Archinect - News

NEOM announces plans for new man-made island development called Oxagon

2022-12-22T16:42:00-05:00

Plans for a new floating city design that’s part of the NEOM project in Saudi Arabia have been revealed recently, offering a glimpse at the Gulf state’s full vision for a megadevelopment program that includes Trojena ski resort, an artificial island called Sindalah, and centerpiece 110-mile-long smart city dubbed The Line.

The ‘Oxagon’ as it is so-named, is formed by a series of floating squares connected by a network of canals and will contain factories and logistics centers along with housing accommodations for up to 90,000 residents by the time it is completed in 2030. It is strategically located in proximity to the Suez Canal in order to give the country an enhanced position within the global supply chain

Image courtesy NEOM

According to a press release: “At Oxagon’s core will be the adoption of the most advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), human-machine fusion, artificial and predictive intelligence, and robotics, all of which are coupled to a network of f...

A floating city is set to rise off the coast of the Maldives as a solution to sea-level rise

2022-06-23T17:40:00-04:00

A city is rising from the waters of the Indian Ocean. In a turquoise lagoon, just 10 minutes by boat from Male, the Maldivian capital, a floating city, big enough to house 20,000 people, is being constructed.

Called the Maldives Floating City, the first-of-its-kind development is a joint venture between property developer Dutch Docklands and the Government of the Maldives. Netherlands-based architecture firm Waterstudio, which focuses on large-scale, sustainable floating projects, is the architecture firm behind the project’s design. Taking the shape of a brain coral, the city is structured as a traditional boating community, with a network of canals that will serve as the main infrastructure for logistics and gateways. It will consist of 5,000 floating units, along with houses, restaurants, shops, and schools.

Previously on Archinect: Updated design emerges for BIG’s floating city in Busan, South Korea for OCEANIX

The city was conceived as a practical solution to sea-level rise in one of the world’s most vulnerable nations to climate change. Its modular units are constructed in a local shipyard and towed to the city when complete. They are then attached to a large underwater concrete hu...

Updated design emerges for BIG’s floating city in Busan, South Korea for OCEANIX

2022-04-27T11:06:00-04:00

Further details have been revealed for the design of OCEANIX Busan, described as the “world’s first sustainable floating city.” Designed by lead architects BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) and SAMOO (Samsung), the project will be constructed in the South Korean city of Busan by advanced maritime company OCEANIX in collaboration with UN-Habitat.

Potential scaled-up version of the scheme. Image by OCEANIX / Bjarke Ingels Group

We first covered the project in 2019, when BIG unveiled the project as a utopian plan for floating cities, sparking extensive debate among our community. Late last year, it emerged that the city of Busan would take the lead on realizing the project. Now, new renderings of the scheme offer further insight into how the original utopian plan may manifest.

Initial phase of OCEANIX Busan, accommodating 12,000 people. Image by OCEANIX / Bjarke Ingels Group

The current proposal would see interconnected platforms create a 15.5-acre city capable of accommodating 12,000 people. T...

Busan to take the lead in trying on Bjarke Ingels' floating OCEANIX CITY prototype in 2025

2021-11-30T09:00:00-05:00

In an effort to mitigate the impending effects of sea-level rise on coastal populations through architecture, UN-Habitat and OCEANIX are once again taking the lead with a new prototype for a floating settlement in the South Korean city of Busan.

The buzzworthy pair had previously made waves with a Bjarke Ingels-backed 2019 proposal for a floodproof habitat which has now officially found a home thanks to a groundbreaking agreement with the city’s government.

Now, with almost 50 centimeters of sea-level rise expected for the southern peninsula by mid-century, leaders in South Korea look to the prototype as a guide to extreme adaptation efforts that could help circumvent the challenges caused by an influx of coastal city dwellers overrunning a country of 52 million whose total land area is roughly equivalent to the state of Indiana.

Previously on Archinect: Bjarke Ingels presents utopian plan for sustainable floating cities to UN

The city proposal claims to be designed to withstand a...

Is a future filled with levitating buildings on the horizon?

2019-11-18T15:10:00-05:00

During Dubai Design Week, architect and professor Dr. Georges Kachaamy presented an eye catching project that questions architecture's need for the ground. Through his project, "Rising Oases," Kachaamy proposes a future where individual buildings are no longer tied to their "daily restraints," including the need to be firmly anchored to the earth.

According to the Dubai Design Week website, "The structure is suspended in the air using breakthrough technology, providing visitors with an outlet to disconnect from the city." Part of an ongoing research project that has been in the works over the past decade, according to a recent report from CNN, Kachammy's project, which uses magnetic levitation technologies to levitate scale models above their bases, stunned the design week attendees.

Rendering of one of Kachaamy's levitating buildings. Courtesy of Georges Kachaamy.

Some might view his proposal as implausible, but according to Kieron Monks of CNN, Kachammy is prepared to win over th...

