SMC Y45​ BALEEN 

Is a self-initiated concept study for a 45-metre leisure yacht, exploring a relaxed and highly open experience of life on the water. The design is defined by long, sweeping structural lines that wrap around the vessel, connecting hull, glazing and upper decks into a continuous sculptural gesture. Large areas of glass sit beneath these protective forms, while expansive teak decks create a series of open spaces for lounging, entertaining and retreat. The concept deliberately explores yacht design first through proportion, experience and character — establishing a strong visual direction before committing to detailed naval architecture and engineering.

Sketch to visualization.

SMC Y45 BALEEN  began as a series of rapid hand sketches exploring profile, proportion, deck hierarchy and the distinctive looping superstructure. Rather than immediately translating these ideas into detailed 3D CAD, the sketches were developed through a specialized AI-assisted visualization workflow. Carefully structured prompts, reference imagery and iterative design direction were used to translate the original drawings into increasingly resolved photorealistic views. The process allows ideas to be tested quickly from multiple perspectives, environments and lighting conditions while the design remains fluid.

Rapid design exploration.​

Moving rapidly between drawing and visualization creates a different kind of early design process. Proportions can be challenged. Details can be exaggerated or removed. The relationship between decks, glazing and major structural gestures can be evaluated in context rather than solely through linework or an unfinished CAD model. Within a short development cycle, BALEEN could be explored from profile, elevated bow and stern perspectives and placed within a range of aspirational environments — providing a surprisingly complete impression of the vessel before detailed modelling begins.

From still image to motion.

The same visual language was extended into AI-assisted animation, introducing camera movement, changing reflections, water interaction and environmental motion. Animation becomes another early design tool rather than simply a final presentation technique. Seeing the vessel occupy and move through a marine environment provides an immediate sense of scale, presence and experience that is difficult to understand from a static sketch alone.

Biomorphic structure.

The design draws inspiration from the anatomy of whales and other large marine creatures — the sweeping profile of a whale’s mouth, the rhythm of teeth and baleen, and the exposed skeletal structure of ribs and vertebrae. These references are abstracted into a flowing external exoskeleton, with large structural ribs wrapping around the vessel and contrasting against deep black glazing. Rather than concealing structure, the architecture celebrates it as a defining part of the yacht’s identity.
Materiality reinforces this relationship between nature and advanced engineering. Translucent glass shade roofs create a light, almost membrane-like upper layer, while exposed rear-deck bulwarks are imagined in high-tech white-pigmented carbon fibre. The result sits somewhere between marine anatomy and contemporary supercar monocoque construction — a lightweight structural shell where form, structure and surface become a single continuous expression.

Defining the vision.

These images intentionally represent a conceptual design study rather than an engineered vessel. Hull development, hydrostatics, propulsion, weight distribution, stability, structural engineering, classification and flag-state requirements would form part of subsequent development. The experiment instead asks a simple question: how far can an initial design idea be meaningfully developed before beginning that expensive detailed work? By combining traditional hand sketching with emerging generative tools, an aspirational design direction can be established rapidly — creating a stronger visual brief from which naval architects, engineers and specialist designers can begin the next phase of development.