The French naval architect, graduated of the prestigious Southampton School of Yacht Design, joined Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design in 1996. Since then, Pierre Gainza has been involved in all kinds of projects, including some of the most prestigious, such as the Thira 80 and Power 80 for Fountaine Pajot.
It was while attending races such as the Multihulls Trophy in La Trinité sur Mer (West of France) that the young Pierre Gainza imagined becoming a naval architect, “a career with no future” according to his high school guidance counsellor! But Pierre knew what he wanted, and it was in Monaco, at The A Group, that he got his first taste of it, working on superyacht projects such as Stargate -80 m- for the Emir of Qatar. So, logically, when he arrived at Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design, his first project was the CNB 80, an aluminum catamaran. Since then,”I have worked a lot on Fountaine-Pajot catamarans, although I’ve been involved in many projects, Beneteau, Amel, Rhéa, Wauquiez, but also Allures or JFA, because I have experience of aluminum with superyachts”.
He has experienced all the changes in the profession and in the agency, from the old drawing board to the 3D software, Rhino and then Katia. Today, he describes himself as a “naval architect, 3D modeler and project manager”. Over the past thirty years, the team has grown considerably, “the work is much more shared, and we do a lot more things than we used to”. Alongside the designer in charge of exterior styling, his eye for the quality of the lines remains a benchmark. As project manager, he oversees the entire design process, from the first 2D lines to the launch. In the meantime, the team has worked on the exterior styling, the interior layout, the deck plan, then the hull, the weight estimate, the stability, and finally the 3D modelling. “For me, the evolution of the naval architecture profession is based on the quality and quantity of the work that is delivered to the client on a project. Hourly volumes have easily tripled. Everything is now subject to the scrutiny of standards, and we use digital calculations with fine element models to validate constraints in extremely precise places. This is as true for the structure as it is for the quality of the surfaces we deliver. Today, everything is machined in 3D to scale 1, and one of our strengths is the delivery of highly detailed 3D files without modifications after machining”. This is of course also true for artistic rendering, where virtual reality films have replaced simple computer-generated images.
The Thira 80 project for Fountaine Pajot, “in terms of boat size, prestige and image for the office, really pushed us to the top and we challenged the competition. We’ve been very creative”. The personality of the project is created by Olivier and Isabelle Racoupeau, who “give us the trends, their ideas, and filter what we suggest. The preliminary design then passes through the hands of people who have been in the office for quite some time and know Olivier’s taste in terms of exterior style and Isabelle’s in terms of interior design, which also creates unity. After that, when it comes to development, but everything that can be seen is defined very early on. The interior design of the Thira 80 is contemporary and refined. As for the exterior architecture of the yachts, we place a strong emphasis on aesthetics, with the aim of always improving, innovating and challenging ourselves”.