idea for Eco’s in tension”, explains Francis. curved windows came from the a bolt mechanism inspired by the glass bottles. ® self-steering gears he had designed for yachts this featured a ball joint that Dura ShieldMarine allowed the glass to deflect without the fixing generating a bending MARINE GLASS - BY GLASSHAPE LTD moment under wind load. This later led to work with I.M. Pei on the famous glass Pyramid in front of the Louvre, for which he recommended Navtec FOR ALL SUPERYACHT GLASS rods instead of cables to support the structure, much like the rigging of a Flat, Curved… Certified! HALF PAGE AD yacht. Intriguingly, Tim Eliasson who GLASS SHAPE founded Navtec, went on to set up END OF STORY TriPyramid Structures, Inc. to pursue COPY IN further the architectural applications of tension structures and today the company is playing an active role in imaginative architectural projects. It wasn’t until Francis designed his first motoryacht, however, that he was able to put his knowledge of glass into practice in a marine context. Eco (later Katana and Enigma) was built for the Mexican media magnate Emilio Azcarraga by Blohm & Voss and launched in 1991. Driven by gas turbines and capable of speeds in excess of 35 knots, the 74-metre vessel was at the cutting edge of yacht engineering technology. But it was Eco’s radical exterior design that really got www.glasshape.co.nz 58 65 – 67 Woodcocks Road P.O. Box 358, Warkworth, New Zealand +64 9 422 2565 An all-glass interior concept for Heesen by place from the inside, which have Martin Francis himself followed up loading goes onto the screws and Ken Freivokh Design. never been used. Because of her Eco with the even more stunning Sultan thread, which is easily stripped. In low freeboard in the bow, we also 126 and proposed a massive all-glass addition, you may get a bi-metallic designed a wave breaker and superstructure with the futuristic, corrosion so after a few years it’s a a foredeck locker that acts as a 140-metre Crystal Ball concept for fizzing mess. It may be approved, buffer to redirect green water into HWD. Sadly both projects have yet to but to my mind it’s complete the centre of the curved glass at be realised. nonsense. Glues are sufficient: the its strongest point.” One difficulty with glass is that automobile industry uses them and Eco was effectively a massive it is ‘statistically non-determinate’, so do cruise ships. In architecture experiment from start to finish, made which means very occasionally it the glue absorbs much of the possible only by an enlightened owner will spontaneously fracture. This distortion and prevents the who was willing not only to foot the was discovered in the early days of loading going through to the bill, but also to place his faith in both toughened glass, but no one knew fixings. When we were researching designer and builder. The result was a quite why. It was later found it was the Science Museum, we hung master lesson in glass architecture and caused by microscopic metal inclusions two tons of glass in a test frame aesthetics that the superyacht industry in the glass. So a process called ‘heat outside the Rhône-Poulenc facility has been slow to take on board. An soaking’ was devised that rapidly heats near Lyon using only their silicone exception has been Luca Bassani and and then cools the glass, which will adhesive to support it. The loading abundant use of glass has been a key break if there is a defect in it. When was something like 45 kilos per feature of Wally Yachts from the start. Francis is writing up a spec for glass, he linear centimetre and to the best The WallyPower 118, in particular, was always insists that it should be tested of my knowledge it’s still standing the first yacht in 2003 to feature an all- by heat soaking. after 25 years.” glass superstructure that fully exploits “The point I want to make the outside-inside living concept by is that glass is an engineering providing panoramic views of the material like any other”, urges “...why not surrounding sea and landscape. The Francis. “Just look at all the Apple laminated glass panels are glued to Stores with their glass staircases the carbon frame and UV filters screen and bridges, for which Steve Jobs make the whole the sun’s brightness and heat so guests holds patents. The classification don’t cook on the inside. societies haven’t quite got to superstructure When it was first presented at the that stage yet, but they can be 2006 Monaco Yacht Show, Feadship’s taken there. They require that out of glass?” X-Stream concept attracted attention the glass is the same strength as for its all-glass, domed superstructure. the steel or aluminium around it, How the dome with its triangular glass and you can easily demonstrate If the potential of glass as a panes supported by an aluminium that mathematically. We have structural material is only gradually framework would be built was the to de-mystify glass. There is penetrating the yacht building industry, subject of ongoing research by the no reason why we can’t have a as a decorative medium it has always design team, headed by Chris van completely glass superstructure been popular. Glass screens, wall Hooren, who consulted aluminium like the Crystal Ball. When you