NAUSICAÄ is the 4th Lürssen superyacht to be launched this year

Lürssen/Tom Van Oosanen

Let’s be clear. Superyachts that measure close to 400-feet long cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take countless craftsman and artisans many years to design and build. So it goes without saying that yachts of this size and scope are always unique. But the German superyacht shipbuilders at Lürssen seem to be pushing the boundaries of what possible into the stratosphere as they’ve launched two distinctive new yachts, each measuring close to 400-feet long, in the span of just a few weeks.

The most recent delivery is the 374-foot-long NAUSICAÄ, a vessel that has literally created an entirely new style of superyacht. Built under the project name COSMOS, and now called NAUSICAÄ, she was designed in her entirety by Australian industrial designer Marc Newson. And as you can see in these photos NAUSICAÄ is in a category of her own.

"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, just as the 6-metre REMs did 140 years ago."

According to advance reports every aspect of NAUSICAÄ, from the smallest feature to the striking silhouette – exterior, interior, and every element in between – is custom Marc Newson design and reflects a singular design vision. He was afforded a liberating degree of creative freedom, allowing the project to evolve in a joyful and organic way – one that resulted in both bold innovation and seamless coherence. The aesthetic remains unmistakably within his lexicon, yet is ground-breaking within the industry.

“It is extremely challenging for a design project, of any description, to literally deliver on the vision conceived and presented at concept stage,” says Marc Newson. “Here, I am very proud to say that every detail, at every scale, has been realized 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, molding 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.

And if that’s not enough, NAUSICAÄ has a full Ice Class 1D hull that ensures she is equally at home in tropical waters and polar seas. NAUSICAÄ can cruise safely in light ice conditions, ensuring no destination is beyond reach. Her design architecture complements her planned itineraries, and she carries an extraordinary amount of glass throughout for panoramic vistas from nearly every space on board.

One of the most remarkable architectural elements is the Skydome – a glass structure composed of seven panes, each measuring 3,000 × 2,800 mm, 62 mm thick, and weighing 1,050 kg. This uppermost vantage point houses a 56 square-meter Owner's office with a head height of 3.15 meters. Ornate bronze shutters are set within a sliding, circular rail offering complete control of the natural sunlight. 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.

Lürssen’s other recent launch was just a little longer (383-foot-long) than NAUSICAÄ with a completely different design aesthetic—the strikingly traditional styled Boardwalk. “I believe nature is one of the finest architects,” says exterior designer Frank Woll. “The starting point for Boardwalk was the fluid and streamlined geometry of the sea’s most agile marine life, sculpted by water itself. In the evening, when she is on display, we are revealing her timeless clarity of form with a constellation of lights.”

The interior features expansive stretches of high-gloss burled mahogany, stainless steel polished to a mirrored finish, and complex double-convex forms create visual rhythm throughout the interior. Light plays an integral role in the design, and fixtures have been carefully considered to illuminate the mixed natural materials to extend that sensation of movement to the interior spaces.

Our singular job as a shipyard is to translate a vision into an operational vessel,” says Peter Lürssen. “At Lürssen, this also means exceeding expectations, but this can only be achieved through clear and accurate conversations. The lines of communication throughout this build had exceptional clarity. For this I am incredibly grateful, and I believe the results speak for themselves.”