Etienne Duchateau has designed a method for an interactive and controllable exploration of ship concepts, which earned him the Maritime Designer Award 2016.
He received the award at last night’s (31 October) Maritime Awards Gala, which took place at Studio 21 in Hilversum, the Netherlands.
Unconventional and Effective
Etienne Duchateau works at the Maritime Systems Department of the Defence Materiel Organisation. His researh was part of his PhD. The jury said Duchateau’s approach to conceptual designing is both unconventional and effective. From this approach he created a tool that can generate and assess vessel concepts. Special attention was given to the interaction between tool and user and the self-learning way of searching for the best concepts. The method is suitable for all kinds of complex vessels.
Challenge for the Industry
Apart from the 1000 euros award for the winner, the award's foundation also offers a 24,000 euros fund for a winning find that may be further developed in a start-up or at a company. This option was first introduced last year, but so far, the offer was not taken up on. Jury president Hans Hopman and presenter Jort Kelder challenged the industry present at the Gala to step up and double this offer when they feel the new design method may be developed further and could be beneficial to their company.
Other Nominee
Justin Rietveld was also nominated for the Maritime Designer Award. Rietveld is an Engineer Shipbuilding at Damen Shipyards Gorinchem. He has developed a new concept for the offshore decommissioning industry. This concept will allow Damen Shipyards to take its first steps in this specialty market.
