Queen Anne by Cunard

Cunard is far more than the name of the world’s most prestigious shipping line. It’s a word that evokes the Golden Age of Travel, laced with all the romance and heritage of a lineage that began in the 1840s, thrived throughout the Art Deco era, and came to symbolise the elegance of 20th-century transatlantic crossings – when it counted Winston Churchill, Audrey Hepburn and Frank Sinatra among its devotees. So much of the iconography of ocean liners was created by Cunard, from the scarlet funnels to its legendary Queen series.

When Cunard set out to design Queen Anne, its first new ocean liner of the 21st century, it was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine luxury hospitality at sea, and the project brought together some of the most prestigious names in design.

Design director Lewis Taylor led the project for David Collins Studio. “We had designed superyachts, but we hadn’t designed a cruise ship before,” he says. “We were brought on board to challenge what had become the norms of liner design while bringing our wealth of luxury hospitality experience.”

The Studio would play a pivotal role, responsible for most of the ship’s iconic spaces, from the Grand Atrium and the signature Britannia Restaurant to the outdoor Pavilion and many other restaurants and suites – 18 areas in all. “The brief,” says Taylor, “was to create interiors that blended luxury, elegance and modernity while paying homage to Cunard’s rich maritime heritage.”

To achieve this, the Studio began with an immersive visit to the Cunard Archive at the University of Liverpool. “It informed our design in so many ways,” says Taylor. “We wanted all the design codes we put into this new ship to have their DNA in the references we found in the archive. It was an incredible design resource.”

The Studio’s approach was not to recreate the past but to reinterpret it. “Cunard is closely associated with the Art Deco era, but we didn’t want to create an Art Deco-themed ship,” Taylor notes. “Our goal was to evoke a sense of nostalgia while reinterpreting these themes in a contemporary context.”

The Grand Atrium is a prime example. The striking, triple-height lobby is the undisputed heart of the ship – the place where all guests want to be photographed – and its sweeping staircase, polished walnut handrails and inlaid marble floor evoke Cunard’s Golden-Age heritage while being firmly rooted in the grammar and materiality of ultra-contemporary luxury design.

The atrium is anchored by a landmark kinetic artwork in brass by Canadian artist Ian Kirkpatrick, spanning all three floors and depicting the different stages of a Cunard journey. “The mural is an example of how we and Double Decker, the ship’s art consultancy studio, were integrated,” Taylor explains. “You can’t just design a space and layer the artwork in afterwards. It has to be a team effort.” This collaboration extended throughout the David Collins Studio Queen Anne spaces. “It’s a holistic approach,” says Taylor. “We were continually thinking about the art – alongside the accessories and the lighting – as we developed our concepts.”

The Pavilion is another Queen Anne landmark designed by the Studio. A versatile area with a retractable glass roof, it transitions from a daytime outdoor beach bar into a cinema under the stars at night. The Pavilion’s colour palette of navy blues, sun-bleached yellows and coral pinks was directly inspired by vintage Cunard menu cards from the 1920s and 1930s, discovered by the Studio at the Cunard Archives – as were the architectural details from old plans that informed the Pavilion’s scalloped balconies.

One of the most ambitious spaces on board is the Britannia Restaurant, Queen Anne’s signature dining room. “We’re used to creating restaurants with around 100 covers,” says Taylor. “The Britannia is 1,200 covers. The challenge is how to create intimacy. How do you make every single seat feel special? We wanted guests to feel enveloped in the space, not overwhelmed by it.”

The solution lay in subtle design and careful zoning. While the soaring scale of the space delivers an unforgettable wow factor, elegant columns and etched glass screens create privacy, intimacy and a focus on one’s dining companions while maintaining a sense of connection with the wider room. The Britannia offers its details gradually – from its subtly evolving palette that reflects the changing seasons to the seminal glass murals (another Double Decker collaboration) that pay homage to the Wind Gods. Such layering rewards exploration over multiple return visits – a vital aspect of cruise ship design, where guests may spend many weeks on board.

Where the Britannia has grandeur, the ship’s Princess Grill restaurant offers a more exclusive, sequestered feel. Here, David Collins Studio took its inspiration from a flower native to Nova Scotia – the birthplace of Cunard’s founder, Sir Samuel Cunard. Subtle pinks and lavenders blend with silk wall panels embroidered with botanic motifs; it’s an aesthetically elevated, whimsical space.

Throughout the process, designing for a ship brought its own set of challenges. From stringent maritime safety standards to the constant vibration of the vessel, every detail had to be meticulously planned. “You can’t just screw in a light fitting,” Taylor says. “Everything has to be mechanically fixed to withstand the movement of the ship.”
Despite these challenges, the project was a milestone for the Studio. “We poured everything into it,” Taylor reflects. “From the naval brocade motif in the Commodore Club to the marble floors and custom-designed furniture in the Queen’s Grill suites, every detail was considered.”

Taylor also pays tribute to the extraordinary level of creative collaboration on the project – from creative director Adam Tihany to their fellow design studios Sybille de Margerie and Richmond International, with whom they shared ideas and materials to ensure a cohesive aesthetic across the ship. “It was unusual to work so closely with competitors,” says Taylor. “But it was also incredibly rewarding. We were all working towards the same goal: to create something extraordinary for Cunard.”

The result is a ship that feels both timeless and contemporary, an honour to Cunard’s heritage and a bold statement of its future. In elevating the critical role of design on the ship, Cunard has recognised and embraced the transformed aesthetic and experiential discernment of modern hospitality customers. For David Collins Studio, Queen Anne represents not just a major advancement in maritime design but a testament to the power of collaboration, creativity, and a relentless focus on the guest experience.

“This project was about more than just designing beautiful spaces,” says Taylor. “It was about creating a sense of wonder, of discovery, of being part of something truly special. And I think we’ve achieved that.”