philippe briand yacht design

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Philippe Briand profile: The man whose designs launched more than 12,000 yachts

• October 29, 2020

Philippe Briand commands a reputation for combining beauty with high performance. Mark Chisnell met him at his London studio

Photo: Guillaume Plisson

There have been over 12,000 boats built to Philippe Briand designs in the last four decades in a remarkable career that began with a 25ft wooden boat to the International Offshore Rule (IOR) in the 1970s.

Briand was just 16 when that first boat was built, and he went on to win the legendary Admiral’s Cup – at the competitive height of the IOR – with a French team that included two of his designs.

He drew the French America’s Cup challengers from 1986 to 2000 and then, after moving onto superyachts , he designed the 42m Mari-Cha IV , a superlative ketch that held the Atlantic crossing record for monohulls for over 12 years.

Briand’s ‘fantastic boat’, Mari-Cha IV , held the Atlantic record for 12 years. Photo: Thierry Martinez

It’s a career that had auspicious beginnings. The son of an Olympic Dragon sailor and sail loft owner, Briand first went afloat at the age of three in his father’s boats, graduating to his own Optimist at nine. “I was born in a family where we stick to talking only about boats, racing boats, at the dinner table.

“We were always deeply involved in racing. My father went to the Olympic Games in ’68 [where he was 8th]. He won the Dragon European Championship. He also owned the largest sail loft in Europe at this time,” he explains.

The first boat was a wooden Quarter Tonner (an IOR fixed rating class) that went on to win regattas and was replicated 11 times. “When I was 18 I went to work with Pelle Petterson in Sweden, and he’s been important to me because we worked on so many different kinds of designs.

Every detail falls under the attentive eye of Briand, who designed his first boat aged 11. Photo: Guillaume Plisson

“At this time he was designing a car, the Volvo P1800 sports car, and was a two-time medallist at the Olympic Games in the Star. He also designed a production boat, the Maxi, which was very successful in the Seventies and the largest production boat back then. I’m still very inspired by it.”

Briand worked with Petterson on the design of a World Championship winning 6 Metre and then the 12 Metre that Petterson sailed at the 1977 America’s Cup. It was famous for the below decks pedal-driven winches, “This was Pelle’s idea,” says Briand. It’s an idea that resurfaced very successfully for Team New Zealand at the America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017.

It was 1978 when Briand returned home and started his own design office in La Rochelle. He had no formal naval architecture background. “I was in a hurry and I wanted to get on designing boats.” Just six years later, in 1984, he won the One Ton Cup, probably the most competitive IOR class in the period. It was in a boat of his own design called Passion 2. Briand was just 28 and had already won the Half Ton Cup in Norway the previous year.

“This [setting up his own design office] was very brave of me when I look back. I even tried to set up a French challenge for the America’s Cup… I started designing a 12 Metre… We built two small scale model sailing boats and we had fantastic results…

“Unfortunately, this stopped there because we didn’t find sponsorship. I had to wait a bit, and I waited five more years. I met Marc Pajot and I was the one telling Marc that he should go for the America’s Cup. He found funding with a syndicate and we designed French Kiss , which was an extrapolation of the earlier design.” French Kiss reached the Challenger semi-finals in the ’87 America’s Cup in Fremantle.

Briand spent much of the next 13 years trying to win sailing’s most prestigious trophy with eight designs for six teams. He moved into superyacht design in 1995 after winning the commission for the 44m Mari-Cha III , and then went on to draw Mari-Cha IV .

He has built his subsequent career on the success of these lightweight high-performance cruiser-racers, building boats with many of the world’s most respected shipyards including Alloy Yachts, CNB, Groupe Beneteau, Perini Navi, Royal Huisman and Vitters.

“We design racing boats, we design sailing boats, production boats, big sailing yachts, we also design motor yachts and big motor yachts of different kinds,” Briand says. “We have two offices, one in La Rochelle in France, where the naval architects are based; that’s the original office.

“And since 2008 we’ve also been based in a studio in London, because I live here. The naval architecture and more of the engineering work is done in La Rochelle. We are ten people, so we are split about five and five. We have three designers here in London and an administrator, and in La Rochelle we have five naval architects.

The drawing board: Briand says that he has spent 250,000 hours of his life thinking about the design of boats. Photo: Guillaume Plisson

“Our current developments in super sailing yachts are a 50m design and a 90m preliminary design for one of our repeat clients. In addition, we have always designed racing projects as part of our own R&D. That’s why we developed last winter a preliminary study of an AC75 and a scaled down version at 6.5m designed to be a potential test boat for syndicates. It’s great fun to work on this new kind of monohull defined by another Frenchman, Guillaume Verdier.”

The Briand office also has two 55m motor yachts under construction at Perini Navi, while the 58m Najiba was launched by Feadship last year. “We have two new projects on the drawing board now, which are a new kind of boat: one is an expedition boat for ice class [55m] and its purpose is to cross the north-east passage; and the other has its priority as beauty. So we are designing a very nice motor yacht, a low freeboard, a long flush deck, more inspired by the beauty of sailing.”

Beauty is one of the fundamentals of Briand’s design philosophy. “For me, design is based on values and there are four values which are common in all our designs, sailing or motor. There is ‘beauty’, first and foremost. Then there is ‘performance’, and now we recently added ‘green’ and ‘explorer’. I think these four values give a sense to yachting…

“Beauty of course is basic for yachts and I used to say that the primary function of the boat is to be beautiful. We always intend to design beautiful boats… it’s still our first aim. And although we express this in production boats and our shipyard yachts, I think style in itself does not mean anything.

