La Macchina Impossibile

Andrea Martiradonna

Sanlorenzo's 'La Macchina Impossibile' at the INTERNI Design Re-Evolution exhibition-event

• Architects

The revolution of the yachting industry is hydrogen: the future takes shape inthe installation in the 18th century Courtyard.

Sanlorenzo, a pioneering shipyard in the responsible development of the yachting sector, returns to the Fuori Salone in Milan with a project that narrates, in a sophisticated and subtle way, the future of the propulsion of the yachts.

photo_credit Andrea Martiradonna — Andrea Martiradonna

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 relentless pursuit of technologically innovative solutions to reduce the yachting environmental impact.

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 platform that enhances its mechanism made of propellers and serrated wheels. These move thanks to new hydrogen from green methanol system that Sanlorenzo is developing for the propulsion of its boats in collaboration with Siemens Energy, based on the use of combined reformer/fuel cell modules.This technology will power the on-board serviceson yachts between 24 and 73 metres in length, from 2024 on the new 50Steel.This cutting-edge project will represent the first concretestep towards the generation of carbon-neutral power from new-generation fuels for the entire sector, making Sanlorenzo an absolute forerunner on the road to sustainable yachting.

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 new, positive interaction between human beings and the environment.