...and now for something completely different...

Yes, this is what can happen with a 3D-rendering program. To build it may be possible, but to handle and maintain it, it should not be longer than 10 feet....

I once was asked to comment on a drawing before it was finalized for production and after taking one look at it I called the engineer back and said "just because your computer can draw it doesn't mean it can be fabricated."

Some engineers have yet to learn that.

Fun to look at, however completely out of the realm of functionally feasible. (at least by today's standards for building materials)

Lars I'm sure could speak in great detail on this has he has gone from the bar napkin to the paper sketch, to the drawing board, to the CAD phase, and then finally to an actual build / launch of said boat.

I LOVE IT! These vessels will undoubtedly change a lot during production, but what a starting point.
At the 1964 World's Fair there were future cars with wild, impossible options like glass tops (moon-roof/T-bar), in dash record players, telephones.
I think we're at the cusp of a whole new and radical style of yacht. IMHO this probably isn't it, but it's pretty cool.

I would agree with that Lars and add to get it to comply with regs re glass etc would be as much if not more of a battle than getting someone to make the glass optically perfect let alone the damege the anchor chains and anchors would do to the openins below where they are stowed and so on.............

In my opinion it would help if "designers" spent a bit of time at sea and saw some of the pitfalls and problems of an over elaborate design ( and there are plenty of them out there) both from a manufacturing but just as importantly maintenance perspective as mentioned by AMG.

Yup, cleaning would be a challenge. Different though, cant argue with that.
Interiors remind me of Barbarellas space ship. Any one else think the stylist forgot the radar arch on Oculus until an hour before the print deadline ?

Now THAT would be a radical departure! A stylist coming in physical contact with the medium ... how indecorous. How could you suggest such a thing?

Personally, I think the starboard quarter view looks like Flipper gagging up a herring bone.

I have seen it several month ago, but at that time only Oculus was visible.

I like the fwd part, but not the stern, not at all

Infinitas is completely a spaceship taken from skies to water, with no idea of what can be ship motions at sea and life on board.

The hollow in the middle can be an interesting idea, anyhow..... I sketched several possibilities with this kind of arrangement in the middle, but with no pound to cross over

For me as a modeler/renderer these images look perfect. As for the design of the yacht; it again looks perfect.

But will it float really so that its also usable? Don't know
However i love the images thats for sure.

I would offer that what Frank Gehry has done with land based architecture may be worth considering with regard to futuristic yacht design. All pioneering thought begins in the avant garde. Whether or not these designs could or could not be built may not be as important as stimulating thought about possibilities. As a land based architect who enjoys sketching yachts, I, for one, would love to spend time on the water learning all there is to know of boats. If only life could afford us all the opportunity to indulge in all the activities that fuel or interests and imaginations.

One good point for designers not understanding the "pitfalls and problems of an over elaborate design is that their imaginations aren't held back by conventional thinking. The architects can then cut their designs back to something workable and still leap into the future.

Caution, paraphrase follows! From the keyboards of babes ...

Which brings us back to the carefully avoided question regarding "design" ... is an "artistic" expression of an impractical device really a design and does it deserve protection as a "design" in addition to its inherent copyright?

Actually, a funny thing happened yesterday morning. I noticed my wife's hair drier on the counter and realized it could well have been the inspiration for "Oculus" (as well a squid may have been).
Also, If I remember correctly the cited case, as an artistic expression it is automatically protected, but when it moves to the design phase it would then need copywrite protection.

Do you mean patent protection?

This is just a layman's view, but I would guess that the architectural drawings would be patented and the designs would be copyrighted.

I agree

Da Vinci's sketches of the helicopter came many years before technology could rationalize how to achieve rotary wing flight. I wonder if the development of this particular technology would have progressed differently or at a different pace if Leonardo had not postulated "what if"?

In the Architecture business here in the states, ownership of construction documents become the joint property of the Architect who develops and draws them and the client who pays for them. Most all architects have disclaimers on their sheet borders that state just this. However, Ideas can easily be copied and details redrawn, thus muddying true ownership. Intellectual property is very difficult, if not impossible to control.

One more thought on the subject of creative action vs. reconcilled function: Hunter S. Thompson said; and I paraphrase, [ you should be as weird as you can up front, because, if pressed you can always appear to be normal later]!

as for the first oculus design sure it has something
but why is the colani type ex and interior not practical
i dont see how to sit in or what to think of these forms
but yes gizmag has many completely different designs