“The design, the style has to express the internal beauty of the boat, so the guts of the boat, the technical aspect, the efficiency. That’s the reason why we work, we are also naval architects and so we know about the engineering and the technical aspect and for us the second priority is performance, because performance is the meaning of transportation.

“Performance also means to have a good boat at sea, comfortable, seaworthy, a good motion at sea. All the aspects which make you comfortable aboard the boat and getting the special relationship that sometimes you have with your boat, something that sometimes people do not understand. When we are on the boat we have this interaction, like, we could have with another person – this is performance for us, that’s important.

Briand’s flYacht concept is inspired by the AC75 foiling monohulls

“This is also the time that these two other values [green and explorer vessels] also need to be included in yachting; they are a bit related. Green, I think it’s something we could not miss today and yachting is not very advanced on this aspect, to be honest.

“There is still a lot to do, but as a designer I’m looking forward; I think it’s our responsibility to go this way, to create an environmentally friendly boat where the owner will be proud to be on board. Not a boat smoking and pushing the sea and polluting.

“And finally, one important beauty of yachts and boats is that they have this ability to explore 70 per cent of the earth – which is the sea. The boats are not only designed to get between Portofino and Porto Cervo. Of course, we are selling boats today for this purpose, but if we want to develop interest for yachting tomorrow, we should explain that the boat is also useable for more waters; that you can explore the Baltic and not only the Mediterranean . So exploration is something we need to promote… to explain to people that they can use their boat for an infinite territory.” A fine thought.

The distinctive Briand-designed Inouï at the 2014 Superyacht Cup. Photo: Carlo Baroncini

Philippe Briand on his milestone designs

“The boat I love to sail was the Mari-Cha IV , because this was 42m long, but so easy to sail – easy sailing, fast. So this was a real enjoyment. She held the Atlantic record for 12 years and is still a fantastic boat.”

“Of course the most iconic is Vertigo because it’s the largest one, at 67m. There was Galileo , an explorer boat; it was the kind of boat that did 85,000 miles in three years. This boat was really used. That’s a nice boat.”

“We had P2 [38m], we designed a boat for Perini Navi; this also was an achievement because we had to make a Perini fast, which was not the image of the shipyard previously.”

Briand is proud of the success of his production yacht designs, like this CNB 76 for Groupe Beneteau

“In production boats, I am also proud of the big successes like we have today in the CNB 76 or the Jeanneau 64. I am proud of it because if you sail a boat it means it should be a good design, and the cost is part of the design. Of course, there is a lot of soul because it’s a good project, but the project is also good because the designer has considered this aspect. So it’s an achievement.”

“We designed Inouï for an owner who wanted 30 per cent performance yacht and 70 per cent cruising yacht with a timeless look… However, we also succeeded in selling the idea of a high-tech rig and the square top mainsail. Now, ten years later the owner is mainly racing the superyacht ‘tour’ with professional crew and excited about new sails.”

“Of course my preferred design is always the last one! I like simple lines, basically. I like beauty. I like the rubber, not the pen. Take away lines and keep only the one that is absolutely necessary for the functionality – this is usable simplicity.”

Briand in brief

Hobbies: Sailing. “My wife pushes me to travel, so we just came back this morning from Botswana. I tried to find some water there, so I was happy. I am so passionate about design. I did a rough calculation – I’ve spent around 250,000 hours of my life thinking about boats. I believe this has created some kind of background and experience. This is not talent, I don’t call this a gift or talent, but it is only time thinking about designing boats.”

Inspirations: My father, Michel, an Olympic Dragon sailor, and founder of Tasker Sails in France; and Pelle Petterson, Swedish yacht designer, Olympic medallist and America’s Cup skipper.

“I was born in this environment and so, of course, I go sailing and racing. I quickly understood that the technical aspect was the priority for winning a race. My father was also manufacturing the masts, sails, winches. I had this opportunity to meet with the best designers of the time because we were in France and they were coming to the sail loft. That was his network, so I used this network… then I started designing. I was 11.”

Career highlights: “Personally [the highlight was] when I won the One Ton Cup [in 1984] myself as designer and the skipper of the boat. This was an achievement.”

Career lowlights: “I’m still frustrated about racing. I would like to design more racing boats and get successful in this, which is my passion. I think we are in a sport, and like every sport people believe more in young guys, which may be normal when we are on board the boat, but what about technical engineering and architecture? It makes no sense.”

About the author

Mark Chisnell has written 16 books, which have been translated into five languages. He has sailed and worked with seven America’s Cup teams and won three World Championships. He runs the Technical Innovation Group for Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team.

First published in the July 2018 issue of Supersail World.

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Philippe Briand Yacht Design

• Our designers
• Philippe Briand

I have always tried to give Jeanneau designs for cruising boats, but also designs that benefit from developments in racing that are useful for cruising.

AN INSPIRED AND TALENTED MARINE ARCHITECT 

Elegance, performance and harmony are associated with all of the boats designed by Philippe Briand. The work of Philippe Briand has for a very long time been focused on sailboat design and marked by a joyfully eclectic character, because the architect has designed race boats of every size and style. Philippe Briand has also designed Super Yachts for cruising, including some of the biggest and most elegant sailboats. In all, more than 12,000 boats have left his drafting table, the great majority of which are production boat models. 