sconces, chandeliers and sculptures manufacturer Alcoa and various glass look at filling and fairing, it costs are increasing both in terms of size and suppliers. The structure was inspired by a fortune. So why not make the creativity. A classic example is 75-metre a publication entitled Twist and Build. whole superstructure out of glass? Anastasia designed by Sam Sorgiovanni Creating Non-Orthogonal Architecture It’s got no paint, its self-finished, and launched by Oceanco in 2008. In by Delft University architect Karel its chemically inert, weatherproof the main stairwell hangs an enormous Vollers. However, the design created a and you can wash it.” eight-metre high glass chandelier whole host of problems associated with There is the issue of how to clean designed to resemble kelp that was keeping the dome clean and maintaining such a huge expanse of glass, but made by the Czech artist Rybak. a constant temperature in addition to the Francis focuses on another point that The piece was supplied by Sans sheer weight of the glass. he feels does not receive adequate Souci and project managed by the Ken Freivokh is another designer attention: how glass windows aboard former head of its yacht division Marek who is challenging conservative yachts are fixed in place. Landa, who has since founded his own opinions about how glass can or cannot “The main problem is that company called Crystal Caviar. Based be used in yacht design. He is working they’re not looking properly at the in northern Bohemia in the heart of on interior concepts for a 55-metre frames and how the glass is held the Czech Republic’s glass-making Heesen developed from glass atrium in. The classification societies want region, Crystal Caviar produces its aboard The Maltese Falcon in which both adhesive and mechanical own glassware and represents other an enormous skylight and cylindrical fixing, typically many yachts have artisans and is currently working on glass elevator shaft occupies the cast aluminium frames—not forged commissions for three yacht projects space where the mainmast used to be, or extruded, so they’re weaker— over 100 metres. Landa, not unlike providing natural illumination through and stainless steel screws. If a all the deck levels. big wave hits the window all the KEN FREIVOKH DESIGN

60 61 Martin Francis, has an eclectic with different studios working on equivalent to five-thousandths of a background with a degree in Business the same project. So if we have millimetre. The starkly perfect results & Environmental Studies from Salford a glass partition it will combine resemble something that you might University in the UK. He is also a find on an alien spaceship. Frydrych

cast pieces, which are then glued AQUOS YACHTS Class 4 engineer who has worked on and acid etched, engraved and was also working on an enormous JUSTIN RATCLIFFE several large yachts, an experience painted, then re-heated in the oven. chandelier for Crystal Caviar containing that makes him uniquely qualified to Another technique is gilding with 160 individual pieces of cut glass. It supply the superyacht industry. A visit titanium, gold or silver, or even takes the veteran glass worker a full day to the Crystal Caviar showroom in an inserting aluminium kitchen foil. The to shape and polish just four pieces. old abandoned factory that Landa is techniques themselves are widely Installing glass pieces aboard renovating, revealed some remarkable known, it’s more about combining a moving yacht is, of course, very glass pieces, such as the pearl-like several processes. A jewellery different from a stationary residence or pebble tiles that took two years of trial technique, for example, when hotel on dry land. To this end, Landa and error to perfect. applied to an artwork or partition has set up his own test facility where “It was thought impossible to will produce a different effect glass lamp fixtures are left for up to meld together glass globes or because it’s on a much larger scale.” a week on a vibrating frame to check pebbles and retain their shape”, As way of an example, Landa that no hidden faults appear and explains Landa. “We’ve spent a singled out the blown glass wall various adhesives can be immersed small fortune on the research and sconces aboard Anastasia. These were in salt water to simulate a humid the first attempts kept cracking from etched, engraved and sandblasted on marine atmosphere. This is where his the inner tension. Now it behaves the inside surface with marine motifs. experience of working aboard large like solid glass and is completely With each process, the danger of the yachts has proved invaluable: safe. We have a version that stays glass breaking increases (of the 16 longer in the oven with a slower pieces attempted, only eight survived THE DESIGNER THE SUPPLIER cooling curve to make the glass less to be installed). This reveals another “When you REYMOND LANGTON GLASSHAPE porous, so when grouted properly aspect of the glassmaker’s art, one with silicone it’s suitable for tiling that is not fully appreciated by owners Launched in 2006, 68-metre Kismet drew on the combined reputations of Founded in 1986, Glasshape Ltd is New Zealand’s leading architectural and Jacuzzis or swimming pools.” and designers when ordering