Griscia Pastacaldi Naval Architecture — GPNA

Griscia Pastacaldi, a former Italian navy technical officer and talented naval architect designer and mechanical engineer, launched his naval architecture and yacht design consulting firm Griscia Pastacaldi Naval Architecture (GPNA) in 2018. Since then, GPNA has focused on creating aesthetically pleasing, innovative yacht designs for a variety of clients, emphasizing the high quality of its designs and the top-notch technical support of Pastacaldi’s team.

“Having worked as a yacht designer and technical superintendent for a number of years—responsible for all phases of yacht development and production, from precontract, contract, new-building specification, plan approval, construction, supervision, sea trial, and delivery of the vessel—founding my own naval architecture and yacht design consulting firm was a natural evolution in my career,” Pastacaldi explains. “Because GPNA works with external partners—with roughly 90 percent of the effort outsourced—we needed a flexible, user-friendly 2D design application that allows us to collaborate on, coordinate, communicate, and manage yacht design projects as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.”

Before founding GPNA, Pastacaldi worked for naval architecture design firms where he used AutoCAD® and MicroStation® 2D design software—experiences that led him to investigate other solutions. “I was a fan of AutoCAD, but after the 2005 version, the software had become increasingly complex to use in a way that I disliked, with too many commands that take up too much space from the working area and a loss of intuitiveness of the commands themselves,” Pastacaldi recounts. “I heard about DraftSight 2D design software from Dassault Systèmes and initially thought that the software might be too specialized toward mechanical design/production because of other Dassault products—namely, CATIA and SOLIDWORKS.”

Yet, as part of his assessment of the best 2D package for yacht design, which included evaluations of AutoCAD, nanoCAD®, some others, and DraftSight, Pastacaldi started to experiment with DraftSight in 2017 and was pleasantly surprised by what he discovered. “In DraftSight, I found the intuitive, user-friendly interface that had been lost in AutoCAD,” Pastacaldi stresses. “DraftSight is easy, fast, and user-friendly, and offers a wide view of the working area. I quickly found out that if you are able to use AutoCAD, you can immediately start using DraftSight. After evaluating several systems, I chose DraftSight 2D design software, which we use in concert with Rhino® 3D surfacing software, to create beautiful, but also well-engineered and reliable, yacht designs.”

The first project for which GPNA used DraftSight software was the structural design of a 73-meter custom yacht. Since that initial project, the company has delivered outfitting and structural designs for four additional custom yachts. In the process, DraftSight software has enabled GPNA to accelerate development, control costs, and grow the business. “DraftSight allows my company to design more quickly and cost-effectively,” Pastacaldi says.

“From a productivity standpoint—compared to the other 2D design systems that I’ve used—DraftSight enables me to save more time,” Pastacaldi adds. “I estimate that working with DraftSight reduces design time by 25 percent, and because the software is less expensive than other solutions, I’ve also cut development costs by 10 percent.”

Because GPNA works with external partners, the ability to effectively communicate and share design ideas and drawings across the design team—as well as with customers—is critically important to the company’s development process. “First, I use DraftSight for initial idea creation; and then, for drafting the main inputs and for checking, correcting, and updating the work that I receive from my partners,” Pastacaldi points out.

“The flexibility of DraftSight for sharing information and data—typically in DWG format—across the design team makes yacht development more efficient, which is why I encourage my partners to use DraftSight. The software also ensures that we effectively communicate with customers at every step appreciate the clarity of our technical drawings and being kept apprised of our progress, which helps to increase customer satisfaction, which is the ultimate goal of our work.”

Using DraftSight software as GPNA’s primary design tool has produced the efficiencies, flexibility, and communication capabilities that the company relies on to fuel, support, and maintain growth. “The company has grown at a rate of roughly 20 percent each year, and DraftSight plays an important role underlying our continued growth and success,” Pastacaldi says.

“DraftSight is clearly innovative technology in its simplicity, intuitiveness, flexibility, and usefulness,” Pastacaldi notes. “With a productive tool like DraftSight, we are able to continue to push what is possible in yacht design,” Pastacaldi continues. “Our clients always appreciate the clarity of our technical drawings and being kept apprised of our progress, which helps to increase customer satisfaction, which is the ultimate goal of our work.”