Designing vessels and structures for the sea is an exciting and intricate profession. Almost every architect dreams of designing a magnificent boat or yacht that sails elegantly on the waves. It is the job of a contemporary architect to create distinctive, functional designs and layouts of marine vessels.
With luxury unrestrained and silhouettes to add the amaze, dozens of premium yachts get rolled out on the seas every year around the world. Similarly, there is always a growing need for a cargo ship in the logistics industry or a cruise in the tourism sector.
Getting Drawn towards Drawing a Boat
London is one of the key hubs of boat architecture. In the recent past, some of the top architects in Italy and London have delivered some of the unforgettable, trailblazing designs for yachts. India also docks some of the largest yachting, oil rigging, and cargo shipping companies in the world. Architecture universities in India have produced several iconic yacht designs in Asia, and the world in general.
The boating industry, particularly the yachting culture, is trending in several countries. The uptake for marine architecture is soaring with the high tides, and several architects are becoming inclined towards creating boats with unique shapes and structures.
To most clients and end-users, a yacht or a boat is like a part of the family. It builds beautiful memories and keeps the dryland world connected. Sailing these magnificent boats makes one feel like the captain of open seas. Similarly, for architects, the yachts they design give them some bragging rights and well-deserved admiration.
How to Become a Boat Architect
To come up with unique and jaw-dropping designs for boats and yachts, you need to qualify as a marine or naval architect. It is a naval or boat architect who is responsible to create the complete layout and design of marine structures such as docks, oil rigs, cruisers, and yachts.
A boat architect works at architecture firms, offices of companies in the marine industry, and even shipyards. With superb presentational and designing skills and the right set of tools, boat architects can convert any idea of boat design into a working marine architecture.
This requires an understanding of technical areas such as computer-aided design (CAD), the extensive use of scientific or analytical software, and fundamental knowledge of hydrodynamics and marine engineering.
Aspiring boat architects from the country have enrolled themselves into architectural colleges in Gurgaon, Mumbai, and Chennai to pursue a marine architecture. By choosing a bachelor’s degree in marine architecture, marine engineering, or even industrial design, several students have been qualified successfully as boat architects.
The courses teach the skills of considering functionality, structural integrity, and architectural stability. By understanding the concepts of the hydrodynamics of a boat or a ship, the architects are able to develop internal as well as external layouts.
To design boats, you need to be good in:
- structural design
- marine engineering
- hydrodynamics
- mathematics,
- physics, and
- chemistry
Entry-level marine architects need to obtain a license from the Naval institutions of the country to practice marine architecture. These candidates should aim at improving their experience by completing these training courses efficiently.
From small canoes to large ferries, and even shipping docks, boat architects are expected to design, supervise, and inspect the construction of all marine structures. This makes marine or boat architecture an all-embracing profession in the world of architecture.
