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The elegance comes from the fine woods, brass, glazing, detailing, and craftsmanship that the current generation of shipwrights cannot do.

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Actually I'm sure they can, but for budgetary reasons they're not allowed to do so.

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Originally posted by Tom Burke:
Actually I'm sure they can, but for budgetary reasons they're not allowed to do so.

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I agree Tom, elegance is in the eye of the beholder. A refined quality of good taste. This will be different for everyone. It can apply to small intimate rooms as much as large palacial banqueting halls at the nearest Stately Home. Then there is the clientele too. Empty rooms can give a different aura and impression than those full of life. The Queen's dining room at Windsor will no longer be elegant if it is filled with passengers to dine being somewhat worse for wear just back from a 24hr party/booze cruise, yet the local Social Club's Hall could be turned into something very elegant for a black tie evening... [well almost, but you get the idea].

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Less is More, and God is in the Details

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Charles and Ray Eamesis another designer whose process is as ground breaking as his products.

Tom, I believe beauty is subjective, but elegance comes careful and thoughtful planning. It can be a ship, room, or event as Pam points out.

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Originally posted by Tom Burke:

Actually I'm sure they can, but for budgetary reasons they're not allowed to do so.

What's the definition of elegance? Something along the lines of being simple yet especially effective; being tasteful, also. Elegance is therefore in the eye of the beholder, and as such is entirely subjective.

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[ 10-18-2007: Message edited by: desirod7 ]

To me, an example of a really elegant space would be the forward staircase on SAGA RUBY:

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Originally posted by PamM:
Also under SOLAS I guess many/most of the materials they would wish to work with are also banned.

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Besides, I don't think handcraft is necessary for elegance. It is spaciousness, creativity, thoughtfulnes, beauty.

First class dinning room Statendam 1929.

Grand Hall version '38 a/b ss Nieuw Amsterdam 1938.

Smocking room a/b ms Noordam 1938.

Card Romm ss Rijndam/ss Maasdam 1952/1953.

QE2's Queen's Room is also magnificent despite some unsympathetic redecoration:

On a modern ship, maybe the Specialty Restaurants on the Millennium Class, especially the Olympic and Normandie Restaurants

Olympic

Normandie

Ocean Liners

United States

[ 10-18-2007: Message edited by: Thad ]

see here (it is an interesting mixture of original old substance and a modern (50ies), toned down interpretation for the parts that were destroyed during WWW II)

Another example would be the nearly tacky Goldene Saal of the Musikverein in Vienna. (you might know it from the new years concert - it is a very different story when you see it in ral) It has perfect proportions. (and an excellent acoustics)

(O.K. - some parts of the state opera and the Musikverein are not good examples for 'less is more' )

Concerning ships, there were two ships I traveled with that clearly stood out: Europa of 1981 - sadly not too many good pictures on the net:

From www.awk-architekten.de - an odd selection of non perfect photos - especially with this plant (!) at the stairs....

...and Club Med 1:

www.albertopinto.com - also a very odd selection of photos

Mind you, that the decor of both ships as seen in these pictures is a bit outdated now (but not too much) - and of course they have been modified. Nevertheless, I do not remember any other ship that had a 'decor' of this quality.

[ 10-18-2007: Message edited by: Ernst ]

Also, many of the RCI ships have dining rooms that are both elegant and grand at the same time. And the atria on the former R-sisters ranks up there as well, helping to make up for what is really a relatively unappealing exterior.

I also like the Pinnacle Grills on board HAL's R-class ships...

[ 10-18-2007: Message edited by: BigUFan ]