A COLLABORATION THAT BEGAN IN 1977 

At 22 years old, Philippe Briand drafted his first production boat model, when the Jeanneau shipyard asked him to design the Symphonie in 1977. In all, he would design 45 Jeanneau boat models in 38 years: the Espaces, the Sun Kiss, the Sun Fizz, the first Sun Fast models, most of the Sun Odyssey line, since 2012, and the Jeanneau Yachts, from the 64 to today.

“My work with Jeanneau has taught me a great deal about the best way to build a production boat model. They are seaworthy boats built by sailors, but also built with the goal of satisfying their many customers, all those who are passionate about the sea.”

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Philippe Briand discusses sailing yacht Vertigo

When he has a project in progress, designer Philippe Briand is a compulsive sketcher, capturing and developing ideas in his notebook – or on whatever surfaces come to hand.

With inspiration running hot during the 67.2m Vertigo project, for instance, Briand feverishly drew sketch after sketch on the tablecloths of an Italian trattoria. Eventually the restaurateur had to plead with him to stop before the supply of tablecloths ran out.

Just launched in Auckland from Alloy Yachts, Vertigo is a striking yacht by any definition. At 67.2m and 700 tonnes, Vertigo is a powerful sailing machine, with sailing speeds predicted to reach about 20 knots.

Carrying towering twin masts of nearly equal height, the yacht presents a distinctive profile. From the near-vertical bow, the deckline displays subtle sheer in a long clean sweep to the retroussé transom. Arcing across the space between the two masts, the coachroof is like a piece of modern sculpture. It appears to hover over the deck – barely supported by the delicate mullions and wide expanse of glass beneath.

In terms of size and complexity, Vertigo is the largest completed project for both the yard and designer. Briand’s sketching tracked veritable odysseys across landscapes of paper in his drive to solve its myriad conundrums.

‘I tend to cover the walls and floors of my office and my study with drawings and even my dog knows that he cannot disturb the scenery,’ he says. ‘These creative episodes are what drive me and make me love what I do.’

Was this your largest sailing design to date?

To date Vertigo is our largest yacht to be launched. The design commenced in December 2004 and was completed in 2007. Since then, we have developed designs for larger yachts as well. Recent projects include a 72m and last year we developed a design for a 150m.

What was the original design brief for Vertigo , and what changed?

The first goal was to provide a very comfortable vessel to take her owner and family around the world in total safety. From the outset, the brief was to design a 60m yacht. His former yacht had a very comfortable saloon on the main deck and an extensive flybridge; it was these areas we focused on and improved.

Further into the design process, the owner added a mid lazarette and wanted to improve performance yet more. In particular she needed not simply to handle adverse weather fronts, but also the power to outrun them. Thus the length evolved to 67m. As we had gone this far we thought, ‘Why not add another 30cm to make her the fifth longest sailing yacht in the world?’

What were the significant features that the owner wanted?

The owner chose our design because he wanted a yacht that would still be contemporary and cutting edge 10 years from now. He was aware of our reputation for building outstanding performance yachts and we have worked hard to exceed his expectations; the design is unique and although she is not designed as a racing machine, her performance will soon be proven.

One of Vertigo ’s significant features is the spacious flybridge, which offers increased privacy and maximises views. For the interiors, we worked with the specialised yachting team from Christian Liaigre to create layouts that would not hinder performance and would guarantee a superior lifestyle. The interior is very comfortable and no concessions were made – she is an incredibly luxurious yacht. Her main purpose will be a travelling, permanent residence over the next two years.

However she is a yacht and the owner and his family wanted easy access to the water. Amidships, the hull sides fold down on both sides to create two spacious platforms just above the water, like beaches. With the hull completely open from side to side, this area also houses the gymnasium. Even I would be tempted to take up exercise under these conditions!

In both naval architecture and internal space planning, what were the particular challenges you faced in answering the owner’s brief?

There are many challenges connected to her size and we had to take into account constraints such as the Suez Canal and the depth of marinas. To create a performance yacht, I needed sail surface and an efficient keel. The height to go through the Suez Canal is limited to 67m and a draught of 5.25m is really the maximum for most marinas.

One cannot propel 700 tonnes within those constraints using traditional solutions, so we were forced to find alternatives. We decided to go for a flat-top mainsail with considerable roach, which meant the main mast was to be held by runners only. To handle the sailplan, we came to the conclusion that we would need 16 captive winches. The challenge was to keep the winches from view.

Bearing in mind each one is the size of a car engine, this was not an easy task! Suddenly, the yacht was getting too small.

We also had to take into account the strict MCA SOLAS regulations, observing the same weight rules that apply to a motor yacht, which require fireproof bulkheads over 300mm thick and which insist the lazarette doors open 60cm above sea level.

The process was long and tedious, but we managed to find appropriate solutions one by one. Through very open and systematic changes managed and implemented expertly by the meticulous project manager and the study office at Alloy, we optimised the yacht centimetre by centimetre. The impressive end result is that we have a yacht in the water that is 97 per cent consistent with the original concept drawings.

Your background in sailing yachts has been very much linked with sailing performance. Was that a major consideration?

Is there any more exciting feeling than to be at the wheel of a yacht and feel the acceleration? That feeling is compounded when even in light wind, the yacht picks up speed and you can steer her with one hand on the wheel. This feeling is what we stand for and this is our ultimate goal when designing a sailing yacht.

