Superyacht concepts have always been part fantasy, part forecast. The best ones appear on design boards looking like science fiction, and then something close to them gets built. Sustainability has gone from a talking point to an engineering brief, submersibles are now a genuine product category, and one designer has proposed a 3D-printed yacht with a hydroponic garden on board. Here are five concepts worth knowing about.
Sustainability shifts from prediction to engineering
For years, designers talked about sustainability as the direction superyachting needed to head. The concepts coming off drawing boards now are actually going there. Feadship’s concept “C”, revealed at the 2024 Monaco Yacht Show, draws 100 per cent of its power from methanol fuel cells and lithium-metal batteries. Then came BREAKTHROUGH, a 118.8-metre yacht and the first primarily powered by green hydrogen. It runs 16 fuel cells with cryogenic storage and includes an underwater lounge built into the hull. For a category defined for decades by diesel engines, these are significant shifts.
Image: Feadship
The submersible goes mainstream
Not long ago, a submarine-style superyacht was the kind of concept designers floated as a thought experiment rather than a serious proposal. Migaloo PSY took it seriously. Their Migaloo M5, a 166-metre concept capable of operating fully underwater for up to four weeks, carries a 200-square-metre spa, cinema, helipad, and two smaller submarines for deep-sea exploration. Migaloo PSY is a company built around private submersibles as a genuine product category, and the M5 is their most ambitious concept yet.
Image: Migaloo PSY
A container ship becomes a superyacht
One of the more unexpected directions to emerge from 2024 is the “post-industrial” category. Anthos is a 150-metre superyacht conversion of a 10,630 GT container ship, the first in designer Mario Biferali’s Nacht® series with Oceanco. The ship’s structure is retained as the backbone; what Biferali adds is a “Sea Garden” terrace lined with vegetated walls, a multi-level owner’s apartment across three decks, a helideck, pool, sports courts, and wellness facilities. Deliberately unglamorous in silhouette, industrial where traditional superyachts are sleek. It makes a statement even if the market for converted cargo ships remains small.
Image: Mario Biferali / Oceanco via Boat International
The 3D-printed yacht with a garden inside
Designer Jozeph Forakis pitched Pegasus as the world’s first 3D-printed superyacht. At 290 feet, it would be constructed by robotic printing, creating a mesh framework integrating hull and superstructure in a single build process, using less energy, less waste, and less material than conventional construction. The interior features a multi-level hydroponic “tree of life” garden growing fresh produce while purifying onboard air. The technique draws from real vertical farming technology, which puts it firmly in the achievable category rather than the fantasy one.
Image: Jozeph Forakis
Catamarans: the prediction that came true
Designer Espen Oeino has long argued that multihulls are the future of yachting, driven by sustainability. Catamarans now appear at every tier of concept design. The EkoKat concept, shown at Cannes 2025, packs 30-40 metre interior volumes into an 18.9-metre catamaran hull, with a solar-powered flybridge delivering 600 kW to onboard battery stacks. At the other end, Lateral Naval Architects unveiled SPEAR in 2024, a 140-metre trimaran with 40 per cent more exterior space than a comparable monohull. The multihull case Oeino has been making is now simply the direction a growing share of the industry has taken.
Image: EkoKat International
