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Architecture, urban planning and research in, on and next to water
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Tecture Mag – Arkup

By Antony Funell
Tecture Mag
2022.Jan.28

水上に浮き気候変動に対応する家

ジャッキアップ技術を組み合わせたフローティングヴィラ〈Arkup〉

CULTURE2022.01.28

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

さまざまなフローティングアーキテクチャを手がけるオランダの設計事務所Waterstudio.NLのケーン・オルトゥイス(Koen Olthuis)とディベロッパーであるダッチ・ドックランズ(Dutch Docklands)が、ジャッキアップ技術を活用したフローティングヴィラ〈Arkup〉を発表しました。

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

フローティングアーキテクチャの重要性

貿易の利便性から世界の大都市の約90%が沿岸部に位置しています。そして沿岸部は地球の地表面積のうち2%ほどにもかかわらず、世界人口の約10%が居住しており、今後も増加し、2050年には14億人に達すると見込まれています。

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

一方、気候変動の影響から水害の規模と頻度は年々増加傾向しており、2050年には海面が50cm上昇し8億人が影響を受けると予測されています。

海面上昇に対応したウォーターフロント開発や、水上に浮かせることで海面上昇に対応する「フローティングプロジェクト」が求められています。

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

海面から「浮く」フローティングヴィラ

Waterstudio.NLが設計した〈Arkup〉は、浮体式基礎と水上ジャッキアップ技術を組み合わせた次世代のフローティングアーキテクチャです。

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

暴風雨の際には、浮体式建物を水面から3m以上持ち上げることで、激しい波の影響を受けないようにすることができます。この安定性の向上により、マンションや高層ビルなどの大規模なフローティングストラクチャの建設が可能になります。

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

水とともに暮らす「ブルーシティ」

Waterstudio.NLのケーン・オルトゥイス(Koen Olthuis)は次のように主張します。
「世界で進む都市化と気候変動は、都市における居住性に影響を与えています。水と戦うのではなく、水とともに暮らす都市『ブルーシティ』となることで、パフォーマンスの高い都市となるでしょう。」

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

世界で進化を続けるフローティングアーキテクチャ、海に囲まれる日本だからこそ注目していきたいですね!

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

Arkup / Waterstudio.NL

以下は、Waterstudio.NLのリリース(英文)です。

Floating architecture is on the move. Designs are getting more luxurious and quality is rising but more important the technology taking a leap.

With the completion of the Miami based Arkup portable hurricane proof villa designed by Koen Olthuis of Waterstudio a new generation of floating buildings has emerged. The evolution of floating villas has resulted in a hybrid solution that combines the flexibility of the floating foundation with the stability of offshore jack-up technology. During storms the floating building can be lifted up more than 10ft above water level out of reach of the heavy waves. This upgrade of stability performance unlocks opportunities for large scale floating structures as condominiums and floating high rise which will benefit from the additional support of the lowered spuds.

New larger urban components will accelerate the Rise of the Blue city.

Urbanization and the effects of climate change put pressure on livability in big cities. “Rise of the blue city” argues that Cities that are threatened by water today will be the best performing cities of tomorrow if they start using the water to achieve a higher flexibility and shorter response time. Stop building for today’s demands, start building for change!

Floating Mansions and Diving Drones! Summer’s Hottest Water Whizbangs

Sales of watercraft have soared since the start of the pandemic as recreational boaters seek to escape home—and land. Here are the trending toys to inspire your next seagoing adventure.
By Mark Ellwood
Bloomberg
2021.may.13
The 2,600-square-foot, four-bedroom Arkup 75.
The 2,600-square-foot, four-bedroom Arkup 75.

Photographer: Craig Denis

Blame James Bond. It was the sight of Roger Moore skidding a Wet Bike over the waves in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me that piqued yacht owners’ interest in keeping more than just a tender, or small ship-to-shore shuttle, on board. Moore’s gadget morphed into the Jet Ski, a must-have for every polyester-era playboy. The Jet Ski, in turn, raised cultural expectations for what we should be able to do on—or under, or over—the water.

Billionaires such as Jeff Bezos and his new 417-foot-long project Y721—a yacht so big it needs its own yacht—plus destinations like the Four Seasons Bora Bora keep spurring new innovations. As bigger superyachts became dominant in the late 1980s, complete with roomier onboard garages, the types of toys and tenders available multiplied. Invention is “driven by charter guests,” says Chris Clifford of the yacht industry bible Onboard. “Even if Grandpa and Grandma are paying for the boat, they’ll bring their children and grandchildren, and you’ve gotta keep them amused.” Indeed, charter specialist Burgess Yachts says 84% of its clients expressed interest in toys and water sports as crucial for their next rental.

But it’s not just the world’s wealthiest who are diving in since the coronavirus pandemic started. According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association, U.S. powerboat sales reached a 13-year high in 2020, when 310,000 new vessels were sold, a rise of 12% from the previous year. GetMyBoat, a marine rental platform, sent 60,500 renters out on the water in 2019, rising to 178,000 last year; it expects to hit more than 1 million for 2021. That’s a lot of people potentiality looking for their first boat or an addition to an existing collection.

