Floating architecture refers to built, buoyant structures sited on bodies of water. Using innovative materials and unconventional forms, the structures can serve a variety of purposes.
Floating buildings can help address the growing need for space due to rising sea levels. They can also improve sustainability in terms of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, and water resources.
The Float
As global warnings of climate change continue to escalate, many communities are finding that they’ll have to relocate from land to water. While many are debating traditional solutions such as building up and rising, others have turned to working with the ocean instead. The Float, designed by architect Adam Marcus and designers Margaret Ikeda and Evan Jones, is an experimental “island” that works to not just protect coastal communities from sea level rise but also disperse the force of oncoming waves.
The 13-foot by 8-foot structure was built out of Cross-Laminated Timber and solid cork, with a shape inspired by origami. The structure’s buoyancy is powered by the kinetic energy of oncoming waves and the ebb and flow of the surrounding ocean. By incorporating the structure’s peaks and valleys into its design, The Float creates habitats for a variety of marine life that can interact with the structure.
The Float was realized through a process of digital fabrication and design research that merges architecture, advanced composite manufacturing, and marine ecology. Using parametric modeling and file-to-factory workflows, the project’s digital workflow enables productive feedback loops between design speculation, empirical ecological research, and material performance. The resulting structure is a model for the future of resilient coastal architecture, demonstrating how design can extend beyond the limits of its disciplinary boundaries to address one of the world’s most pressing ecological challenges.
The Exbury Egg
The Exbury Egg is an artist and architect designed bespoke wooden studio and artists home moored on the Beaulieu River in Hampshire, England. It is the site of an artistic residency where Stephen Turner will spend twelve months developing and making new art works in, on, and around the Egg.
A pool of talented creatives helped bring the Egg to life, including design firm SPUD, architects PAD Studio, boat builder Paul Baker and naval architect Stephen Payne. The Egg’s interior is equipped with all the bare necessities of life, with storage and display areas, a hammock, a stove, a desk, a bathroom, and a wet room. It also has solar power for Turner’s electronic needs.
To keep the Egg upright and stable while rising and falling with the tide, it was tethered to shore by two weighted fins, similar to twin keels on a boat, stopping any rotational movement. It is powered by solar panels and a wood-burning stove. Turner will live on the Egg, interacting with its ecology and exploring a more empathic relationship to nature that reveals the precious and transcendent in everyday life. His on-going record of his experience will be posted on the project website. Once his tenure ends, the Egg will become a traveling exhibition space.
Oceanix City
Floating cities have occupied the imagination of humankind for centuries: the houseboats of Sausalito, California; generations of Tanka fishermen and women on China’s southern waterways; the Uros islands on Peru’s Lake Titicaca. Yet the idea of a floating city has typically been reduced to utopian thought experiments – or, as Collins Chen and Madamombe would say, “synthetic speculative architecture.” Their intention was to develop an integrated vision of a sustainable ocean metropolis that could power itself through solar panels and wind turbines, harvest fresh water from the sea below, and grow its own food through greenhouses and aquaponic farms.
The resulting design, dubbed Oceanix City, comprises hexagonal modules that can be prefabricated on land and towed to the final site, drastically cutting construction costs. The buildings will be kept below seven stories high to keep a low center of gravity, with flat roofs that aid in shading and offer space for solar panels. Combined, these structures will make up a village that can be inhabited by 3,000 people.
Kian Goh, an assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA who studies land-based climate-change adaptation, calls the concept “a bold idea.” She explains that these types of projects often overlook the fact that if you create a new type of land in international waters, you’re also creating a new set of legal and regulatory frameworks. “In practice, building cities from scratch in the ocean hasn’t always worked out,” she says.
Floating Foundations
Floating foundations, also known as raft foundations are the best solution in situations where a deep foundation is not feasible due to soft soil or limited excavation. The raft supports the entire structure by spreading the weight across an area, rather than a few points, thus eliminating shear stress.
These foundations are ideal for use under small structures like sheds, detached garages and even carports. They are comparatively affordable to build and provide enough support under lightweight structures. They do not require deep footer trenches, which can disturb the earth beneath and interfere with long-established tree roots or ground water. Moreover, they are not susceptible to heaving and differential settlements caused by high underground moisture or movement of the earth layer.
In the case of more substantial constructions, floating foundations can be used in conjunction with other foundation types, such as concrete caisson columns or piles. They are also suitable for areas that have low load-bearing capacity and varying degrees of compression compatibility. In such cases, the raft foundations are a good solution as they are able to adapt to changes in water levels and provide a stable base for the building above.
Inspired by the Makoko Floating School in Lagos, Nigeria, architect Kunle Adeyemi of the NLE design firm has developed a modular system for constructing buildings on water. Using a concept similar to Gabion construction (wire mesh cages filled with debris), the flat-pack floating foundations are built from reinforced recycled plastic and filled with upcycled floatation supplies that can be adjusted according to the structure’s size and weight.