RPW refurbishes Russian spy ship to be cruise liner

RPW Architect and Designers is “de-spying” the redundant hull of a Russian spy ship to create the interiors of P&O subsidiary Swan Hellenic’s latest cruise liner, Okean.

The London group is designing the layout of the 200 cabins and public areas with emphasis on the library and central entertainment area which will also convert into a lecture theatre.

The interiors are being created with “tacit simplicity”, says RPW partner Patrick Reardon. “We are trying not to give it a design signature, as our attitude is that these passengers will want something less glitzy and glamorous and more gently traditional.”

The Russian ship is currently being lengthened and its profile amended in Genoa, Italy, to make it more graceful. Its first cruise is scheduled for spring 1996. This is RPW’s first maritime work. “It is like working in a very large tin bath,” Reardon says.

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