Page 31: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2005)

August 2005 31 because all cars were deemed high qual- ity products, so the route to success became clear - do something different.

The new mantra had arrived.

Of course, doing something different is a bit like predicting the future: there is no such thing. In fact, there are lots of things, lots of possible futures and lots of ways to be different. One response to this issue has been Michael Krafft's

Star Clippers. The website reads, "In 1902, the largest, fastest sailing ship the world had ever seen was launched. The legendary Preussen dominated the seas, only to be gone in a few short years.

Neither before nor since had the world seen such a magnificent sailing ship, until today…" He was referring, of course, to the Royal Clipper, a five- masted beauty flaunting a massive 54,360 sq.ft of sail area. At 197 ft in length she is an impressive ship and delivers to an ever more experience- hungry passenger a taste of authentic sailing even if "in the event of unsatis- factory weather or wind conditions, Star

Clippers reserves the right to proceed under motor power in order to meet itin- erary requirements," — the best of both worlds?

Even we at SPACE have moved in on the act with Destination Brisbane. The concept is not just an architectural state- ment, more a demonstration of the power of an icon. In this case, an icon for the city of Brisbane and a beacon for inward investment in the state of

Queensland. Our belief in the brand route to cruise product development rather than the ship route has been vin- dicated by the awesome global response to the publication of the concept visuals.

More than 50 magazines featured the story and spread it round the world from the UK to Northern Europe, then on to

North America. There it was picked up by CNN and the Discovery Channel, which featured the animation we had created on its 'Cities at Sea' series. The designers of future ships take note: to achieve success you have to be differ- ent, as the general public seeks to buy into brands delivering powerful leisure experiences and enduring memories.

Reflecting back from this future time, it is interesting to note just how slow the development of technology in shipping has been. Rudolf Diesel invented his famous engine in the 1890s, but even by the 1960's, it had not reached a point in its development at which it could usurp the steam turbine in terms of sufficient power output to reliably drive an ocean going vessel. As with all modes of transport, the last 65 years have seen many technological improvements. I say improvements, because nearly all of today's technology was originally invented in the 19th century, significant- ly: welded hulls replacing the old hot- riveted structures; steam technology overtaken by gas turbine, diesel and diesel electric power plants; air-condi- tioning; Azipod propulsion; stabilizers and so on.

Our chosen time frame for this article began in 1939, the year which marked the end of somewhat frivolous and dec- orative Art Deco period and the begin- ning of war-time deprivation and utility design. It is no surprise, therefore, to discover how much of so-called 'con- temporary' cruise ship design is influ- enced by or derived from the Art Deco style of the 1930s, the period considered to be the 'Golden Age' of ocean liner travel. This decorative style, when it first appeared, was applied to the interi- ors of the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and Normandie. Art Deco, another

European export to America, is not to be confused with the modern movement of the same period that is still with us as a living force. The modern movement was considered too uncompromising an approach as a provider of a viable aes- thetic for luxury ships, although a some- what watered down version found its way into the QEII and Canberra.

One significant development in recent years has been the diversification of cruise products. The number of distinct- ly different products that have appeared beneath the catch-all term, 'cruising',

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