For me the sensitivity of the yacht is the core of my work. It is more important than speed. I have helmed my racing designs for over 15 years. I have ‘listened’ to each yacht and I tried to improve them each time around. In the process, I have accrued the appropriate skills and knowledge to balance the different criteria that determine the behaviour of a yacht.

The criteria are not, as one may think, solely geared towards weight saving but include many areas such as reduced wetted surface area, the sailplan, a well designed keel, the optimised surface of the appendages and many other details that all combined will have an impact on the behaviour of the yacht.

In every single project, I apply these ingredients and this was the case with Vertigo . Even on a boat this size, this often came down to working in centimetres…

In terms of performance, describe your design process. Do you use primarily computer modelling, or tank work or a combination of the two? How reliable is computer modelling at this scale?

Tank testing requires big models and to be accurate they have to be built to a minimum 1/8th scale. In the case of Vertigo , we didn’t consider tank testing to be efficient because it would have implied building a model weighing over 1.5 tonnes and would have added six months to the project.

Over the years hydrodynamic scientific research and development has evolved to become much more precise and reliable. We are now able to create a mesh with 8 million cells covering the hull drawing. The precision of the resistance calculations has a deviation of less than 2 per cent, compared with the result of tank testing.

Using our state-of-the-art software applications, we developed a ‘mother’ hull which was constantly refined as the interior was developed, as the accommodation became more precise and as the stability of the shape and the estimated centre of gravity were defined. The hull that was built is actually version 37 of the ‘mother’ hull.

Did you make any interesting discoveries during this process that came as a result of the boat’s size?

For a project of this magnitude, we need to know and understand everything before it exists. All modifications have a major impact and ripple effect on the rest of the project. The initial phase not only has to cover the detailed design of the geometry of the yacht, but at that point we also need to predict the behaviour of the yacht under variable wind and sea-going conditions. We even developed a detailed ‘performance envelope’ study of Vertigo , as one does for airplanes, before the first piece of aluminium was cut.

To give you an idea of the depth of this study, we developed a prediction for every possible true wind speed and for every true wind angle and the most appropriate sail set. From that we calculated the speed of the yacht, the heel and the loads. This report has been of great assistance to Alloy Yachts, North Sails and Southern Spars and has helped to improve the accuracy of the engineering. In effect, I was already sailing a ‘virtual’ Vertigo four years ago.

In terms of aesthetics, you are associated with one of the most beautiful modern superyachts ever built, namely Mari Cha III . How did you approach the external styling of Vertigo ?

With Vertigo , I concentrated a lot of effort on the creation of the superstucture. I started out by drawing bridges and arches running from the main mast to the mizzen mast. Once I had decided on the concept drawing, I started working on the proportions.

As you will see on Vertigo , given the constraint of the lazarette openings, I have paid special attention to the relative height of the topsides and the superstructure. I wanted the superstucture to float.

The windows are an intricate part of the design; they have very precise rounded sections and add huge aesthetic value. From the interior, the space is open to the exterior allowing an enormous amount of natural light to stream in.

Other details such as the handrails, the angles of the roof, the fine supports for the hard top, required flawless execution of the design by the shipyard. Alloy Yachts have been meticulous in turning the designs into beautiful structures.

Yachts of this size and complexity obviously demand hugely sophisticated systems. Can you describe how you worked with Alloy Yachts to resolve systems and engineering issues?

Alloy Yachts is a competent shipyard. After the design phase, it carried out the majority of the studies. They have extensive experience in building large yachts and were in control of the equipment needed for such a yacht. As a yard, they are well suited and comfortable with projects of this size.

To give you an example, the captive winches were an issue at the beginning. As a solution, the yard developed the largest captive winches to carry the loadings on Vertigo . Their loading can go up to 41 tonnes. The runners are also a world first. Whilst tacking, one runner needs to be eased whilst the other one needs to be trimmed automatically. This manoeuvre needs to be carefully controlled. The roach of the mainsail sits in between the two runners, so the manoeuvring needs to be very harmonious and precise.

What about the loads that this yacht will sustain under sail?

The extreme mast compression at the foot of the main mast has been estimated at 387 tonnes. This is the weight of a high speed locomotive! The V1 can sustain loads of 163 tonnes. In sailing conditions, we could expect 65 tonnes on the forestay and the working load on the sheet of the blade can exceed 30 tonnes. This is quite impressive, but this is what it takes to move 700 tonnes at 15 to 20 knots, using only energy provided by the wind.

What about the underwater configuration?

The limited draught of 5.25m is not compatible with an efficient design of the underwater lateral plan. The efficiency of a lateral plan is related to its ability to create lift and that is related to its aspect ratio. Indeed, the draught restriction does not give us the required aspect ratio, so we required a daggerboard, which extends the draught to 9 metres.

As the lateral plan of the daggerboard has the largest aspect ratio of all the appendages, we chose to increase its contribution to general lift by oversizing its area. In addition, we increased the efficiency of the other ‘available’ appendages. The rudder has a high aspect ratio. The keel, which has the ballast inside, is not designed with a bulb but more as a foil over it’s entire span.

How large was the design team for this project?

The design team evolved very smoothly. At first, just three were involved: the owner, project leader Andrew Senn and myself. I organised a dedicated team of five engineers on my side.