custom combine two or Espen Oeino, Reymond Langton (RLD) and Lürssen. The interior design is a automotive glass bending and processing company. The company has fitted pieces: glass making is a long and subtle mélange of Art Deco and the owner’s Persian heritage and is notable its Durashield Marine Glass to several recent yacht projects, including In fact, around 100 square metres for its inventive use of glass artworks that form a powerful architectural Bliss (Yachting Developments) and Big Fish (McMullen & Wing). CEO Andrew of these pebble tiles were used to laborious process and fraught with the three techniques element of the overall design concept. Forrest describes the glass fitting process on these two projects. line the base of the fountain aboard prospect of failure. Glass has to be Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, heated in the oven at a rate of about A prime example is the curved glass panel that sits behind the spa bath in DuraShield Marine Glass broke records with both Bliss and Big Fish. The front you already the master bathroom. It creates a stylish and artistic division between windscreen of Bliss was measured in at 3300mm wide x 2000mm high x 46mm the largest cruise liner in the world. 5°C per day to at least 800°C, so large the bath and walk-in shower. Taking inspiration from ancient Persian and thick, making it the largest DuraShield windscreen ever fitted, whilst Big Fish’s quantities can take weeks to melt Besides the pebble glass that can also Egyptian influences, the concept of a fan of peacock feathers evolved. side windows are the largest windows manufactured for a superyacht in be curved to make wall sconces, Landa and just as long to be ‘annealed’ or have something Pascale Reymond and Jason Macaree of RLD, along with Interior Supply, who Australasia, measuring in at over 6m², with a weight of 470kg. showed me examples of twisted glass cooled down again, while cracking is a represented the glass artists Julia and Colin Webster of Glasszoo (also As always, supplying glass aboard a superyacht brings with it the challenges rods that can be used for handrails constant concern. responsible for a similar panel with leaf designs in the main saloon and a of offering the ultimate in strength, clarity, noise reduction and safety different...” glass skylight sculpture in the upper deck lounge), worked closely together regardless of curvature and the thickness of glass. Our technical team and chandeliers, or fused with sheet “Quality glass is expensive to create this challenging piece. At first glance, you may wonder what could assessed the requirements of each build, paying special attention to the glass to create screens and partitions. because it can take weeks or “Where my background has be so challenging, but there are a lot more complexities and technical glazing position, optical qualities achievable, weight-savings and, of course, As they have a hollow core, LEDs months to produce the larger come in useful is that I can make achievements in this piece than first meet the eye. Class requirements. The glass fitted in both the Bliss and Big Fish builds were can be inserted for illumination or a custom pieces”, Landa points out. sure that custom pieces are Working with the combination of kiln-formed glass, individually handmade a combination of heat-strengthened glass to gain the best optics, laminated glass stringers, metal leaf, opaque and clear glass colours as well as with a special poly-acrylic interlayer developed by us, resulting in an overall metal spine to produce continuous adapted to the budget, designed “Then if it cracks in the oven, you differing glass types, became something of an experiment in compatibility. strength gain of over 500 per cent. The glass panels were then tested up lengths. Ice glass, so called because have to start over again. If you’re for installation aboard a yacht and The whole thing could have ended in a rather large mess, unless expertly to 25 tons/m², and witnessed by the Class Societies in accordance to their it resembles the patterns created by pricing wrongly it can be a losing modified for fixing, which can’t be controlled from the outset and painstakingly monitored throughout the requirements. For example, the front windscreen of Bliss had to withstand a heavy frost on windows, is a traditional business, so it’s very difficult to talk said for ready-made pieces. It’s all entire, not to mention lengthy, testing, sampling and manufacturing process. test pressure of 150 tons for 15 minutes and remain intact. technique that has been resurrected by about margins with artworks. It’s all about staying one step ahead by “The precision required to achieve an absolute, exact radius for the curve For the larger projects, our technicians always make a site visit to the yard guaranteeing a seamless join between all three pieces was the trickiest of all and electronically measure and digitise all the windows, flat or curved. These Landa and involves gluing small pieces about long-term pricing, but the thinking the project through from the challenges,” commented Julia. measurements are then turned into a 3D CAD file for the yard to confirm for of wood to the glass then stripping ready-made pieces are generally