Press Release
Symbio Explorer Research Vessel by Guo Qian Receives the A' Design Award in Yacht and Marine Vessels Design
Guo Qian recognized for yacht and marine vessels design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 15, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the A' Design Award in the Yacht and Marine Vessels Design category for Symbio Explorer Research Vessel by Guo Qian, designed for Southern Marine Science And Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai). The recognition forms part of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the A' Design Award
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
More About Symbio Explorer Research Vessel
SymBio Explorer is an autonomous research vessel designed for polar scientific expeditions. The vessel acts as a mothership for aerial, surface and underwater drone systems, and can be operated remotely. Continuous organic curves run from bow to stern, giving the hull a biomorphic form without rigid corners. Working equipment such as A-frame hoists is visually absorbed into the hull to keep the outline unified. The port deck supports drone launch, while the starboard side is used for recovery. The vessel is 88.5 meters long and 14 meters wide, and uses fully electric propulsion.
Award Record
Guo Qian is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.
About the A' Yacht and Marine Vessels Design Award
The A' Yacht Design Award is an international yacht design competition recognizing good yacht designs by leading yacht designers and manufacturers worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to yacht designers, naval engineers, marine vessel producers and yacht manufacturers from all countries. Typical entries include sailboats, motor yachts, catamarans, trimarans, superyachts and explorer yachts. The awarded yacht designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/yacht
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/179705
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/179705
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!179705
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/377605
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.sml-zhuhai.cn/en-us/
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Symbio Explorer Research Vessel
- Function
- Research Vessel
- Category
- Yacht and Marine Vessels Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Automotive and Luxury
- Colors
- Midnight Blue, Black, Dark Slate Gray, Gray and Light Slate Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Southern Marine Science And Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai)
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Guo Qian
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #179705
Credits
- Image Credits
- Modeling and Rendering, Mothership, Zhou Rui, Li Tianyu; Modeling and Rendering, silhouette, Zhou Rui, Li Tianyu; Modeling and Rendering, iceberg, Zhou Rui, Li Tianyu; Modeling and Rendering, 45 degree, Zhou Rui, Li Tianyu; Modeling and Rendering, close up, Zhou Rui, Li Tianyu
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Conventional research vessels follow engineering logic with industrial forms. This design challenges the fixed opinion by conceiving mothership as an entirely new species, a futuristic artificial-marine organism", a mysterious intelligent entity. It is neither a cold exploration instruments nor a larger whale, but a new aesthetics object, which emphasize a new ethics of species interaction, ecological balance and sustainable coexistence. It can achieve polar scientific expedition. The Design enhance visual ruggedness and embody the spirit of exploration.
- Inspiration
- SymBio Explorer imagines the research vessel as a new species, proposes an "artificial-marine organism" between machine and living creature. The biomorphic silhouette externalizes its identity as an intelligent unmanned system mothership. Merging "Symbiosis" and "Biology," it embodies a new ecological ethics: the ocean is not a resource to exploit, but an entity coexisting with humanity.
- Research
- The form research by two steps, named "reverse engineering". Firstly, polyurethane foam and oil sludge are used as materials, and the model is manually made at a scale of 1:100. Then, the solid model is taken as the object, and key point sets are collected by laser, and then imported into the 3D software (Rhino 7.0 version) for parametric design modification.
- Challenge
- The overall spatial layout is the key to ship design. Engineers are mainly responsible for organizing functional relationships and improving the efficiency of equipment and pipeline layout and placement. Designers consider the skeletal proportions and overall appearance of the appearance, as well as the humanized content such as the behavior and experience, perception and comfort of scientists and crew members. The challenge of the project lies in the communication, collaboration, debate, and compromise between designers and engineers.
- Realization and Technology
- The design employs continuous organic curves throughout form and detail. From bow to stern, from bridge to drone deck, the fluidity of these curves achieves formal closure while integrating functional requirements into a unified biomorphic envelope. This approach eliminates fragmented lines and rigid orthogonal geometries typical of modernist industrial design. Through the comprehensive application of form, material, and color, operational equipment such as A-frame hoists are visually absorbed into the hull, reducing their perceptual prominence and reinforcing the continuity of the overall silhouette.
- Operation and Interaction
- The SymBio Explorer is an autonomous, remotely-operable research vessel serving as a coordinated mothership for aerial, surface, and underwater drone systems. Certified with i-ship (No, R1, M, I) intelligent notation, it achieves autonomous navigation in open waters, assisted berthing, remote monitoring, equipment diagnostics, and predictive analysis. The port deck serves as UAV launch platform while starboard accommodates recovery; stern-mounted systems deploy surface craft and submersibles.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in June 2024 in Guangzhou and finished in May 2025 in Beijing.
- Specifications
- Designed Displacement 2100 tons; Length 88.5 meters; Width 14.0 meters; Depth 6.1 meters; Maximum speed 18 knots; Economic speed 13 knots; Fully Electric Propulsion ；Autonomous Navigation and Remote Control;
- Keywords
- i-ship , Symbiosis, Biology, artificial-marine organism, Intelligence
