Apr 20, 2023
Editor’s Note: The following information is derived from an interview between the Agritecture team and Björn Asmussen, Executive Architect & Director of the Ocean Department at 3DELUXE.
Controlled environment agriculture has unboxed our imaginations, creating limitless possibilities for food production in urban environments. Today, we have farms beyond the imaginable: Rotterdam’s floating dairy farm that houses 40 cows, Peconic Escargot’s greenhouse that raises snails, GreenWave’s 3D ocean farm for regenerative aquaculture, and the first-ever underwater cultivation of terrestrial plants by Nemo’s Garden.
With farms transcending all defined boundaries of food cultivation, what’s in store for the industry next?
Rendering sourced from 3DELUXE
…How about growing food on a yacht?
In the search for a “balance of hedonistic sustainability,” award-winning design team 3DELUXE developed a concept to do precisely this. Unveiled at the Monaco Yacht Show, the game-changing VY.01 concept is far better than your typical luxury yacht.
Complete with a greenhouse and vegetable garden, it’s a “paradisiacal biotope,” fit for passengers to grow their own food and collect fresh fish from the sea, shares Executive Architect & Director of the Ocean Department, Björn Asmussen.
Working in the high-luxury segment of yacht design, “there's a certain obligation to push boundaries. The project had to be a prime example of rethinking spaces with sustainable building technologies,” shares Asmussen.
Farming is one part of this equation.
Asmussen highlights that controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is “a necessary component of a more sustainable life and future given how critical our global situation is getting.”
Rendering sourced from 3DELUXE
Living in cities, “we have walls and buildings built to protect us from the environment, that oftentimes separate us from it. CEA can weaken that boundary and enrich our lives.” Food is often brought in as a secondary component of projects. But, farming offers the potential to “create a community dialogue” by simply existing, “whether that be indoors or outdoors.”
While the focus on luxury yachts for the superrich of course invites backlash, the team didn’t want to just “enrich the experience aboard a yacht,” they wanted to give yachts a new purpose. “A lot of yachts aren’t occupied 24/7, 365 days a year.” This superyacht concept gives room to ideas like “inviting scientists and school classes to access the innovative technologies” on board. Here, the team aims to “remove the elitist character of these kinds of private investments and to use the project as a communicative platform for discussion of the complex challenges of our time.”
Asmussen adds that the biggest benefit is “opening the minds of people, especially younger people, to engage with something completely different to what they’ve seen before. This will elevate base levels to a degree where others can come up with the next level of ideas. I think it’s a smart and interesting way of showcasing technologies and propel development.”
Reimagining global seafaring with biophilic design
Rendering sourced from 3DELUXE
With this design, “luxury is rewritten entirely, with natural surroundings replacing acrylic glass and brass, while natural, healthy air replaces excessive air conditioning.”
The team has made an active effort to make this a zero-carbon yacht. The additional water for agriculture, for instance, is “made available by seawater desalination, which is powered by the zero-carbon solar panels on the roof and the exterior” of the yacht.
Additionally, it is “equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell system and electric propulsion for cruising sans CO2 emissions,” and has “sensor-controlled louvers integrated into the raised sidewalls to regulate the amount of light reaching the upper decks.”
What challenges come up in establishing viable urban agriculture on a yacht?
The superyacht is still very much at its conceptualization stage. The goal was to “create an idea using our design language and capabilities - something that creates awareness and hopefully stirs up discussions about what yachting could be in the future?”
As the team continues to refine the concept, they’re realizing that establishing a farm on water is seriously complex.
Some of the challenges they face include:
Rendering sourced from 3DELUXE
Financials & resources - Because of the numerous technological integrations, it’s still unclear how much this project will cost. Asmussen shares that the project will require a bigger-than-usual water desalination facility and additional power, both of which will add to costs.
Limited capacity - The additional amenities of a park and farms will drive the need for additional crew members. Specifically, ones that have an agricultural background or expertise. This will not only add to the cost of operations, but will also create a need for additional living quarters. While seemingly large, it’s unclear if the 100+ meter yacht will be able to meet all these requirements.
Cultivation challenges - the weight of the plants is something that is crucial to consider, given that the farm will be floating on water. Asmussen adds that this may create conflict with the zero-emission propulsion.
Food - How much food can be grown, and is it enough to support passengers for long periods of time?
