Archinect - News

Foster + Partners debuts Gaafaru Island master plan for the Maldives

2024-10-17T15:55:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has unveiled a new resiliency-based master plan for the low-lying Gaafaru Island in the Maldives. The plan addresses the existential crisis posed to the island by climate change, providing "holistic" solutions along multiple fronts where there is a need for a better economic and environmental way forward.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

According to the firm, the six core tenets of the plan are:

Adapting to rising sea levels and extreme conditions
Minimizing damaging dredging and land reclamation practices
Nurturing ecology
Enhancing prosperity for all
Unifying communities
Establishing net zero energy, water and waste

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

Partner Tony Miki said: "A significant part of this project has been about identifying and understanding the various challenges – and then working out how to tackle them in the most holistic way possible. Our masterplan seeks to embed resilience into the built fabric for the next one-hundred years, providing ecological prote...

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...

World's first underwater residence opens in the Maldives

2018-11-12T15:21:00-05:00

The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island has opened the world's first-ever underwater hotel residence. More than just a room or a suite (this is the Maldives, after all, so luxury is the name of the game), the two-story villa is set more than 16 feet below the Indian Ocean. Its name is "Muraka," which means "coral" in the Maldives' local language Dhivehi.

Image: Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

With the cold and gloomy season quickly approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, many wish to escape to warmer, balmier settings. If the idea of sleeping under the water sounds like your kinda thing and a sweet $50,000 a night isn't too much of an obstacle, then a trip to the Maldives should be at the top of your itinerary. Conrad Hotels & Resorts recently completed a one-of-a-kind underwater residence, Muraka, that's now taking reservations (previously on Archinect).

Before you pawn away your grandma's Buick to scrape together the 50K, be advised though that a minimum stay of four nights is required.

View this post on Instagram Hold your breath and discover the beautiful harmony above and below the ocean. THE MURAKA, unlike anywhere else in the world. Check out the full video on IGTV. . . #TheMURAKA @alessia.zecchini @thomas.midulla @martin.kreuzer @americanexpress #ConradMaldives #AmexCenturion #AmexPlatinum #AmexLife
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This underwater residence is currently being built in the Maldives

2018-05-03T14:34:00-04:00

A luxury Maldives resort is about to take the sleeping under-the-sea phenomenon to a whole new level. Conrad Maldives Rangali Island is building a $15 million two-story hotel villa, part of which will sit 16.4 feet below the surface of the Indian Ocean. The property, believed to be the world's first undersea residence, is under construction in the South Asian island country and is due to be completed in November.

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

If you're traveling to the Maldives and just can't get enough of that crystal clear water, then you can soon even sleep beneath the Indian Ocean (and watch the fishies watching you): Conrad Hotels & Resorts, part of the Hilton group, announced plans for the, what it calls, first-of-its-kind underwater residence.

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

"The undersea bedroom floor level sits five meters (16.4 feet) below sea level, providing uninterrupted views of the surrounding marine environment," the project description explains. "With the adoption of state-of-the-art technology, Muraka's distinct design is akin to Ithaa's [the nearby underwater restaurant] with the curved acrylic dome, which boasts 180-degree panoramic views of the wonders of the Indian Ocean's intricate marine life."

With the Middle East in diplomatic crisis, what will happen to Qatar's building projects?

2017-06-06T12:53:00-04:00

In a stunning move, seven Muslim countries—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Yemen, and the Maldives—have severed ties to Qatar, a small nation of about 2.7 million people on the north-east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The crisis underscores the deep divisions running even within Sunni Islam that are often overlooked by the West, which tends to view the Muslim world through the dichotomous prism of Sunni and Shia.

These countries accuse Qatar of sponsoring terrorism, which is to say, primarily, Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood held power briefly in Egypt following the 2011 Revolution before being overthrown in a coup led by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. They are active in many of the seven aforementioned countries.

Qatar also funds Al Jazeera, the widely-watched news channel known for supporting political Islamism and for critiquing the regimes controlling Saudi Arabia and other countries. And Qatar has been criticized for m...

Maldives plans 18-hole floating golf course

2011-04-26T15:56:35-04:00

Troon Golf, Waterstudio.NL and Dutch Docklands have announced plans to build a floating golf course in the Maldives islands, in the Indian Ocean, with holes connected by underwater tunnels.

Wired tells us about plans to build a zero-footprint, super-ambitious, golf course project. At least we'll have golf when the sea levels rise.