The Navire Avenir is a rescue vessel developed for the non-profit organization SOS Méditerranée, and the first of a European fleet. Numerous designers are involved in the project, including about fifty research groups and art, design and architecture schools from Europe and South America. VPLP Design has been commissioned to design the vessel in collaboration with Marc Ferrand.
“Considering the current migrations and those to come, it’s crazy that mankind hasn’t yet developed suitable tools for what the members of SOS Méditerranée call ‘mass rescue’,” says Sébastien Thiéry, the driving force behind the Navire Avenir and action coordinator at the non-profit organization PEROU.
The 69-metre ship will be operating in the international waters off Libya where migrants try every day to cross the Mediterranean Sea on makeshift boats. Thanks to two ramps situated in the sterns of each hull, SOS Méditerranée rescue teams will be able to deploy two 10-metre rigid-inflatable rescue boats rapidly, even in rough weather.
Once aboard, survivors who are in a critical condition will be able to receive treatment in a veritable sea-going casualty department. Particular attention is paid to caring for women, including the possibility of accessing gynaecological consultations and psychological therapies. Total capacity is approximately 370 casualties and includes a superstructure called “the refuge” which has sanitation facilities and a large sleeping area that can be configured using movable partition walls.
