Archinect - News

Denmark is moving forward with a controversial man-made storm barrier in Copenhagen

2023-01-13T14:54:00-05:00

In January 2022, a team of developers, architects and environmental consultants began work on a 50-year project that — if completed — will become one of Denmark's most ambitious and controversial infrastructure schemes to date: A 271-acre man-made peninsula devised to shield its capital, Copenhagen, from rising sea levels. But the multi-million dollar environmental project has drawn vocal criticism — primarily, and somewhat ironically, from those concerned about the climate.

Despite its intent, Copenhageners have lodged multiple unsuccessful attempts at halting Lynetteholm’s construction in the European Parliament and national assembly. The design calls for a linear wall shielding 35,000 new homes that can be bolstered as necessary in what is called a “process landscape.” Environmentalist opponents have answered back with claims of “maladaptation.” It will eventually join a currently under-development modular floating habitation from the Danish studio MAST that will take shape in segments over the coming decade.

39 buildings on a massive Chinese manmade island have been ordered to be demolished

2022-01-04T20:31:00-05:00

Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted developer, was last week ordered to demolish 39 buildings on Ocean Flower Island, a project comprising three man-made islands developed by the company in China’s southern Hainan province, within 10 days.

The developer was recently forced to hand over control of its $1.7B football stadium in Guangzhou after spending much of the past year attempting to stave off creditors looking to collect on the company’s reported $310 billion in liabilities, which has recently led to another round of public protests.

The massive development in Hainan province is one of the world’s largest manmade islands and has been the recipient of over $13 billion in Evergrande funds since breaking ground in 2015. The recent order by the Danzhou municipal government stated that Evergrande had illegally obtained building permits to the 435,000-square-meters of development in question, and follows up on a November promise from the city to sell any properties owned by the overleveraged company, according to a report in The Guardian.

Is your city running out of space? Hong Kong says: Just build more land

2019-07-25T07:23:00-04:00

Under the ambitious “Lantau Tomorrow” plan, Hong Kong will first build a roughly 2,500-acre island—roughly the size of 1,000 football fields—around the uninhabited Kau Yi Chau Island to the northeast of Lantau. This may be followed by an additional 1,700 additional acres of land reclamation around the island Hei Ling Chau, which is roughly two miles from Mui Wo and visible from its shoreline.

CityLab reports that under a new aggressive urban growth plan, Hong Kong will create a pair of new islands totaling over 3,200 acres in area in order to create new high-density urban neighborhoods.

Record-breaking affordability issues on the island have pushed wait times for public housing passed the half-decade mark, while by certain estimates, CityLab reports, the average Hong Konger must wait 25 years to be able to afford to purchase an apartment in what is currently the world's most expensive real estate market.

Under the Lantau Tomorrow plan, CityLab reports, the city could provide between 150,000 and 260,000 new housing units with up to 70-percent of those homes earmarked as public housing.

Nearly two decades in the making, Dubai's Palm Jumeirah nears completion

2019-06-24T15:49:00-04:00

The Palm Jumeirah has been Dubai’s most enduring work in progress for two decades. Now developer Nakheel is adding the finishing touches. Several major additions to the world’s biggest man-made island are approaching completion as it transitions from a near-perpetual construction site to a near-finished community—with hundreds of shops and restaurants set to open in the year ahead.

"Among the latest additions are a shopping mall and a tower that will form the centerpiece of the island, located close to the site originally earmarked for a 48-story Trump Tower," reports Mansion Global.

Palm Jumeirah in 2012. Photo: Richard Schneider/Wikipedia.

Meanwhile next door, the hyperambitious and once-declared-dead-but-now-happening-again The World artificial archipelago of 300 islands is reportedly seeing revived development again.

Copenhagen plans nine artificial islands in hopes to be the next 'Silicon Valley'

2019-01-24T18:49:00-05:00

In the hopes of becoming the next Silicon Valley, Denmark is embarking on a massive land reclamation project that involves the creation of nine new islands to the south of Copenhagen. Designed by the Danish office Urban Power, the Holmene project will create 3.1 million square meters of land to serve as a new business and infrastructure district for tech companies and green industries. The company expects the expansion to bring 380 new businesses and 12,000 jobs.

Amid a housing and office shortage, the government has been increasingly looking to land reclamation as a potential solution aimed at addressing the city's development and growth. Back in October, for instance, the city of Copenhagen announced a $3 billion plan to build another island, to be named Lynetteholmen, for 35,000 people in order to help alleviate its housing shortage.

Credit: Urban Power.

Both projects, in addition to growing space for business and more people, will help Copenhagen address issues of climate change...

The World is coming back to life in Dubai

2018-02-14T14:26:00-05:00

Underwater bedrooms, ‘Lohan Island’ and snow all year round – a decade after it was scuppered by the financial crash, the fantasy archipelago of 300 artificial ‘countries’ is back in business. Has anybody learned anything?

Remember The World? Dubai's lofty vision a decade-and-a-half ago to recreate the globe's map with artificial, celebrity-owned islands dredged from the Gulf floor that was just as grandiose and monumental as its financial crash in 2008? Well, it appears to be back in business again.

The Guardian's Oliver Wainwright takes a trip to the long-abandoned and now-bustling-with-development-again artificial archipelago of 300 islands 2.5 miles off Dubai's coast and confirms: "After a decade in limbo, The World is back – with more ambitious plans than ever before."

