When someone said you need to “think outside box”, the developers of these floating cities located in South Korea and Maldives were certainly listening.
Oceanix and the municipality of Busan, a port city in South Korea, recently presented the first detailed views of the floating city designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group – including the four ideal construction phases currently estimated to be completed in 2025.
Covering 75 hectares and with a planned capacity of 10 thousand people, the prototype city is not only resilient to the climate emergencies expected in coming decades, but is designed to be a sustainable, self-sufficient microcosm. Anchored to the seabed, the city is designed to withstand floods, tsunamis, and hurricanes of category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
The newest floating city
An archipelago of 1,190 low-lying islands, the Maldives is one of the nations known to be most vulnerable to climate change. In fact, 80% of its surface area is less than one meter above sea level and, according to projections, sea level rise of up to one meter by the end of the century could submerge almost the entire country.
An ambitious (and invasive) new project would seek to simultaneously help both the resilience of the coveted tourist destination and the need for new housing square footage – Male, the capital, is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with more than 200,000 people squeezed into an area of about eight square kilometres.
Only ten minutes by boat from Male, construction is beginning on a new floating city, large enough to accommodate 20,000 people. Designed in a brain coral-like pattern, the city will consist of 5,000 floating units, including houses, restaurants, shops and schools, with canals running through the middle. The first units will open shortly, while the entire city is expected to be completed by 2027.
It is expected that the city will be self-sufficient AND with all the functions of a terrestrial city. There will be electricity, powered mainly by solar energy generated on site, and waste water will be treated locally and reused as fertiliser for plants. The modular units will also be built in a local shipyard and then towed to the floating city. Once in place, they are attached to a large underwater concrete hull, which is bolted to the seabed. The coral reefs surrounding the city help provide a natural breakwater, steadying it and preventing the inhabitants from getting seasick. To support marine life, artificial coral reefs made of foam glass are attached to the bottom of the city, which help stimulate natural coral growth.
Gary Fleisher is the Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and Offsite Builder. Email at [email protected]
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