Studio DADO: a transformational approach

Studio DADO has been working on a wide range of projects – from its first river cruise boat to Seven Seas Grandeur, Norwegian Prima and the accommodation of Mardi Gras.

Indeed, the award-winning design studio worked throughout the pandemic on the accommodation and spa of Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras.

Studio DADO founding partner and chief executive Greg Walton tells Passenger Ship Technology, “We have had a great reaction from the guests and excellent feedback.”

Explaining the drivers behind Studio DADO’s design, he says, “Carnival Cruise Line was focusing on lifting the brand and changing the perception of what people think of its brand. They still wanted to keep in mind something very dear to them – they are the fun ship, that’s their mantra, but they are doing fun with a bit more sophistication and more attention to design.”

Carnival deployed London-based design firm DCA to create the initial design of the accommodation, and then asked Studio DADO to take over and evaluate the design. Mr Walton says, “We kept the features that were important for Carnival, and then took the design more in the direction of where the brand was going.”

He says this was Carnival Cruise Line’s first foray into interlocking staterooms, of which Studio DADO has previously designed.

Highlighting the major considerations, he says, “We are designing 2,000 staterooms, so all this adds to cost and weight, but we managed to home in on the design and drill down in minute detail regarding weight and cost to give a good overall design.”

Singling out an example, he says the large round light fixture over the bed has a weight implication. “We managed to work with all light points and retain the fixture which was one of the must-haves Carnival said they wanted. We worked with lighting manufacturers to reduce the weight.”

Another example is a round mirror on the wall that was interrupted by a pillar. Mr Walton explains, “We shifted it to allow the mirror to be standardised. At first there were multiple types of this mirror for the different stateroom types which was driving up costs. We figured out a way to keep the mirror the same throughout the different rooms.”

Mr Walton was especially pleased with the colour palette. “It is soothing and makes the stateroom feel even bigger and for the suites, we developed a new headboard design and colour palette that lifted the suites above staterooms because in the past, there would not be much difference between a suite and a stateroom apart from space.”

He sums up, “All of these things came together and introduced a whole new look and feel, these rooms are beautiful.”

Studio DADO has also been working on the upcoming Regent Seven Seas Grandeur cruise ship. The design studio worked on the two sister ships, Splendor and Explorer. “Grandeur is the last ship in that class, and we have transformed areas [on the two sister ships] into whole new spaces. We looked at all the food venues and came up with new designs for the spaces,” says Mr Walton.

He gives examples: the look and feel of the steak house will be entirely different, as will the Compass Rose dining room.

Moving on to the owner suite, Mr Walton says this also saw an entirely different approach to the previous ships. “It has the feel of a luxury penthouse New York apartment and is much more contemporary compared with in the past. Every piece of furniture is almost an art piece. The master bathroom has been completely changed into an enormous experience and we have added a small personal gym to the owners’ suite that has a treadmill in it, overlooking the sea.”