EP1773651B1

EP1773651B1 - Passenger ship with improved atrium

Info

Publication number: EP1773651B1
Application number: EP04760191A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Gianfranco Bertaglia
Original assignee: Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani SpA
Current assignee: Fincantieri SpA
Priority date: 2004-08-02
Filing date: 2004-08-02
Publication date: 2007-11-14
Anticipated expiration: 2024-08-02
Also published as: EP1773651A2; ATE378247T1; WO2004096633A2; DE602004010191D1; DE602004010191T2; WO2004096633A3

Abstract

Passenger ship with a spacious atrium as a meeting and gathering place, which extends over at least three decks (P1, P2, P3) and via which there is access to a plurality of premises (L), in particular for communal use. The atrium extends through at least three decks and has at least one first area (A1) provided on a first lower deck (P1), at least one second area (A2) provided on a second middle deck (P2) and connected to the first area (A1) by means of a first ramp (R1), and at least one third area provided on a third upper deck (P3) and connected to said second area (A2) by means of a second ramp (R2).< >

Description

The present invention relates to a passenger ship with an improved atrium.
More particularly, the ship in question is a large-size ship intended to be used advantageously for cruises and for this purpose is equipped with hundreds of passenger cabins and numerous rooms and spaces for communal use, such as shops, bars, restaurants, swimming pools, gyms, discotheques and the like.
In cruiser ships of the aforementioned type for some time there has existed the need to create a main area with an entrance hallway which acts as a reference point and a meeting place for passengers and which at the same time provides a sense of spaciousness, allowing passengers to gaze freely in the distance and thus giving the impression of being in front of a wide open area.
The architectural principles on which modern cruiser ships are currently designed, on the one hand, must take into account traditional technical and structural requirements of the ship, such as for example the division of the volume of the ship into parallel levels (decks) and the presence of fire-breaker doors aimed at creating every 40 to 50 metres vertical subdivisions in the form of fire-tight sections bounded by steel partitions, and, on the other hand, must nowadays necessarily emphasize the idea of space, especially as regards the space within a main atrium, and its relationship with the interior and exterior of the ship.
This new type of cruiser ship has rationalized the use of space and volumes with the aid of architecturally inspired innovations.
At present, the designers of ships of the known type have attempted to meet this need by means of several different solutions which, however, have proved to be not entirely suitable for optimizing the spaces within the ship in connection with the design of a large-size atrium and generally have been unable to produce an atrium which is capable of providing a satisfactory sense of perspective.
In more detail, known designs of atriums for cruiser ships have either made use of a single deck, with the drawback that passengers do not have a sufficient sense of space heightwise, or have achieved a heightwise extension by using several decks (as for example in the designs of famous cruisers such as the Celebrity Century or the Costa Fortuna - the latter having an atrium which extends heightwise through 9 decks), with the drawback of a considerable amount of wasted space which remains unused.
In this situation the problem forming the basis of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the art known hitherto by providing a passenger ship with an improved atrium which is capable of producing a perspective effect which is far-reaching or characterized by open spaces of notable extension, optimizing at the same time the spaces used for communal premises.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a ship, the atrium of which is able satisfy without problems the structural and technical design requirements of the ships without negatively affecting the cost of construction thereof.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a ship, the atrium of which is functionally entirely reliable and can be easily used by passengers.
These objects, together with others, are all achieved by a passenger ship with an atrium for communal use, which comprises a plurality of decks arranged on several levels with a substantially horizontal extension, a plurality of sectors separated by fire-breaker doors with a substantially vertical extension, and an atrium which extends over several decks and via which there is access to a plurality of premises, in particular for communal use.
According to the invention, the abovementioned ship is characterized in that the atrium extends through at least three decks and has at least one first area provided on a first lower deck, at least one second area provided on a second middle deck and connected to the first area by means of a first ramp, and at least one third area provided on a third upper deck and connected to the second area by means of a second ramp.
The technical features of the invention, in accordance with the abovementioned objects, may be determined from the contents of the claims provided below and the advantages thereof will emerge more clearly from the detailed description which follows, with reference to the accompanying drawings which show a purely exemplary and non-limiting embodiment and where:

Figure 1 shows a plan view of a first deck level of the ship with, highlighted, a first area of the atrium according to the present invention;
Figure 2 shows a plan view of a second deck level of the ship with, highlighted, a second area of the atrium according to the present invention;
Figure 3 shows a plan view of a third deck level of the ship with, highlighted, a third area of the atrium according to the present invention;
Figure 4 shows a schematic sectioned side view of the ship, corresponding to the atrium according to the present invention;
Figures 5 to 14 show different perspective views of the atrium according to the present invention.

