Dream Team: Denison Yachting, Bannenberg & Rowell, and ARES Yachts Launch Project Spitfire Collaboration

When it comes to superyacht designers, Denison Yachting’s superyacht specialist Alex G. Clarke will tell you few have the pedigree of Bannenberg & Rowell.

This article was written by J. Michael Welton. Photography courtesy of Jonathan Rivera Architecture.

And thanks to Clarke’s extensive experience working with Turkish shipyards, he also knows that ARES Yachts is an award-winning, family-run shipyard that has an equally impressive reputation as Turkey’s largest exporter of commercial and military ships. But now that they’ve partnered with Bannenberg & Rowell, Lateral Naval Architects, and Clarke here at Denison Yachting to build Project Spitfire, they’re entering the yachting segment in style.

Actually, the inspiration for Project Spitfire was taken from one of the most famous and evocative aircraft in British aviation history—the Supermarine Spitfire.

Simon Rowell, Creative Director at Bannenberg & Rowell Design explains their inspiration for both the exterior and interior design.

In fact, construction is already underway.

With Bannenberg & Rowell Design responsible for creating an elegantly unified interior and exterior design, Spitfire sports a seriously sleek, low-profile superstructure with bands of dark glass and military gray. Her wide, rounded bow drops vertically from cutaway bulwarks, and she has a low, open explorer-style stern befitting her adventurous potential.

“The famous Spitfire was a simultaneously beautiful and deadly design. A fast, nimble response to the challenges of the new airborne battlefield of World War II. Aesthetically, the Spitfire was immediately identifiable by its elliptical wing profile. Innovative sunken rivets created an unusually sleek aerodynamic surface. So the story of the ARES Spitfire is rooted in this ethos: it is nimble, efficient, dynamic, industrial, and engineered. This can be found in our use of smooth surfaces, metallic sheen, earthy and marine colorways, and taut, honest geometry.”

“Spitfire is a project that I have been watching advance for the past few years now,” Clarke says. “Through this process I’ve really gotten to know Dickie Bannenberg and Simon Rowell. These guys are legitimate legends whose designs and projects will stand the test of time. But just as importantly, they are great people. I love their approach to business and that goes for not just their design philosophy, but also with their team and how they go about forming relationships.”

Stepping inside, Bannenberg & Rowell has made use of natural colors inspired by military and naval camouflage, with materials including punched metal surfaces, leather, and tinted glass. The subtlest hints of 1940s industrial architectural style can be found in her glazing bars and the glazing in the bathrooms.

All guest staterooms boast large ensuites and ample storage. The owner’s full-beam suite can be found forward on the main deck, with four additional spacious guest cabins situated below. A standout feature of the owner’s cabin is its freestanding bed, which offers epic 270-degree sightlines.

Film buffs can also take advantage of the outdoor movie theater providing a truly stunning oceanic backdrop.

“After years of painstaking development and planning, we are so proud to be sharing more details of our latest project with the industry,” says ARES Yachts Managing Director Piraye Sahinkaya Orhun. “As a yard, building Spitfire lets us showcase our unrivalled expertise building in high-quality fiberglass, as well as our profound understanding of what makes a safe high-performance hull.”

“ARES Yachts may not be that well known in the superyacht sector yet,” says Clarke. But… that’s all going to change when Spitfire will make her debut at the 2026 Monaco Yacht Show.”

Watch this space.

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