Dutch design and naval architecture studio Mulder Design introduces White Coral, a striking 115-metre yacht. ‘When we started this project a couple of years ago, we wanted to do a larger yacht as typically our projects range up to 60 metres,’ says Bas Mulder, owner at Mulder Design.
With all the features you would expect from a 100-metre-plus dream yacht, including expansive beach club, forward helideck and a relaxing exterior and interior style, White Coral is the epitome of what the Mulder team can offer clients at all sizes of yacht.
Mulder: ‘We decided to really show what we can do, so settled on 115 metres, and from there we took a rough idea, developed and expanded the concept, and produced some sketches which we showed at the Monaco Yacht Show.’
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From sketches to 3D renders
Those initial sketches garnered considerable interest, including from one particular client who asked to see more of the design. ‘So we started deeper development of the concept and extended that into full 3D renders; we did some basic calculations to centre the concept in reality, and came up with lots of exciting ideas to play with,’ Mulder continues.
‘We didn’t work on a full general arrangement although we did create the block plan to define the spaces needed for guests, crew, accommodation and technical areas; but we wanted to show that far from being just technical designers, we can offer our skills and experience of creating stunning exterior designs at any size of yacht that consider interior demands and thereby perfectly fuse function and form.’
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Timeless design
At the heart of the White Coral project is the exterior design. ‘At Mulder Design, there’s a core ethos we apply to everything we do,’ Mulder asserts, ‘which is to create a long-lasting, timeless design rather than something that can be identified by a particular era or fashion. The key for us is always to have long, elegant and simple lines, then enhance them without adding too many fussy details which most of the time merely distract the eye.’
The Mulder Design ethos is rooted not only in considerable heritage, but also in practicality – the Mulder team comprises naval architects and engineers, meaning a holistic naval architecture and design approach to projects up to 60 metres, and exterior design work on larger yachts that is rooted in engineering expertise.
That, particularly, is the case with the White Coral concept. According to Mulder, the basis of a design is always its technical feasibility. ‘We start with the core calculations, and from there we develop beautiful and complex designs that we know are not only stunning but which can also be built.’
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Fully featured
Of course, there are also details featuring in the design that carry the DNA of the Mulder studio’s portfolio. ‘The vertical mast shape on White Coral is actually an element we’ve carried for over a quarter of a century or more,’ Mulder quips, ‘and the same could be said for the reverse fashion plates, which are definitely a Mulder style feature.’
White Coral also shows how the Mulder team are able to incorporate features that demand expertise to realise. Aft, for example, there’s a large main deck pool atop an 18-metre by 8-metre beach club complete with opening hull doors to create vast terraces on the sea.
At the other end of the yacht, the bow features a fully certified helipad plus under-deck bow helicopter hangar, something the Mulder team has worked on with previous projects and therefore has the engineering knowledge and design experience to incorporate ensuring functional practicality.
Creating exterior designs for large yachts
‘People know our smaller yachts and mid-size superyachts, and they know us well for being able to provide the full suite of design services from hulls to engineering to GAs and profiles,’ Mulder says. ‘But we also specialise in creating stunning exterior designs for larger superyachts, for which the naval architecture and engineering will be completed elsewhere, but for which our holistic understanding of those elements ensures a project which is not only aesthetically stunning, but also firmly rooted in reality.’
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