Sanlorenzo, a pioneering shipyard in the responsible development of the yachting sector, returns to the FuoriSalone in Milan with a project that narrates the future of the propulsion of the yachts.
At Design Week 2023, as part of the INTERNI DESIGN RE-EVOLUTION exhibition-event at the University of Milan, Sanlorenzo presents LA MACCHINA IMPOSSIBILE, an installation by Piero Lissoni that interprets the shipyard’s pursuit of technologically innovative solutions to reduce the yachting environmental impact.
Art and technology
La Macchina Impossibile is an imposing metal sculpture: a complex machine that is highly technological but defined in detail by skilful manual work, just like a yacht.
Positioned in the centre of the 18th-century Courtyard, the entire structure rests on a backlit platform that enhances its mechanism made of propellers and serrated wheels. These move thanks to new hydrogen system that Sanlorenzo is developing for the propulsion of its boats in collaboration with Siemens Energy, based on the use of combined green methanol reformer/fuel cell modules.
This technology will power the hotellerie functions on yachts between 24 and 73 metres in length, from 2024 on the new 50Steel. This project will represent the first concrete step towards the generation of carbon-neutral power from new-generation fuels for the entire sector.
The installation is immersed in a light steam that reproduces the effect of the turbine driven by the fuel cell system.
In the context of the ensemble exhibition Design Re-Evolution, the theme of which investigates Evolutionary Thinking as a tool for designing known and unknown, physical and digital, contemporary and futuristic territories, Sanlorenzo inserts itself with a project that looks to the future and expresses a positive interaction between human beings and the environment.
