Benetti – Luminosity

Superyacht 68-Winter-2020-2021

“Luminosity” is the second of three giga yachts launched by Benetti in the course of what’s become the “Giga Season”, a model which distinguishes itself for its size but also for the overwhelming look of design and for its innovative hybrid propulsion.

This past season has been one to remember for Benetti since it has launched and delivered numerous Class and custom builds. “Luminosity” measuring 107.6 metres is one of them.

Original shipyard’s video

A glass palace moving along on the sea, rather than a villa on the water as has become customary for superyachts to be called. Architecturally speaking “Luminosity” sports an imposing look thanks to a pool of three project designers namely: Andrew Langton, Giorgio M. Cassetta and Zanis Jakubowski, this third designer also handled the interiors’ project design work.

There are more than 800 square metres of cut glass panels of different sizes and shapes which deliver loads of natural light into the interiors. “Luminosity” seems to be more than an appropriate name. The three metre high window like ports are capable of delivering spectacular views of the surroundings, while allowing passers by to admire the virtuous and refined design of its interiors specially at night, when the whole yacht is lit up offering 370 square metres of panels picturing a forest which takes up all of the floor to ceiling main stairway. The stairway connecting 5 of 6 decks is 18 metres long while by day it is brightened up by cascading light beams coming from a large skylight installed into the sun deck.

If the sight of the interiors seen through large cut glass panels make you feel as if you were in front of an exclusive design, being able to observe them closely enables the viewer to appreciate the uniqueness of its elements further. Cemented gold leaf ornaments or onyx and ceramic ones shaped by potent water jets are trivialities when compared to the entire interior design project which is this grand yacht’s masterpiece. 264 sculptured white magnolia flowers in corian resin, close at variable speeds as guests walk past in the stern area of the main living room. This is an incredible interactive example of interactive technology but also one which best expresses Jakubowski’s artistic genius. Damien Hirst’s coloured circles enrich the flooring in French chalkstone in the hall of the main deck. The adjoining living room takes after the shapes and some decorative elements from several of Matisse’s collages as does the sinuous hand forged, highly hand polished steel sculpture which contains a thousand Bohemia crystal light bulbs.

The recurring calls to art are present everywhere: a construction recalling like an eye placed at the base of the main staircase recalls Man Ray’s work; the opening lines of Melville’s Moby Dick are carved into the pillars, Potuguese ceramics of Boca de Lobo evoke the adventures of the greatest explorers of the sea; a set of polished concave and convex plates honour the Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, flooding the Master Deck Office with natural light.
But not only because each element on board is a work of art which represents the srtisanal work of the yard’s teams and the high quality of the material coming from the best suppliers in the world. The owner suite which is situated along a dedicated deck is an example of this: the cabin is accessed through a passageway decorated with ten types of diverse marble: inside, granite is deployed to define a sense of space. The bed can be lifted by 80 centimetres so as to offer a better view of the exterior surroundings. Directly behind the headboard there’s a virtual window shows projections taken by a movie camera which is hidden in the bow and the walk in wardrobe cabin leads to a private massage area.

The guest cabins are twelve in all including the owner’s mega suite there are three small ones situated along the same deck, one on the Bridge, three along the main deck and four along the lower deck.
With the Passenger Yacht code PYC class “Luminosity” hosts 37 crew members in comfortable spacious cabins situated in an area which is developed vertically to guarantee a dedicated set of steps for each section as a fire escape precaution.

As for comfort, relaxation and entertainment, “Luminosity” mirrors state of the art levels applied to luxury yachting. On board we find a wellness centre with sauna, Turkish bath and gym looking out over the sea thanks to opening top sides at the water’s edge. The same sector hosts a 30 square metre pool which by night doubles as dance floor thanks to a pop up floor.

As many as 500 kilometres of wiring pass through the hull and the super structure allow guests to run Lutron domotics system from each cabin, two sat. dishes with a 3.5 metre diameter and optic fibre (cat 8 in several places) enable the viewing of channels coming from everywhere, two server racks are dedicated to store the contents of a vast music library and movies. The air conditioning system and H&H units are among the world’s largest ever installed on board of a yacht of this size with an output of 3,000 KW. There are 70 HD television sets installed between cabins and shared areas, 4 movie projectors, 10 intelligent mirrors with touch screen and 5G internet connection.

To complete the picture, the main deck hosts a garage for tenders specially built for “Luminosity” like a limousine tender, a landing craft and a further tender each one is 40’ long. While above that we find a ‘copter-deck compliant for Bell 429 helicopters and another dedicated space dedicated to transport a Rolls Royce Phantom, a 24’ sailing boat and two motorcycles.

Designed to being eco-friendly or “green” the FB272 possesses a system by which to recover surplus heat capable of fuelling the yacht and save on electric energy while a set of generators/ engines made up of six 1,000 KW generators, a pair of Azipod 2,200 KW each and 36 tons of batteries. The interiors system has been developed by Benetti in collaboration with Caterpillar, Seastema and ABB.
For further information: Benetti

Text by Daniele Carnevali – Photos by Nico Fulciniti and Giuliano Sargentini