Soon thereafter, my friend Christian Liaigre was appointed for the interior and we all worked together from that point.

I think between the yard, the sparmaker and sailmaker we must have had more than 30 engineers, designers and support staff involved in the study of Vertigo . To complicate matters, we were all living and working in different parts of the world, in different time zones.

Andrew provided an efficient communication platform that allowed us to work in an organised fashion. This was key to the success of the design execution.

In short, we had a fantastic sponsor. I wrote the music, Andrew was the conductor but the orchestra gave the performance; as a team we hope the audience will cheer.

All the players quickly understood they were part of an exceptional project. We had all been given a unique and wonderful opportunity to design and build a new breed of super sailing yacht that was to comply with the owners’ specifications but that would also evolve to be an iconic design.

The ambiance among us all was very positive. Of course, the physical distance presented some logistical difficulties. But everybody was flexible in overcoming these issues.

For example, in December 2009, Alloy Yachts shipped a replica of one of the cabins in a container up to Paris. We rented a cinema where the layout of the yacht and the furniture was drawn up in full scale, all 67 metres, so the owner and the design team were able to spend a day on board the boat – in Paris!

As these yachts become larger and larger, issues of crew and guest safety take on greater importance and relevance. Can you talk about particular safety issues and how you addressed them?

Of course, safety is the most important concern. The issue of safety is always present throughout every single step of the study process. As far as the hull is concerned she complies with all the existing required rules for boats above 50m and 500GT.

The rules and regulations are very stringent and we take great care to respect and adhere to them. However, they also lead to further complexity and can add weight. The additional weight in turn increases the loads on the sailing gear, such as the rig, sails, sheets, winches, blocks etc.

The big difference is that the sailing equipment is not subject to any rules and we have to create and customize them for one specific yacht. There are almost no empirical data available. Equipment of this size is rare, as there are very few existing yachts of this size and the experience in using those systems is very limited.

One also needs to take into account that the sailing equipment is in constant motion and is therefore more sensitive to wear and tear, resulting in a higher risk. Through careful engineering and in-depth experience one can, and one has, significantly reduced these risks. It is highly important to work with competent designers, shipyards and engineers who use the best tools for calculations.

Their expertise and seamanship allow them to ‘feel’ the behaviour of such a huge sailing yacht and to identify the most loaded cases.

It is also highly important that the crew have considerable experience, as the forces are at all times gargantuan. The crew need to monitor the yacht at all times and stay within the performance envelope on which all the equipment calculations have been based. The human factor still remains critical and of great importance every step of the way.

Apart from size, what in your view are the outstanding features of this yacht that will set it apart from other contemporary superyachts?

This is our first design in the category of sailing vessels with two decks and a flybridge. Often these are not considered true sailing ships and their style is considered old-fashioned.

The owner of Vertigo has given us the opportunity to create a yacht in this class which is unique for three key reasons: she is designed with a contemporary lifestyle as the guiding principle, she is an exceptionally sensitive sailing yacht, and she incorporates some of the best technology of our time. She is a super sailing yacht of the 2010s, inspired by the future.

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Philippe Briand

If you count all the Jeanneau Sun Odysseys and  Bénéteau Firsts, Philippe Briand has designed over 12,000 boats in all. An astonishing achievement. However, the fact that the designer was born in La Rochelle, the cradle of French sailing, and raised by a father who was an Olympic Dragon sailor, ensured that sailing and competition would be in his blood.

“When I was still very young I realised that being good wasn’t enough to win a regatta, you also needed to have the best boat,” Briand declared in a recent interview. “So I started to get interested in yacht technology and design. Winning wasn’t enough for me – I wanted to find the absolutely best way to do it”.

Briand sketched out his first boat at 11 and his big chance came at the tender age of 16 when he was given the opportunity to pen an IOR Quarter Tonner for a yard. “It was a wood-built 25 footer for a yard in Alicante,” he explains. “The design worked and won several regattas with the result that 11 examples were built”.

Two years later, young Philippe washed up in the studio of Swedish yacht design and sailing great Pelle Peterson, who introduced him to the America’s Cup, a move that greatly influenced his career. In 1978, Briand hung out his own shingle and his studio is now based in Chelsea in London.

In the interim, he has produced one stunningly successful design after another. In fact, the Frenchman is one of the select few America’s Cup designers, crafting eight different Challengers, including French Kiss and Ville de Paris, between 1986 and 2000. This bolstered his reputation, of course, and his first pleasure superyacht commission soon arrived. The 44.7-metre Mari-Cha III was deemed so successful that she was followed a few years later by the 42-metre carbon-fibre Mari-Cha IV, holder of a still-unbroken Atlantic record of six days, 17 hours and 52 minutes, set in 2003.

That said, Briand has never rested on his laurels. He is constantly seeking out new challenges and is frank about what drives him: “I just love competition. Not just at sea but also at the drawing board. That’s what motivates me most, in fact. I will often look at boats and think: ‘I’d like to design something better than that’. My focus could be performance, comfort or elegance. But my overall goal never changes – I want to create something that improves on what has already been designed,” he concludes.

Aside from the two Mari-Chas, other high-profile Briand sailing yachts include Vertigo, the Perini Navi P2, Whimsy, Inoui, Bristolian II, Gliss and Sybaris, Perini Navi 70m presented at the last  Monaco Yacht Show.