design to installation.” The screen consists of three curved panels, each of which comprise two layers manufacture. This service is a huge help to the yard, as it eliminates having to them off to remove fine splinters of cheaper, because custom pieces of fused glass which, when kiln fired together, all had to slump consistently make fibreglass templates for windscreen manufacture. All the windows on glass. Another Crystal Caviar novelty mean you run the risk of failures on a metal former in order to allow the pattern across the three panels to Big Fish were also digitised and not a single panel had to be remade. marry. The request for three-dimensional bubbles to add texture to the glass is luminescent glass that continues to while trying to work to a deadline.” challenged Glasszoo even further. The bubbles had to be of a sufficient size glow after the light source has been To illustrate the complexities of to create the desired effect, but prevented from being so large that they made turned off, ideal for subtle way marking glass making, Landa took me to the glass too thin and fragile to the touch. Jonathan Farrar of Interior To comment on this article email Supply remarked that whilst he is not one to shy away from a challenge, aboard a yacht at night. visit Jan Frydrych, an internationally [email protected] interpreting a literal brief and bringing to life Pascale’s vision, and then the renowned glass artist who has with subject ‘Materialist’ “When you combine two or whole manufacturing, delivery and installation process, was “scary as hell.” three techniques you already have produced pieces costing many Once the fragile panels were all made perfectly to order, the challenges something different”, says Landa, thousands of euros for celebrities continued when they had to be packed and transported from England who believes the full potential and statesmen such as Elton John to Germany where, upon arrival, they were to be installed at what was a and Bill Clinton. Frydrych works only somewhat late stage in the yacht’s programme. The majority of the bathroom of decorative glass has yet to be was already in place, and to ensure a snug and secure fit there was only a realised. “We work more like a guild with the highest quality optical glass minute tolerance for ensuring the panels sat precisely within the channels and will often grind and polish to set into the bath surround, pillars and ceiling detail. Everyone held their within tolerances of just five microns, breath as the panels slipped flawlessly into place, followed by sighs of relief all round.

62 63 WHAT’S WHAT 01/Common glass 05/Lead glass An amorphous (non-crystalline) solid material containing about 70% silicon Potassium silicate glass that has been impregnated with lead oxide during dioxide (silica), which is the same chemical compound found in quartz, and its fabrication. In the case of stemware and decorative glass the purpose of the polycrystalline form, sand. It breaks into sharp pieces, is inert or biologically lead is twofold: to increase the refractive index of the glass and thus its inactive, transparent to visible light and 100% recyclable. lustre or sparkle, and to soften the glass for decoration. 02/Crystal 06/Low Emissivity (low-e) glass High quality glass that (according to EU definition) must have a refractive Low emissitivity is a quality of a surface that radiates, or emits, low levels index of at least 1.520, making it sparkle, and a density of at least 2.45kg/l. Lead of radiant energy. To make low-e glass, certain properties such as the iron crystal must contain lead oxide to a level of at least 10%. Other glass used content must be controlled. Some types of glass have naturally low emissivity, for stemware can also contain oxides of potassium, zinc or barium. such as borosilicate or . Also special coatings based on metallic oxides can be applied to the glass surface. 03/Float glass A sheet of glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal, 07/Toughened/Tempered glass typically tin. This method gives the sheet uniform thickness and very flat Glass that has been processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments surfaces. Modern windows are made from float glass. The method is also to increase its strength by balancing internal stresses. It will usually shatter known as the ‘Pilkington process’, named after Sir Alastair Pilkington who into small fragments instead of sharp shards when broken. A component of pioneered the technique in the 1950s. bullet-proof glass. 04/Laminated glass 08/ A type of safety glass that holds together when shattered. In the event of Glass which has had uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added prior to breaking, it is held in place by a film of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) between its melting. Once made into and household items, it fell out of wide- two or more layers of glass. Produces a characteristic ‘spider web’ cracking spread use when the availability of uranium declined during the Cold War.

pattern when the impact is not enough to completely pierce the glass. Uranium glass is enjoying a revival in art glassware and is considered safe. CAVIAR CRYSTAL

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