john pawson yacht design

john pawson discusses his yacht design for sanlorenzo

on the occasion of the venice architecture biennale 2021 , italian yacht manufacturer sanlorenzo celebrates its upcoming collaboration with english minimalist architect and designer john pawson with an exhibition titled a point of view. running until the 31st of july, 2021, the solo show has been staged in the sale de maria of the casa dei tre oci in venice. this collaboration marks the return to the water for pawson and a new opportunity to explore his vision of rigorously simple architecture.

designboom attended the press preview of the exhibition in venice and spoke with john pawson about his approach to designing a new yacht for sanlorenzo. read our interview below.

world leading yacht and superyacht manufacturer sanlorenzo was the first company of its type to launch collaborations with influential names in the world of design. this path has led them to collaborate with john pawson , who has reinterpreted the interiors of a new sanlorenzo metal superyacht through drawings and sketches presented at the exhibition. divided in two sections — sanlorenzo and home — the show explores pawson’s spatial poetry which relies in the perfect balance between space, promotion, light and materiality. ‘from the beginning my work has been about creating places where the eye is free to travel,’ the architect said. ‘it is this freedom of movement that lies at the heart of the exhibition I have made with sanlorenzo.’

DESIGNBOOM (DB): this collaboration with sanlorenzo marks your return to the water. from the highest levels of comfort to spatial quality and safety, how are you applying your minimalist architecture style into the yacht?

JOHN PAWSON (JP): I bring the same set of spatial preoccupations to every project on which I have ever worked. for me, it is always about creating environments where the eye, the body and the mind feel comfortable and instinctively at home.

DB: light plays a primary role in your ‘a point of view’ photo exhibition with sanlorenzo. in yachts, this is something that is constantly changing — direction, water reflections, etc. is this something you considered when designing the interiors of the yacht?

JP: the dynamic character of the light is a hugely exciting aspect of the design. in a building you are dealing with the daily rhythms of the natural light and the way in which these are effected by the weather and the cycle of the season. at sea, change and variability are the only constants. you think you have conceived of every outcome for the play of light and shadow, but still you are surprised.

DB: what are the main aspects taken into consideration during a yacht design process?

JP: the most important thing is the quality of the conversation between all the various parties working on the project. it is critical that the work draws on the diverse strengths and experience of everyone involved. it’s a very intense process.

DB: yachts exude opulence, luxury, money… how are you refining this?

JP: for me, the ultimate luxury is quality of space. thinking about yacht interiors in terms of light, surface, proportion and atmosphere: these are the priorities I have brought to the project.

DB: which skills from the architecture world did you bring into the project and which from the naval world have you learned?

JP: I think for all of us, it’s an appreciation for how every detail matters – its conception and its execution.

DB: what is the most challenging aspect of designing a yacht?

JP: you have always to keep in mind the constant motion of the sea – right up to the tumult of storm conditions – which creates entirely different interactions between people and their physical environment.

DB: how do you spend a day off?

JP: I have never drawn a clear line between off and on days. for me it’s all work and all life. during lockdown we acquired a dog and walking him has become a great new joy of daily life.

project info:

name: a point of view exhibition

artist: john pawson

presented by: sanlorenzo

location:  sale de maria of the casa dei tre oci in venice

dates: 22 may to 31 july, 2021 

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John Pawson

Kiel, Germany 2006 – 2007

B60 is the outcome of collaboration with the Milan-based designers Luca Brenta, who developed the yacht as an evolution of the smaller B38. Below deck the emphasis falls on the possibilities of bringing together light, shadows and reflections on high-gloss white surfaces to manipulate the eye’s spatial experience, allowing the strong horizontal lines to appear to pass uninterrupted through the vertical elements, projecting immaculate phantom spaces forward and back of the saloon and galley. The floor below deck is laid with washed lunar larch and the deck itself with naturally bleached teak, the sealant tinted RAL 9010 to match the hull.