His greatest challenge so far, however, has been the Vitruvius brand, a collection of motoryachts with sleek, tapering lines and featuring great swathes of glazing, a signature of Briand’s output of the last 15 years.

“I’d never tackled designing a motoryacht before,” he explains. “But it was immediately clear to me that if I wanted it to be successful, I’d need to come up with something completely outside the box”.  The result was Exuma, the first yacht in the Vitruvius series. “We were extremely fortunate with our first motoryacht,” Briand continues. “We took a model to the 2006 Monaco Show and the owner was drawn to it instantly. He just got the philosophy right away. He was an expert yachtsman who’d already taken a motoryacht around the world. He did admit he felt he must be completely mad to trust a designer that had never produced a motoryacht before, though! Exuma now has over 75,000 nautical miles under her belt and we’re great friends”.

The Vitruvius line continues to grow. An 80m is in build at Turquoise but an 60m for Feadship and a 105m for Oceanco are also both in the works. A 25-metre trawler design for a French yard is in the pipeline too.

All are serious boats for serious yards. But success has not gone to Briand’s head: “Superyachts are our showcase, but most of our business is production boats, a large proportion of which are for the Bénéteau Group. We have over 30 models building and although megayachts are vital to developing and testing new technologies, we remain a predominantly production boat studio. But they are testing too because the real challenge is inside us,” he concludes.

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Novosibirsk city, Russia

The capital city of Novosibirsk oblast .

Novosibirsk - Overview

Novosibirsk is the third most populous city in Russia, the administrative center of the Siberian Federal District and Novosibirsk Oblast. It is the largest business, cultural, transport, educational, and scientific center of Siberia. Novosibirsk is often called the “Capital of Siberia”.

The population of Novosibirsk is about 1,621,000 (2022), the area - 503 sq. km.

The phone code - +7 383, the postal codes - 630000-630901.

Novosibirsk city flag

Novosibirsk city coat of arms.

Novosibirsk city map, Russia

Novosibirsk city latest news and posts from our blog:.

29 November, 2020 / Novosibirsk Akademgorodok - the scientific center of Siberia .

25 December, 2018 / Chuya Highway - the Most Picturesque Road in Russia .

18 September, 2018 / Novosibirsk - the view from above .

10 December, 2014 / The night views of Novosibirsk .

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History of Novosibirsk

Foundation of novosibirsk.

Novosibirsk is a city with a very interesting history. Unlike many other cities in Russia, it does not have a specific founder. Since the 18th century, on the left bank of the Ob, one of the largest rivers in the world, there was the village of Krivoshchekovo, where migrants from the European provinces of the Russian Empire lived. However, it did not become the basis of Novosibirsk. The city was born on the other, right, bank of the Ob, when the Trans-Siberian Railway approached it in 1893.

Originally it was just a village for the builders of a railway bridge across the Ob. It could turn out to be temporary and disappear after the completion of construction, if not for the combination of several factors that contributed to the development of trade - a large river, a railway, a flat relief convenient for building. At first, the village was named Alexandrovsky, in honor of Emperor Alexander III. For the third anniversary, it received a new name and became Novonikolaevsky, in honor of the Emperor Nicholas II.

In 1897, the first trains went across the bridge. The settlement was quickly growing. By 1898, there were already 7.8 thousand people in the village. In 1903, when the village acquired the status of a town with the name Novonikolaevsk, its population was 26 thousand people. In the 1910s, Novonikolaevsk experienced a construction boom. By 1913, the population of the city was 86 thousand people.

Novonikolaevsk, was the center of the major lines of communication, in which the navigable Ob River crossed with the Great Siberian Way and the Altai Railway. The First World War turned the city into the largest center for training troops beyond the Urals.

More Historical Facts…

Novosibirsk - the Siberian Chicago

In 1921, Novonikolaevsk received the status of the administrative center of the Novonikolaevsk Governorate. In 1925, it became the administrative center of the huge Siberian Krai - practically all the regions of Trans-Ural Russia.

The capital of the new huge region needed a new name. Here are just some of the proposed names: Krasnograd, Sibleninsk, Krasnoobsk, Sibkraisk, Sibkraigrad, Leningrad-on-Ob. On February 12, 1926, Novonikolaevsk (“a new city of Nicholas”) was renamed Novosibirsk (“a new city in Siberia”. In 1926, at the Regional Scientific Congress, it was decided to turn Novosibirsk into a “promsad” (“industrial garden”) or “city-garden”. About 120 thousand people lived in the city at that time. The city got the nickname “Siberian Chicago”.

The main elements of the renovated Siberian capital were supposed to be “social towns” - complex residential areas at factories and plants. New cadres were needed to build a new society. Novosibirsk quickly became a city of students. In the 1930s, 8 universities and 10 technical schools were opened here. The city became the Trans-Ural capital of such an architectural style as constructivism.

On July 30, 1930, due to the division of the Siberian Krai, Novosibirsk became the center of the West Siberian Krai. In 1934, a new railway bridge was built across the Ob River and the population grew to 294 thousand people. By 1939, it increased up to 406 thousand people. On September 28, 1937, the West Siberian Krai was divided into Novosibirsk Oblast with the capital in Novosibirsk and Altai Krai.