In accordance with the figures of the accompanying drawing, 1 denotes in its entirety the ship with an improved atrium according to the present invention.
In the remainder of the present description reference will be made to a large-size ship, this expression being understood as meaning a ship which is equipped with several hundreds of passenger cabins and a plurality of recreation areas and rooms for communal use, so as to allow passengers to perform cruises or ordinary sea and ocean crossings in a particularly comfortable manner.
Traditionally the ship is composed of a hull and an over-structure and a plurality of technical apparatus such as electrical installations, water installations, ducts for air conditioning, lifts, etc., these elements which are not the subject of specific claims being assumed to be known in the relevant sector and for this reason not being described here in detail.
The ship is moreover always divided into a considerable number of decks (including more than 10 in number) arranged on several parallel levels extending substantially horizontally and into a large number of sectors (depending on the tonnage of the ship) separated by fire-breaker doors extending substantially vertically.
The invention is characterized by the particular design of the atrium or the central hall within the ship which acts as a gathering and meeting place for passengers.
The atrium 1 of the ship according to the present invention, which is denoted generically by 2 in the accompanying figures, extends over several decks and allows access by the passengers to a plurality of rooms, in particular for communal use.
In more detail, in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the atrium 2 extends through three decks and has at least one first area A1 provided on a first lower deck P1, at least one second area A2 provided on a second middle deck P2 and connected to the first area A1 by means of a first ramp R1, and a third area A3 provided on a third upper deck P3 and connected to the second area A2 by means of a second ramp R2.
The first ramp R1 has, situated above it, a first opening F1 formed between the two decks P1 and P2 and defines a substantially rectangular section with rounded corners and with a lobe-shaped front area 3 which extends the ramp R1 towards the first area A1.
This first ramp R1 is surrounded, as can be seen in Figure 1, on both sides as well as at the rear by a first passageway D1 arranged on the lower deck P1 and by a second passageway D2 arranged on the second deck P2 above the first passageway D1.
The second ramp R2 has, situated above it, a second opening F2 formed between the two decks P2 and P3 and has a shape similar to that of the first ramp R1, but without the front lobe-shaped area, and is similarly surrounded on both its sides as well as at the rear by a third passageway D3 arranged on the second deck P2 and by a fourth passageway D4 arranged on the third deck P3.
Several rooms, in particular for communal use, each indicated by L in the accompanying drawings, open out onto all the passageways D1, D2, D3 and D4.
Advantageously, rooms L', which are formed underneath said first ramp R1, also open out onto the first passageway D1. Obviously, these rooms L' will be situated preferably only underneath the end part of the ramp R1 where the height reaches values compatible with access by the passengers. The remaining areas underneath the ramp R1 may be conveniently occupied by service rooms and by stores.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the first area A' is provided with a main hall A0 and a stairway M composed preferably of three steps by means of which the passengers are able to reach a raised area A1' from where it is possible to access the upper decks P2 and P3 of the atrium 2 via the two ramps R1 and R2 (indicated by dark shading in the accompanying figures) or by means of lifts 4 and 5 arranged on the sides of the raised area A1'.
The three areas A1, A2 and A3 over which atrium 2 extends, passing through three respective decks P1, P2 and P3, are substantially contained in three sectors respectively indicated by S1, S2 and S3, namely in three spaces which if necessary may be sealed off from each other in order prevent the propagation and spread of fires inside the ship 1.
In more detail, the area A1 occupies a first sector S1 and a second sector S2 and is represented by light shading in Figure 1, the area A2 occupies the sectors S1, S2 and a third sector S3 and is represented by light shading in Figure 2, while the area A3 occupies mainly the single sector S3 and is represented by light shading in Figure 3.
These sectors, as is known, can be separated from each other by means of fire-breaker doors able to moved between a closed position, where they prevent the propagation of fires by sealing off the sectors from each other, and an open position where they allow the passengers to move freely on the decks passing through the various sectors into which the ship is divided.
The construction of the fire-breaker doors is simplified also in the area of the atrium 1 in accordance with the design of the ship 1 forming the subject of the present invention, since the fire-breaker door sections T which divided the atrium 2 into the three sectors S1, S2 and S3 extend only over the height of a respective deck.
Obviously, slight variations in the distribution of the spaces and the volumes may be envisaged, all of these remaining within the same inventive idea protected by the present patent.
Advantageously, a third opening F3 surrounded by a balcony B may be formed on the second deck P2 above the main hall A0, as can be seen in Figures 1 and 2.
In particular, the division between the first sector S1 and the second sector S2 may be performed in the abovementioned raised area A1' by means two fire-breaker doors 8 and 9 arranged laterally with respect to the raised area A1' and directed towards the sides of the ship 1.
In accordance with the example shown in Figure 2, the second ramp R2 starts at the section T dividing the two sectors S2 and S3, said section being in turn defined by two fire- breaker doors 10, 11 directed towards the sides of the ship. The spatial configuration of the areas described hitherto is characterized in particular by the fact that a passenger who is standing in the first area of the atrium, and more easily and preferably in the portion adjacent to the stairs or on the raised area A1', is able to see the volume defined by the third area A3 situated beyond the second ramp R2 on the upper deck P3.
This arrangement provides the atrium 2 with a sense of spaciousness and creates a long-range perspective effect able to produce the sensation of large open areas which, in a closed and restricted environment such as that of a ship, are particularly appreciated.
The abovementioned characteristic effect may be understood in particular from Figure 4, if one traces an imaginary line between the raised area A1' and the area A3 at the top of the second ramp R2, or even more clearly from the perspective views shown in Figures 6 to 10.
Advantageously, the first and the second ramp R1 and R2 have an average inclination which is between 7% and 13% and preferably equal to 8.5% in the case of the first ramp R1 and 11% in the case of the second ramp R2.
Figures 5 to 9 illustrate an imaginary tour inside the atrium 2 according to the present invention, starting from the main hall A0 of the first deck P1 (Figure 5), continuing up the stairs M as far as the raised portion A1' (Figures 6 and 7), then going up to the second deck P2 along the first ramp R1 (Figure 8) and then walking up to the third deck P3 along the second ramp R2 (Figure 9).
Figure 11 shows a view of the main hall A0 from the area A1 with the first ramp R1 at the rear, while Figure 12 shows the passageway D1 arranged along the side of the first ramp R1.
Figures 13 and 14 show two perspective views from the second deck P2, the first view in Figure 13 being from the corridor D2 around the opening F1 and the second view being from the balcony B around the opening F3.
The passenger ship 1 described above has the advantage of creating a wide open space, i.e. the atrium 2, which can be used as a place for passengers to gather and meet, while at the same time it allows optimized use of the spaces involved in the design of the atrium which, as is known, for obvious space-related reasons must be employed in the most efficient manner within a ship.
The invention thus conceived therefore achieves the predefined objects.
Obviously it may also assume, during its practical realization, forms and configurations which are different from that illustrated above without thereby departing from the present scope of protection. Moreover all the details may be replaced by technically equivalent elements and the forms, dimensions and materials used may be of any nature as required.

