And a nice apartment or villa, too.
But despite it being an extremely unorthodox design, the floating turtle-shaped superyacht city known as Pangeos is very possible. It was dreamed up by the extremely unorthodox Lazzarini Design Studio, but the specs are all there. It can be done. The question is this - would you trade in your boat to become a member of a massive floating enterprise on the high seas? Second question - if you're determined to keep your dayboat, would you sell your home and move aboard a floating city?
Lazzarini calls the concept a "terayacht," which is fancy talk for an ultra-lux high-end floating metropolis. The name Pangeos is a play on the term Pangaea -- the supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic area which eventually broke apart to create the seven continents we recognize today.
Pangeos, albeit smaller than a continent but immensely larger than the Somnio -- the current record holder for 'World's Largest Yacht' -- would clock in at a mammoth 1800 feet long (548 m) and 2000 feet wide (609 m). The Somnio is a paltry 728 feet in length (221 m). Basically, the measly Somnio could serve as the tender to the Pangeos.
Within the super-turtle would be 30,000 individual units that could house up to 60,000 guests within several levels of apartments. Each 'flipper' of the turtle would also have space for 19 villas and 69 apartments. The rooftop 'shell' would house 72 individual terraces overlooking either the sea or the central hub in the core. The central hub would include multiple storefronts, restaurants, patios, and more. The plans also include include swimming pools, beach clubs, gardens, malls, and yacht clubs. Other details include helipads, hangars, and marinas to store everyone's expensive toys.
One of the most important (and still unanswered) questions is - how much would a slip cost?
In terms of propulsion, Pangeos would use 9 HTS electric motors generating 16,800 horsepower each to get her moving at a cruising speed of 5 knots. HTS stands for 'high temperature superconducting' and involves using a liquid nitrogen cooling system. Right on. It would also draw power from the waves themselves and a solar panel array on the outer 'shell.' In theory, Pangeos would be both self-sufficient and emissions free.
Given the size of Pangeos it's seems reasonable that her stop speed would only be 5 knots, but that raises some questions about her capabilities in bad weather since it simply couldn't outrun bad weather.
Should Pangeos come to fruition, it will require some epic engineering to put her together. Given the size she obviously won't fit in any existing shipyard, so it would have to be made in a custom facility that's presumably already on the water. Saudi Arabia has been pitched as the best possible location, which makes sense considering the uber-wealthy country already has plans to build a floating city known as Oxagon.
It would take an estimated 8 years and $8 billion to construct Pangeos, but thankfully Lazzarini has some clever fundraising strategies. Pangeos has also been launched in the Metaverse where you can use cryptocurrency to to purchase part of the virtual property. Your deposit will then serve as a proper reservation of the physical property once it's built.