And yes, Lindsay Lohan is designing her own island, too.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Aedas unveil major boundary crossing facility for Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

2018-01-16T15:38:00-05:00

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) and Aedas today unveiled their involvement in a boundary crossing which will provide a new entry point into Hong Kong. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF) is a joint project between the two architects, working with AECOM, which will provide new connections between Hong Kong, mainland China, and Macao, and which will bring wider benefits across the Pearl River Delta.

After years of delay and enormous cost overruns, work seems to be picking up again on the ambitious Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge project; connecting Hong Kong International Airport with Macau across the Lingdingyang channel and Zhuhai in mainland China via a series of bridges and one undersea tunnel which, once completed, would be one of the world's longest at 34 miles/55 kilometers.

Image via Wikipedia

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Aedas, working with AECOM, now revealed designs and construction images of one the bridge project's key elements, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF).

HKBC Construction

From the architects: "The HKBCF will cover 130 hectare on a new 150-hectare artificial island reclaimed from the open waters to the north-east of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), and will benefit from the proximity to the HKIA’s transport links, including the SkyPier Ferry Terminal, and the MTR’s Airport Express and Tung Chung line...

Diller Scofidio + Renfro win $1.3 billion 'Pearl Eco-Island' competition in the South China Sea

2016-09-02T13:28:00-04:00

The South Sea Pearl Eco-Island development is funded by HNA Group and will include houses, hotels, a cruise ship port, yacht harbour, spa and theme park. [...] The jury said the “singular and clear” design would “create a beautiful, iconic form rising naturally out the landscape, recalling the volcanic caldera of the area, and shape the island into a continuous structure that would be an extremely efficient compaction of resort, retail, and housing."

The "eco" stands for... well, it depends. To HNA Group: “This proposal is one for a truly a human-made island that celebrates all that makes such water-bound places so attractive and beautiful, while contributing to our understanding of deep, intrinsic ecology.” To the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, these manmade islands are an explicit move by China to exert sovereignty (a status that The Hague explicitly rejects), and they're causing massive environmental harm.

Investigating China's role in the South China Sea this past July, "The tribunal clearly decided that China had caused severe harm to the coral reef environment," according to Kent Carpenter, the tribunal's expert witness and a professor of biological science. Much of that damage was attributed to island building. You can find more on their proceedings here.

Runners up to the competition include Foster + Partners and Morphosis.

China plans to build a fleet of floating nuclear power plants

2016-04-25T15:15:00-04:00

All the radar systems, lighthouses, barracks, ports and airfields that China has set up on its newly built island chain in the South China Sea require tremendous amounts of electricity, which is hard to come by in a place hundreds of miles from the country’s power grid. Beijing may have come up with a solution: floating nuclear power plants. A state-owned company, China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, is planning to build a fleet of the vessels to provide electricity to remote locations [...]

Previously in the Archinect news:

Jakarta, already 40% below sea level, is building one of the biggest sea walls on Earth

2015-12-14T12:51:00-05:00

Jakarta sinks an average of three inches a year, and parts of the coast are going down as much as 11 inches a year [...] In an attempt to halt the damage, authorities are building a gigantic wall off the coast, measuring 25 miles (40 kilometers) long and 80 feet (24 meters) high, National Geographic reports. To fund the $40 billion and 30-year-long project, the city will also create 17 artificial islands, on which developers can build luxury homes, offices, and shopping malls.

A Dutch firm, KuiperCompagnons, is assisting with design. The first phase of the three-part plan is underway, although critics say that the project will encourage more government corruption and actually cause more environmental damage than it would help prevent.

Buy your own private island off the coast of Copenhagen, just $8.5 m

2015-08-26T15:42:00-04:00

It may not have palm trees or tiki torches, but – if you're in the market for a private island – you should probably check out Flakfortet, some 3.5 miles off the coast of lovely Copenhagen.

An artificial island constructed in 1915 as a naval base to protect the city during World War I, Flakfortet is a protected landmark and was in use until 1968.

A restaurant was added to the 330,000 sq ft island and draws around 20,000 people a year. Bingo! It basically pays for itself!

Not only would you (conceivably) gain access to the perks of Denmark's robust welfare state, you could also have fun exploring the 1km network of underground tunnels.

Have friends visiting? Have them park their yacht in the marina.

For just £5.5 million (56 million Danish Krone or USD $8.5 million), Flakfortet could be yours!

via Claus Borg & Partner, h/t The Spaces

New satellite images show progress in China's island-building project

2015-07-01T14:19:00-04:00

New satellite imagery of remote islands in the South China Sea shows several Chinese island-building projects are finished. In five of seven island projects, attention has turned to the next phase: building bases with potential military uses on the islands.

Taking a cue from the Gulf states, China has been engaged in a massive island-building project in the South China Sea. New images from the Washington Post show the staggering progress that is being made, with the first buildings cropping up. While relatively small, the South China Sea is one of the most important shipping channels in the world – and may also hold a massive reserve of oil and gas deposits. Control of the waterway has become a source of increasing geopolitical tension in the region and internationally, with the United States and other countries asking China to cease island-building operations. But according to the Chinese, the artificial islands are a legal expression of their sovereignty.

While artificial islands may seem incredibly modern – if not downright sci-fi – there's evidence that humans have been doing it for some time now. The massive Aztec city of Tenochtitlan largely consisted of artificial islands, or chinamitl, surrounding a smaller natural island in Lak...