Claims

Passenger ship with an improved atrium (1), which comprises a plurality of decks (P1, P2, P3) arranged on several levels with a substantially horizontal extension, a plurality of sectors (S1, S2, S3) separated by fire-breaker doors (8, 9) with a substantially vertical extension, and a volume (2) which extends over several decks and via which there is access to a plurality of premises, in particular for communal use, characterized in that said atrium (1) extends through at least three decks (P1, P2, P3) and has at least one first area (A1) provided on a first lower deck (P1) at least one second area (A2) provided on a second middle deck (P2) and connected to said first area (A1) by means of a first ramp (R1), and at least one third area (A3) provided on a third upper deck (P3) and connected to said second area by means of a second ramp (R2).
Passenger ship according to Claim 1, characterized in that from at least one portion of said first area it is possible to view a portion of said third area situated beyond said second ramp through a first opening formed between said first and second decks and through a second opening formed between said second and third decks.
Passenger ship according to Claim 1, characterized in that the section occupied by said first ramp is flanked on at least one side by a first passageway arranged on said first deck and by a second passageway arranged on said second deck.
Passenger ship according to Claim 1, characterized in that the section occupied by said second ramp is surrounded along at least one side by a third passageway arranged on said second deck and by a fourth passageway arranged on said third deck.
Passenger ship according to Claim 3, characterized in that a plurality of rooms, in particular for communal use, open out onto said first passageway and/or onto said second passageway.
Passenger ship according to Claim 4, characterized in that a plurality of rooms, in particular for communal use, open out onto said third passageway and/or onto said fourth passageway.
Passenger ship according to Claim 3, characterized in that a plurality of rooms, in particular for communal use, situated underneath said first ramp, in particular in the end zone of the ramp which has a greater height, open out onto said first passageway.
Passenger ship according to Claim 1, characterized in that the section defined by said first ramp has a substantially rectangular area with rounded corners and with a front lobe-shaped area for access to the ramp.
Passenger ship according to Claim 1, characterized in that said first ramp has an average inclination which is between 7% and 13% and preferably equal to 8%.
Passenger ship according to Claim 1, characterized in that said second ramp has an average inclination which is between 7% and 13% and preferably equal to 11%.
Passenger ship according to Claim 1, characterized in that said first area is provided with a stairway composed of a number of steps ranging between 1 and 5 by means of which there is access to a raised area for accessing said first ramp.
Passenger ship according to Claim 11, characterized in that said raised area is divided into two separate sectors by two fire-breaker doors arranged laterally with respect to said raised area and directed towards the sides of the ship.
Passenger ship according to Claim 1, characterized in that said second ramp starts at the section dividing two separate sectors and formed by means of two fire-breaker doors directed towards the sides of the ship.
Passenger ship according to Claim 1, characterized in that said first area, said second area and said third area are substantially contained within three sectors.
Passenger ship according to Claim 14, characterized in that said first area extends substantially over a first and a second sector, said second area extends over a further third sector, and said third area extends substantially over said third sector.
Passenger ship according to Claim 1, characterized in that an opening surrounded by a balcony is provided on said second deck above said first area.