Arrakis Class

Design by: Loris Joele Caruso (Interiors), Lodovico Dallago (Exteriors)

School: I.A.A.D. (Istituto di Arte Applicata e Design), Turin

Two Worlds, One Vision

The Arrakis Class is a 42-meter crossover yacht concept that merges the language of contemporary nautical design with cinematic imagination. Created by Loris Joele Caruso and Lodovico Dallago at I.A.A.D. Turin, the project explores the intersection of science fiction, architecture, and emotional storytelling through design.

The concept draws from two powerful cultural references: Dune and Star Wars. Both narratives explore duality, power and restraint, technology and nature, light and darkness. These themes shape every aspect of the yacht’s design, from its exterior form to its interior atmosphere.

The Exterior: Brutalism and Control

The exterior design takes inspiration from Star Wars’ Imperial architecture and the visual strength of Brutalism. The hull is characterized by sharp geometry, stretched lines, and dark surfaces that convey authority and precision. Dynamic openings and movable elements alter the yacht’s silhouette in real time, revealing new forms and functions such as terraces and integrated solar panels.

Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader serves as a symbolic foundation for this visual direction. The yacht’s angular surfaces and segmented structure echo the idea of internal conflict, beauty and darkness coexisting within the same form.

The Interior: Desert Light and Spiritual Balance

Inside, the design shifts in tone and emotion. Inspired by Dune and the evolution of Paul Atreides into Muad’Dib, the interior expresses introspection, transformation, and spiritual depth. The spaces are defined by warm desert tones, natural materials, and architectural gestures reminiscent of Arrakis landscapes.

Travertine, light woods, glossy lacquers, and lapis-lazuli accents create a balance between earthly warmth and futuristic precision. Furniture forms are low, organic, and sculptural, influenced by Fremen rituals and Brutalist geometry.

The interior layout follows a fluid but hierarchical flow, blending private retreats with open social areas. Every surface and junction communicates the central tension between elegance and robustness, artifice and authenticity.

Designed for a Character, Not a Market

The Arrakis Class was designed for a fictional client named Charlotte-Lee, a 35-year-old French-Korean film producer from Seoul. Her life, shaped by art, technology, and storytelling, guided the vessel’s concept. The yacht becomes her “floating narrative,” a personal stage for reflection and freedom rather than display.

For Charlotte-Lee, the sea represents escape and self-expression. The yacht mirrors this psychology through its adaptable spaces and its ability to transform both physically and symbolically during each voyage.

Technology and Purpose

Beyond narrative, the Arrakis Class is designed as a semi-displacement high-performance vessel capable of long-range cruising. Intelligent energy systems, adaptive surfaces, and efficient hull geometry combine functionality with visual intent. Movable appendages inspired by cinematic spacecraft architecture enable configuration shifts for different modes such as travel, leisure, or solitude.

The proposed itinerary takes the vessel from Keelung (Taipei) to destinations across Jeju, Yakushima, Okinawa, the Kerama Islands, and Raja Ampat, a three-week journey that connects culture, solitude, and landscape.

A Vessel as Manifesto

For Caruso and Dallago, the Arrakis Class is not a yacht in the traditional sense but a manifesto of design as storytelling. It rejects the idea of luxury as ornamentation and instead positions it as meaning, a synthesis of character, philosophy, and craft.

Arrakis Class brings together two worlds that rarely meet: the cinematic imagination and the discipline of naval architecture. The result is a vessel that feels both futuristic and emotional, rational and poetic, a reflection of how design can embody identity, narrative, and the human need for balance.