Project Team Mark Treharne, Valerie Chomarat Naval Architects Luca Brenta Photography Jens Weber

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“A point of view” from 22nd May to 31st July Casa dei Tre Oci, Venice

Sanlorenzo presents a point of view curated by John Pawson

• yacht design
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Press release, 19th May 2021 -  On the occasion of the Biennale Architettura 2021, Sanlorenzo presents, in collaboration with minimalist designer and architect John Pawson, the exhibition "A Point of View", which from 22 May to 31 July will be staged in the Sale De Maria of the Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice, an exhibition space that has become a point of reference for photography over the years thanks to the major exhibitions that have presented the work of photographers such as Erwitt, Salgado, Berengo, Newton and LaChapelle.

The unmistakable mark of the English architect, whose value lies in meticulous attention to detail, a fundamental theme for Sanlorenzo, associated with a rigorous search for simplicity, takes shape in the body of work that makes up the "A point of view" exhibition.

Structured in the two sections "Sanlorenzo" and "Home", the exhibition is a true tale of the designer's distinctive spatial poetry, which rests firmly on two cornerstones, the perfect calibration between space, proportion, light and materials, and the search for the essential by omitting the superfluous. Only when a project can no longer be improved by subtraction is the objective achieved.

These defining themes, which he pursued uninterruptedly for four decades, become the leitmotif of an exhibition that explores John Pawson's aesthetic vision through two parallel subjects: his own home and the new yacht he designed for Sanlorenzo.

  “From the beginning my work has been about creating places where the eye is free to travel. It is this freedom of movement that lies at the heart of the exhibition I have made with Sanlorenzo.” John Pawson

The idea that we can get in touch with the essence of space, through everything our gaze perceives, is a defining aspect of Pawson's work that affects every scale of design. From architecture to design, from the design of an entire Cistercian Monastery to a small fork, for him "it’s all architecture". Each element is thus treated according to the same meticulous process in the name of a pure and essential study of detail.

“Sanlorenzo” The collaboration with Sanlorenzo marks a return to the water for Pawson and a new opportunity to explore his vision of rigorously simple architecture. A project that, through a study of space and atmosphere, focal points of the English architect's philosophy, creates a welcoming environment that instils peace and tranquillity. The Master of Minimalism explores the harmony of emptiness through a perfect balance between light, a pure element that designs and maximises each space, proportions and surfaces brought to such purity and essence that they reflect the stillness of the sea, the sky and the simplicity of the marine horizon.

“Home: a self portrait - a domestic space - a photograph” Intimate and personal, John Pawson's new 'Home' series is a unique portfolio of eight photographs, half from his London home, where he has lived for more than 20 years, and half taken at his country house in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, which perfectly represent his poetic sense of refined simplicity.

a lover of photography, which he considers to be "a third eye", Pawson exhibits a series of particular self-portraits in which no human figure is ever immortalised but whose presence is evoked through details and nuances of light and shade that represent the testimony of a life lived and the private story of a domestic dimension.

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Designer/architect John Pawson designed this B60 yacht in collaboration with naval architect Luca Brenta , who's always at the forefront of minimalist, innovative and beautifully finished luxury yachts. Pawson says:

The project’s functional goal [was] to create the ultimate day racing yacht, built for recreational rather than competitive purposes, but with the highest levels of manoeuvrability. The aesthetic expression of these functional aspirations is embodied in the sleekest of carbon-fibre hulls surmounted by the geometric purity of a triangular white sail.

Photography by Jens Weber Munich .

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John Pawson

John Pawson . photos: © John Pawson

On the occasion of the Biennale Architettura 2021, Sanlorenzo presents, in collaboration with John Pawson, the exhibition “A Point of View” staged in the Sale De Maria of the Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice.

The exhibition explores John Pawson’s aesthetic vision through two parallel subjects: his own home and the new yacht he designed for Sanlorenzo. _