During the Second World War, the enlistment offices of Novosibirsk Oblast sent more than half a million soldiers to the front. There were 115 evacuation hospitals in the region. Almost 27% of all shells fired by the Red Army during the war were produced in Novosibirsk. Despite the fact that not a single bomb fell on the territory of Novosibirsk, the pre-war city disappeared forever. Instead of the planned residential areas/parks, industrial zones of evacuated factories appeared, a lot of buildings changed their civilian purpose to military-industrial (some of them - forever).

The evacuation radically changed the demography of Novosibirsk - people evacuated from Moscow and Leningrad brought with them a new way of life, new artistic tastes. A lot of them stayed in Novosibirsk after the war. During the war years, Novosibirsk also became the center of the musical culture of Siberia. The Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater, one of the main attractions of Novosibirsk, was opened on May 12, 1945.

Novosibirsk after the Second World War

The demographic inertia of the evacuation turned the pre-war Novosibirsk into a metropolis. By 1956, its population increased to 750 thousand people. On September 2, 1962, a millionth resident of the city was born. It took Novosibirsk only 70 years to achieve this status from the moment of its foundation, which made it the youngest of all million cities.

In 1950, the construction of the Novosibirsk hydroelectric power station began; a large reservoir was created, the so-called Ob Sea. The idea of creating a Siberian branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk was implemented in 1957. About 20 kilometers south of the center of Novosibirsk, in the middle of the forest, Akademgorodok was built - a town of scientists. In 1959, Novosibirsk State University was opened.

In 1979, construction of the metro began in Novosibirsk. Opened in 1985, it became the first one in the Trans-Ural part of Russia. Today, the Novosibirsk metro has 13 stations and annually carries about 70 million passengers.

In 1990, the bridge that had given rise to the city was reconstructed. To preserve the memory of the first builders, one of its span structures was installed on the embankment of the Ob in the park “Gorodskoye Nachalo”.

The transition to a market economy led to a sharp drop in production. High-tech industries, such as radioelectronics, microelectronics, instrument making, and aircraft construction suffered especially heavy losses. In 1991-1998, industrial production in Novosibirsk decreased by more than 3 times.

In the 1990s, the economic structure of the Novosibirsk region and Novosibirsk underwent fundamental changes. The main structural change was that the production of services in the city began to exceed the production of goods, the role of industry decreased, the share of transport, trade, communications, agriculture, and a lot of branches of market services increased.

Thus, the potential points of growth of Novosibirsk reproduced on a new historical, technological, and institutional basis the initial system of its development priorities: a large transport hub in the system of transnational transport corridors, a trade, intermediary, and financial center - the center of Siberia, a large business, scientific, educational, and cultural center.

In the 21st century, Novosibirsk became the first Russian city (after Moscow and St. Petersburg) to exceed the population of 1.5 million.

Architecture of Novosibirsk

The building of the West-Siberian Railway in Novosibirsk

Author: Vytautas Podlesaitis

Old building in Novosibirsk

Author: Andrey Osokin

On the street in Novosibirsk

Author: Serge Klimenko

Novosibirsk - Features

Novosibirsk is the most populous city in the Asian part of Russia. It is located in the southeastern part of the West Siberian Plain on both banks of the Ob River next to the Novosibirsk reservoir. The width of the Ob River within the city is 750-850 meters. The City Day of Novosibirsk is celebrated on the last Sunday of June.

The city is located in the continental climatic zone. The flatness of the territory allows both cold waves from the north and heat waves from the southwest to freely spread. That’s why both severe frosts and short-term thaws can be observed in winter. The duration of winter is 120-130 days, summer - about 90 days. The average air temperature in January is minus 16.5 degrees Celsius, in July - plus 19.4 degrees Celsius.

On the coat of arms of Novosibirsk you can see a schematic image of the Ob River and the bridge across it, part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which gave rise to the city.

The economy of Novosibirsk is based on industry, trade, transport, science, and scientific services. The city is successfully developing in the absence of large resource-extracting enterprises in the region, which distinguishes it from most large cities in Siberia.

The main activities of industrial production are: production of food, computers, electronic and optical products, chemicals, vehicles and equipment, metallurgy, beverage production. Novosibirsk is one of the leading suppliers of nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants and research reactors in Russia and abroad.

Novosibirsk is the largest scientific center in the Asian part of Russia. More than 100 organizations carry out research and development in this city. There are about three dozen higher educational institutions here.

It is the largest transport hub in Siberia connecting Siberia, the Far East, Central Asia with the European regions of Russia. Novosibirsk is also a river port. The city is served by Tolmachevo International Airport, the largest in terms of passenger traffic in the Asian part of Russia. The airport is located at the intersection of a large number of flights from Southeast Asia to Europe and from North America to India and Asia.

Novosibirsk was the only city in Russia located in two time zones. Since its foundation, it was growing in two parts along different banks of the Ob. And since the meridian of the hour passed right along the Ob River, there were two time zones in one city. On the left bank, the difference with Moscow was 3 hours, and on the right bank - 4 hours. At first, this did not cause much inconvenience as each half lived quite apart. In 1955, when the first road bridge across the Ob was built, the city became more connected. In 1958, Novosibirsk switched to a single time zone.

Despite its young age, Novosibirsk has 145 monuments of architecture, history, monumental art and archeology taken under state protection. 47 monuments of wooden architecture of the late 19th - early 20th centuries are of particular value. There are also over a dozen different museums in Novosibirsk.

