To design Thor Explore, Gresham turned the entire process on its head, and started from the inside, working their way towards the exterior. This means that they had an idea for how the interior was meant to look and worked from there on, shaping everything else so that it fit.
The result is a striking one: a 100-meter (328-foot) superyacht with double-height nautilus windows and a two-level deck with floating glass for a divider, and a tender garage worthy of the explorer classification. And that’s just the cherry on the cake, as the saying goes.
“Thor Explore […] breaks from the norm by beginning the design process from the interior and working outwards,” Gresham says. “The internal spaces directly inform the exterior styling, which encompasses large nautilus windows. Organic shapes feature throughout the vessel and complement the prominent double-height windows in the grand saloon on the main deck.”
The upper deck can serve a double purpose, that of an operation room for the owner and a lounge area for guests. To the latter purpose, there’s a sunken seating area complete with table and lounge bed, as well as a generous table with seating for larger dinner parties and a bar, and a skylight . The floor is the highlight of this area, as it’s made of giant see-through areas made of glass, interspersed with visible support beans. Lighting added to each piece of glass frames it and adds a softer, more personal touch.
For those situations when guests would require a bit more privacy or, one would assume, for guests with a fear of heights, there’s always the possibility of turning the glass in the floor opaque at the touch of a button.
The lower deck is accessible via a circular corridor fitted with floor-to-ceiling aquariums. It contains a massive beach club, situated above the waterline so as to offer the most enticing views of the environment. There are fold-down balconies and plenty of space to do whatever guests on superyachts usually do.
Also here, accessible through a bi-folding glass door, is the tender garage. Thor Explorer is meant to be an ice-class hulled vessel, so it packs all equipment needed on such far-away missions. The tender garage, for one, Gresham says, is unlike any other on a superyacht and is able to fit any type of gear, including a wide variety of watertoys.
These would include a 12.5-meter (41-foot) custom tender, a two-person submarine, a hydrofoil speedboat, kite and windsurfing equipment, diving gear (with full diving facilities and a decompression chamber), surfboards and jet skis – as well as cranes to get everything down to the water.
A fully-certified CAP 437 helideck is available, together with space for stowing the helicopter away, whether it’s an Augusta Grand or an EC135.
Accommodation would be possible for 36 guests overnight, with the master’s suite on the upper deck and including his and hers bathrooms, walk-in closet and an office. Superyacht standard fare. All the other suites and, presumably, crew quarters would be on the lower deck.
As impressive as this superyacht explorer is, if you’re feel like something’s missing, it’s probably the lack of any exterior renders. Gresham was obviously too focused on the interior, but they say Thor Explore would be worthy of the latter name.
“Behind the masculine exterior that includes an Ice Class hull, is a high volume superyacht equipped with all the technology and hardware you would expect of a true explorer,” Gresham says. Thor Explore would have a projected range of 7,000 nautical miles.
