Floating cities a vision of the future

Two architectural companies are responding to the problem of rising sea levels, by fashioning cities that float.

Rutger de Graaf, Founder of Dutch firm DeltaSync, describes how the “excellent” combination of polystyrene for buoyancy and concrete for strength could keep low-lying nations habitable in the future [top picture]. Around 200 houses are already built on floating foundations in the Netherlands, with DeltaSync currently working on six more.

Meanwhile, Belgian firm Vincent Callebaut has designed the Lilypad [bottom picture]: a half aquatic, half terrestrial urban prototype which could accommodate up to 50,000 inhabitants in a soft water lagoon. The Lilypad would be ‘carbon negative’, integrating wind and solar power to generate more energy than it consumes. – Katie Shaw

12 March 2010

Katie Shaw