KGID DESIGN - Superyacht Guest Cabin (Renders produced by KGID) - Blinds down
KGID inherited a room to re-design a contemporary superyacht. It was one room, but it dictated the design of 4 guest cabins.
A previous designer had already done their best with the design and custom furniture and the owners weren’t enjoying the outcome. Below are photos in the bare form of how the room was shaping up under the previous designer.
PREVIOUS DESIGNER - Differing heights, materials, styles & colours
PREVIOUS DESIGNER - Heavy Ceiling
I look at the photos with a critical eye (because I’ve been asked to) and immediately Coco Chanel’s quote comes to mind “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off”. Good design is restraint…and the details. It’s quite difficult to create a calm and luxurious room in a small space. Know that if you enter such a room and feel immediately at ease and enjoy the space, it probably took someone many iterations create!
Let me tell you some more about what I see when I look at the photos. I see lots of different furniture heights making the room feel jerky and disorganised. I see different patterns and different woods. A heaviness to an already low ceiling (typical of yachts). I see a myriad of lines on the walls for the access panels with nothing matching up.
In redesigning the room, we considered in depth what our high-end clients would require in such a space. Afterall this is a 6* superyacht that will be available for weekly charter. This will require all the luxuries and facilities that our clients are used to, but in a smaller, moving space.
This is what we did to maximise the space and “quiet” it down:
Re-thought how it should look and feel from a contemporary perspective;
We placed wall to wall light carpet to maximise the floor area;
The new bed is floating (with hidden plinth) and low level underlighting to maximise the floor area. Concealed storage drawers allow every spare bit of space to be utilised. Notice a small radius on the corners of the bed base for safety and comfort. The top of the bed base is leather wrapped for the same reason as well as being aesthetically pleasing.
Bedside tables are designed in the same way as the bed base to maximise the flooring. The low lever underlighting adds another layer of mood lighting to the room. We cannot emphasise enough how important lighting is.
Wall panels are wrapped in off white leather with the option of utilising Alcantara as a more affordable and durable product. Many of these panels need to be removable to access equipment & services (such as electrical, air intake, water, waste…) concealed and running up the walls. Ceiling panels need to be removable too. These panels are consistently the same size and follow the same lines. You’ll also notice that they line up with door, window and headboard heights where possible. This helps to calm all the lines down and keep your eye moving around the room.
Internal doors to the ensuite bathroom & walk-in-robes are leather wrapped in the same product as the wall panels and follow the same lines.
The door from the foyer to inside the room is a wooden to make to make it easy to ascertain visually that this is the main door once inside the room.
The ceiling is calm with a simple wooden bulkhead to add detail, define the space and connect with the other wooden elements in the room. This detail accentuates the ceiling rather than visually bringing the height down.
There are two portholes behind just one of the blinds (as you can see in the second image). The room felt off balance with just one blind so we introduced a second which looks like a blind but is actually fabric walling. The subtle vertical lines add additional height.
The custom bench seat connecting to the desk adds functionality to the room. The curved drop combining the two elements keeps the flowing connection between the different heights required for seating and desk. The bench seat is in the circulation area and close to the ensuite bathroom door whilst the desk with its stool are outside of the main circulation to allow a guest to sit undisturbed and work if required.
The custom headboard runs the width of the room to add some depth and keep the lines smooth rather than disjointed with stop/starts. The wallpaper above adds an additional luxurious layer to the room and disappears above the wooden ceiling bulkhead with wash lighting adding more height.
Bedside table lamps are up off the table itself to give more space for guests' personal effects such as books, phones etc. They also allow for more storage.
The wall for the TV is made to appear as floating between the guest ensuite and walk-in-robes further creating balance and space.
The bench and desk design are replicated in the guest ensuite for the vanity and shower bench for continuity of lines.
At KGID we work with the software platforms of REVIT & AutoCAD. Modelling and renders are created in-house allowing us to adjust elements in real-time during meetings with clients and design team members. Importantly this in turn allows for quick decision making to keep projects moving on-time towards their completion deadlines.
KGID DESIGN - Superyacht Guest Cabin (Renders produced by KGID) - Porthole blind lifted.
KGID DESIGN - Superyacht Guest Cabin (Renders produced by KGID) - Continuity of lines into the Guest Ensuite as well as floating TV wall for room balance.