Italian designer Pierpaolo Lazzarini's proposal for a giant swimming turtle is currently keeping the internet in suspense. The project's image film has been clicked on almost a million times and prominent media such as "stern", "Welt" and "t-online" have reported on it. With its dimensions, the watercraft called "Pangeos" would literally put every yacht built to date in the shade - and not just yachts, but also the world's largest cruise ships.
Unlike conventional ocean liners, however, the plans do not envisage a home for short-term stays. On the contrary, the "terayacht" "Pangeos" resembles a floating city. It will include various hotels, shopping centres, parks, ship and airport terminals and all the other facilities needed to accommodate up to 60,000 guests in the middle of the sea. The extravagantly designed cruiser will also be completely emission-free. The plans for this innovative turtle sound almost a little too good.
"Terayacht": "Pangeos" is wider than it is long
The gigantic yacht stretches over a length of 550 metres and measures 610 metres at its widest point - the arms of the turtle. If realised, it would be the largest floating structure in the world with a draught of 30 metres. To propel this colossus, each of the nine electric motors would have an output of 16,800 hp. Nevertheless, the cruising speed would only be five knots. And even that seems questionable when you consider the design and its hydrodynamic properties.
According to the designer's plans, these do not conflict with the planned zero-emission design. The jet propulsion system is to be powered by various sustainable energy sources on board. In addition to the solar cells on the "shell" of the turtle, a very special type of energy generation is planned, which justifies the design with the wide booms. The aim is to generate energy from the breaking of the waves during the journey.
Virtual properties can already be purchased
But that's not all, the realisation depends on one factor in particular, in addition to physics - the financing. With an estimated construction time of eight years, the building will probably cost around eight billion dollars. For this reason, the currently still virtual rooms can be purchased as part of an NFT crowdfunding campaign.
What is an NFT?
A non-fungible token (NFT) can basically be defined as a non-exchangeable, unique cryptographic token. A token is a digital certificate stored in a secure and distributed database. An NFT is a digital title deed, so to speak, that states who the owner of a unique asset is, in this case a property on "Pangeos". Buyers can use their login details to collect specific content and access to the virtual properties. The same access data also serves as a deposit for the property in the event of real construction.
NFTs have been increasingly associated with fraud in the past. Attempts are often made to generate a lot of attention for a project in order to increase demand and suggest a high value and thus the possibility of a good investment. As soon as the entire collection was sold, the developers stopped working on the project, promises made were not honoured or the developers' accounts were deleted. These disappeared with the collected investments and investors were left with nothing but a worthless NFT.
Various offers can be found on the project's website under the menu item "Unreal Estate". From a simple ticket for 116 US dollars to houses and villas currently priced at over 1,000 US dollars. Payment is made either with the cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH) or via PayPal. According to the sales page, some properties have already been sold, but many of the 60,000 spaces are currently still available.
Why "Pangeos"?
The Terayacht proposal takes its name from the ancient continent of Pangea, which existed millions of years ago for around 175 million years. It is hoped that the mega-yacht will have a similar half-life, with the designers describing it as unsinkable. This is to be guaranteed by the 30,000 compartments into which the hull is divided.
Lazzarini has already attracted attention in the past with his polarising designs. The designer, who was born in 1982 and used to work in the automotive sector, has already been inspired by a swan, for example, when developing his extravagant maritime fantasies. This project has not yet been realised either.
Whether the latest design will be similar or whether the "Pangeos" will actually be built will depend on whether the designer succeeds in convincing a sufficient number of interested parties of the seriousness of this project.
