In the latest instalment of The Superyacht Group’s Digital Dialogues, Will Mathieson is joined by Justin Olesinski, managing director at Olesinski, to evaluate design in the context of a superyacht’s entire lifecycle.

Delivering a complete package of exterior styling, layout design, hull design, structural solutions and artificial intelligence (AI), the Olesinski design studio is at the forefront of innovation. A longtime champion of utilising AI in the design process, Olesinski has heavily invested in the technology for the last three years, and reveals how transformative this has been for the company; “Before, we could go through all the different scenarios and the restrictions and [use AI] to come up with the best shape of hull,” he explains.

“Now, we’re integrating concept structures and concept layouts and using that on live projects. This is our third project that we're using AI in parallel to the traditional way of developing a GA, for example. But what we're finding is it's giving us more time to design something that will work. Previously, when we were doing a layout design, for example, we tried lots of different options, and 90 per cent of them, even with our experience, would end up at dead ends. Whereas now the AI realises which bits work and also tells us that, if we just change one thing, we can get much more optimisation.”

“We should be able to have a hull that works, a structure that works and a layout that will fit that and meet the customer requirements in a day...”

Olesinski goes on to explain how the use of AI has shortened this design process from six weeks to about two days. However, the team is aiming to get this down to just one day by the end of 2021. “We should be able to have a hull that works, a structure that works and a layout that will fit that and meet the customer requirements in a day,” he adds. The company can then use these time savings for the designers to spend more time styling and trying out different designs, as well as cutting down the design's time to market.

Discussion then turns to the futurist superyacht concepts that sometimes get covered in mainstream media, with Mathieson asking whether they serve or damage the credibility of the industry. “I love those concepts,” responds Olesinski. “If we didn't have them, I think the industry would be a pretty boring place… When you see these wacky ideas, they might not end up in your design, but it has still gone into the grey matter and it is inspiring. And you need that inspiration to keep the industry moving forward.”

Elsewhere in the Digital Dialogue, Olesinski and Mathieson discuss form over function, the growing pressure on the industry to use alternative fuels and the outlook for the future. To watch the full interview, click here.

The One to One series is a collective campaign for change and industry improvement, and we welcome participants from all sectors. If you would like to take part or contribute your thoughts, please contact Eleanor Shepherd.  

You can view the ever-growing archive of Digital Dialogues here. 

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Olesinski Limited

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