Main Attractions of Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk Zoo - one of the largest and best zoos in Russia, where about 11,000 animals, birds, and reptiles of 770 species are kept on an area of 63 hectares in a pristine pine forest. More than 350 species are listed in the International Red Book. This zoo is visited by about one million people every year. It also hosts ecological events and festivals. Timiryazeva Street, 71/1.

Novosibirsk Theater of Opera and Ballet . Founded in 1945, it is one of the leading theaters in Russia. It occupies the largest theater building in Russia constructed in the constructivist style in 1931-1941. This unique architectural complex has the status of a cultural heritage of the Russian Federation. It is one of the symbols of Novosibirsk and probably its most recognizable building.

The main feature of the building is its huge dome with a diameter of 60 meters and a height of 35 meters. The large hall of the theater can accommodate 1,449 spectators. The theater is located on Lenin Square - the main square of Novosibirsk, where you can also find a number of interesting monuments. This theater is also known as the “Siberian Colosseum”. Krasnyy Prospekt, 36.

Novosibirsk Museum of Local Lore - one of the main museums in Novosibirsk. The historical department of the museum is located in a picturesque building of the former City Trade House (a monument of history and architecture of federal significance built in 1910).

This museum has a number of unique exhibits: a complete mammoth skeleton, collections of household and religious items of Siberian peoples collected by expeditions in the 1920s-1930s. There are also collections of numismatics, woodwork, glass, porcelain and faience, an archaeological collection, etc. Krasnyy Prospekt, 23.

Novosibirsk Art Museum . The permanent exhibition presents the following sections: icons (old Russian art), foreign art (works of Italian, French, Flemish, Dutch, Belgian, German masters), Russian art of the 18th-19th centuries (works by I. Shishkin, A. Kuindzhi, I. Repin , V. Surikov, and others), Russian art of the early 20th century, art of the Soviet period, Russian art of the late 20th century. There is a separate section devoted to the works of N. Roerich. Krasnyy Prospekt, 5.

Novosibirsk Museum of Railway Technology . This museum has a large collection of steam, diesel, and electric locomotives, carriages, which mainly operated on the railways of Western Siberia. In addition, you can see such Soviet cars as GAZ, Moskvich, ZAZ of different years of production, as well as several trucks, tractors, and all-terrain vehicles. The total length of the exhibition grounds is about 3 kilometers. It is the largest museum of this subject beyond the Urals with over 100 exhibits. Razyezdnaya Street, 54/1.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (1897-1899). Built of red brick in the neo-Byzantine style, this is one of the first stone buildings on the territory of Novosibirsk and the most beautiful church in the city. Krasnyy Prospekt, 1A.

Monument to the Laboratory Mouse . This unusual monument is located in a public garden near the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the territory of Akademgorodok. The mouse with glasses holds the knitting needles in its paws and knits a double helix of DNA.

The monument symbolizes gratitude to this animal for the fact that mankind has the opportunity to use mice to study animal genes, molecular and physical mechanisms of diseases, and the development of new drugs. Akademika Lavrent’yeva Prospekt, 10/2.

Zaeltsovsky Park - one of the oldest parks in Novosibirsk that celebrated its 85th anniversary in 2017. The park has all the conditions for a comfortable and cultural pastime: walking paved paths, rides, summer verandas and gazebos, a paintball club, an ice rink, a rope park, etc.

For history buffs, the ethnopark “Territory of Siberia” has been created, where everyone can get acquainted in detail with the culture of the indigenous peoples who lived in these places several hundred years ago. In winter, it is a great place to go skiing. There is also a children’s railway with a length of 5.3 km here. At the terminal station, you will be offered to go to the Novosibirsk Zoo, which is located nearby.

Novosibirsk Central Park - a large park in the center of Novosibirsk and the oldest park in the city. On an area of 10.5 hectares, there are summer cafes and ice cream kiosks, dozens of rides and sports equipment rental points. There is an open-air skating rink in winter. The park often hosts festivals, concerts, and tournaments. The Novosibirsk Theater of Musical Comedy is also located here. Michurina Street, 8.

The Ob River and “the Ob Sea” . The Ob is one of the world’s largest rivers, its length is more than 3,600 km. This river flows through a lot of Siberian cities. Within Novosibirsk, the river is transformed into a large reservoir, which bears the unofficial name “the Ob Sea”. The main purpose of the water reservoir is to generate electricity. Also, the shores of the “sea” are a popular recreation area for locals and city visitors.

Novosibirsk city of Russia photos

Novosibirsk views.

Novosibirsk Thermal Power Plant #5

Author: Grigory Filippov

Novosibirsk Zoo

Author: Artemov Ruslan

Pre-revolutionary building in Novosibirsk

Soviet monuments on Lenin Square in Novosibirsk

Monument to Revolutionaries in Novosibirsk

Author: Pascal Winkler

Monument to Peasants in Novosibirsk

Lenin Monument in Novosibirsk

Pictures of Novosibirsk

Saint Nicholas Chapel in Novosibirsk

Author: Vladimir Kharitonov

Pavilion Globe in Novosibirsk

THE BASICS:

UTC time zone +7, MSC +4 City telephone code for local calls 383 Currency: Ruble Average winter temperature: -18…-22 C Average summer temperature: +20…+22C The main landmarks, parks, theaters and the main streets of the city are on the right bank of the Ob. The main streets of Novosibirsk are Lenina st., Vokzalnaya st., Sovetskaya st. and Krasnyy Prospekt.

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Vitruvius Motoryacht Design

Vitruvius Yachts

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