Bjarke Ingels' recent TED Talk discusses architectural forms of the future, the LEGO House, and plans to face climate change with architecture

2019-06-05T14:30:00-04:00

Whether you're a fan or not of the influential Danish architect, Bjarke Ingels has designed some of the most distinct architectural structures. Aiming to push the limits of structural design through materials and sustainability approaches, Ingels spoke at a recent TED conference in April sharing his team's most recent projects, discussed the LEGO House, and his plan for future forms in architecture.

With his most recent project teetering on ambitious design approaches and utopian plans, Ingels shares his approach to Floating Cities with the audience. He speaks of creating sustainable cities that can adapt to climate change by designing buoyant modular "coastal additions," each having their own unique coastal landscape. As ambitious as this may sound, Ingels' focus and enthusiastic approach to these human-made ecosystems excited the crowd and provided a sense of possibility.

"...if the whole world woke up tomorrow and became carbon-neutral over night, there are still island nation...

Bjarke Ingels presents utopian plan for sustainable floating cities to UN

2019-04-06T11:26:00-04:00

Faced with the threat of rising sea levels said to jeopardize 90% of the world's largest cities by 2050, UN Habitat convened its first roundtable to discuss potential adaptation strategies. In particular, the dozens of experts, investors, scientists, and officials, were there to explore new approaches to building sustainable offshore hubs for living and working, also known as floating cities.

VILLAGE HARBOR DAYTIME: Socializing, play, and commerce are concentrated around the sheltered inner harbor. Platform edges activate the city with social programs, protect it from the wind, produce food, and dock boats. Image by Bjarke Ingels Group.

CITY FROM ABOVE: The city can organically transform and adapt over time, evolving from a neighborhood of 300 residents to a city of 10,000. Thirty-six 2-hectare floating neighborhoods and dozens of productive outposts create a vibrant community that can expand and contract over time.

The specific proposal was for Oceanix City, a collaboration between ...

What's new with the promise of the floating city?

2018-05-01T16:13:00-04:00

A plan to build a platform in a tropical lagoon caught heat from locals, and a campaign stoked by opposition politician Valentina Cross swept away their proposals for an inaugural colony. In February, the Tahitian government stated publicly that an agreement with the Seasteading Institute in 2017 was now outdated and non-binding. [...] That leaves the Institute, and their movement, once again at sea, shopping for a new host nation willing to take on a partnership.

In her article for CityLab, writer Hettie O'Brien looks into the Seasteading Institute's promise of a libertarian offshore utopia in Polynesia and the challenges the movement has been facing recently.

What Makoko can teach about "organic" urban development

2016-02-25T14:53:00-05:00

'Why can’t communities simply be communities and develop in the organic way that we allow other communities to develop?'...'They are inspirational in that people have developed them themselves, without government and real estate types pushing them around. Without a doubt, they still have problems. But they are stabilising themselves and, over time, knitting themselves into the fabric of their cities. This is a true marvel of global urbanism.'

They're promising us jetpacks again (and deeper basements)

2015-05-26T17:02:00-04:00

Floating cities and high rise farms are also predicted to shape Britain’s landscape for future generations, according to some of the country’s leading experts. In new research they outline the future form of the places where people will live and work. Spaceports for travel to the Moon and Mars are also expected to become a reality within the next 100 years, they say.

Has Floating Architecture’s Moment Finally Arrived?

2014-10-01T20:23:00-04:00

In a quiet, shady street in Rijswijk, the Netherlands, Koen Olthuis and the design team at Waterstudio are changing the world. From this deceptively nondescript headquarters, Waterstudio is designing the cities of the future. If Olthuis has his way, they will be safer, more flexible and more resilient than current cities. How will he do this? Olthuis is designing floating cities.

For Libertarian Utopia, Float Away on ‘Startup’ Nation

2014-06-04T15:22:00-04:00

As dawn breaks over the Gulf of Fonseca, southeast of El Salvador, Patri Friedman sets out for a jog. He trots past domed hothouses filled with fruit trees and feels the sidewalk sway gently underfoot as a tugboat chugs by with a floating apartment building in tow. The year is 2024, and Friedman lives on a so-called seastead, a waterbound city of some 1,000 people who produce their own food, their own energy and -- most important -- their own laws.

Previously:

World’s first floating city back on course

2013-12-02T18:21:00-05:00

The Freedom Ship would be home to 50,000 people and have its own airport, casinos and shopping centers. The Florida-based company behind the city of the sea says it is hopeful it can raise the $1 billion needed to begin construction on the massive vessel.

Paypal Founder Invests $1.25 Million to Create Floating Micro-Countries

2011-08-17T08:51:00-04:00

Peter Thiel is known for having big ideas before everyone else - he launched Paypal, funded Facebook, and is now interested in building his very own start-up countries in the far off, open ocean. The self-made billionaire is working closely with the Seasteading Institute to create sovereign nations in international waters, free from the laws of any country.

PayPal founder Peter Thiel is working closely with the Seasteading Institute to create sovereign nations in international waters, free from the laws of any country.