It makes sense: Nothing says summer like a good, socially distanced splash. Whether you’re looking for an easy-to-maneuver three-cabin sailboat for your family, a two-seater Sea-Doo on steroids, or a double-decker party barge with a waterslide, here’s our roundup of the newest and hottest toys.

relates to Floating Mansions and Diving Drones! Summer’s Hottest Water Whizbangs
Parajet Paramotors soar up to 500 feet in the air.
Photographer: Steve Thomas

Thrills

Four craft for the adrenaline junkie

PARAJET PARAMOTOR VOLUTION 3
You may have wondered about these flying whizbangs after spotting one soaring along a beach in the Hamptons or Miami. The love child of a paraglider and a fan boat from the Everglades, the Parajet was dreamed up by flying enthusiast Gilo Cardozo, who wanted to share his love of aviation. Strap one on—the Volution is the sturdiest of the range—and you can soar as high as 500 feet at speeds that reach 50 mph, weather willing. (Pro tip: The air is less bumpy at sunset and sunrise.) Just book a few lessons first. $8,395

relates to Floating Mansions and Diving Drones! Summer’s Hottest Water Whizbangs
WhiteShark MixPro underwater scooter
Source: Sublue

SUBLUE WHITESHARK MIX PRO
Cousteau-inspired explorers keen to chart the depths of the oceans on film should pick up this double-propeller sea scooter. It can duck more than 130 feet below the surface, pulling a swimmer behind it at up to 6 feet per second. Better yet, fix a smartphone in the waterproof camera mount to record every moment. The scooter is designed to be used by anyone 8 or older—a detachable floater can keep kids from diving more than a few feet deep. $699

relates to Floating Mansions and Diving Drones! Summer’s Hottest Water Whizbangs
Zapata Flyride
Source: Zapata

ZAPATA FLYRIDE
Former world champ Jet Ski racer Franky Zapata founded his company more than two decades ago to devise wacky water toys like the Flyride, a narrow Jet Ski-like device that can shoot into the air on plumes of water. There’s room for two, so a parent can hop on with an adventurous kid as young as 5. (They can also use the wireless remote to curb a teen’s crazier ambitions.) With 300 horsepower, it offers a top speed of 22 mph—and a button will initiate a barrel roll. From $9,285

SEABREACHER
Think of this fish-shaped, two-seater submersible as a Sea-Doo on steroids; the enclosed pod can leap into the air and duck under the surface at up to 50 mph. It was designed by New Zealand-born boat builder Rob Innes, who considers it more like an aircraft than a watercraft, because it’s able to operate on three axes of control. With a little practice, a pilot can even do 360-degree barrel rolls while skipping across the water. The styling of the chassis adds a witty touch: Take your pick from sharks, whales, or dolphins. The company custom-builds only about two dozen of the craft each year. From $85,000

relates to Floating Mansions and Diving Drones! Summer’s Hottest Water Whizbangs
Hanse 348
Source: Premiere Marine

Chills

For casual fun, try a drone, a kayak, or your own mini pool

HANSE 348
Based on Germany’s Baltic Coast, Hanse was founded by Michael Schmidt, a former winner of the Admiral’s Cup regatta. The vessels from his company deftly combine top performance—a self-tacking jib is standard to maximize ease of handling—with smart layouts and design. It’s a combination that earned this craft the title as Cruising World’s best value sailboat two years ago. Pick between a two- and three-cabin version, and you’ll enjoy the great light and clean lines below deck. $170,800

NAVATICS MITO
A student project at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology led to this 5-year-old startup, which specializes in naval robotics. Its 7.6-pound Mito underwater drone streams footage to an app from as far away as 1,600 feet. The tethered 4K device has two 1,000-lumen headlights for visibility at depth, and four-thruster stabilization keeps the camera steady in rough currents. $1,999

relates to Floating Mansions and Diving Drones! Summer’s Hottest Water Whizbangs
A handmade Preszler canoe.
Photographer: David Benthal

TRENT PRESZLER CANOES
When Preszler inherited his father’s woodworking tools seven years ago, the avid outdoorsman spent 14 months teaching himself how to build a wooden canoe from scratch. Preszler, who’s based in Mattituck, N.Y., now juggles his day job running a winery and selling bespoke, handmade canoes to clients. Each boat, often using exotic woods such as red cedar and purpleheart, takes at least a year to complete. From $100,000

TARPON 120 FISHING KAYAK
Nimble but sturdy, this 12-foot-3-inch sit-on-top kayak with a short waterline is perfect for fishing in creeks. The American-made craft is packed with user-friendly details, including gear tracks to secure rods and accessories as well as a paddle holder on the bow to free up your hands. The self-bailing hull retains buoyancy even when waters are choppy; best of all, it’s dog-friendly. From $999

relates to Floating Mansions and Diving Drones! Summer’s Hottest Water Whizbangs
Beau Lake Rapid 14’
Source: Beau Lake

BEAU LAKE PADDLEBOARDS
With Club Monaco founder Joe Mimran among its advisers, it’s no surprise this Canadian company produces paddleboards that emphasize beauty as much as function. Made with epoxy resin and other performance materials, they’re finished with mahogany and Macassar ebony, among other options. Pair yours with the equally stylish paddles, which start at $350. From $2,950

YACHTBEACH LUXURY POOL
Avoid jellyfish stings using this pool, which has an ultrafine PVC mesh stretching almost 8 feet down into the water. The largest, superyacht-aimed option includes a 19-by-13-foot boardwalk with a comfy foam top that’s wide enough for sunbathers to linger near the swimmers. €6,799 ($8,270)

relates to Floating Mansions and Diving Drones! Summer’s Hottest Water Whizbangs
Inside the four-bedroom Arkup 75.
Source: Arkup

Frills

You don’t need a yacht to impress out on the water

ARKUP 75
The ultimate overwater bungalow, Arkup’s two-story glass-box-like villa can be permanently tethered to a dock or cruise at a leisurely 7 knots under its own power. The open-plan four-bedroom structure has 2,600 square feet of indoor living space that connects to a retractable 450-square-foot deck. Its eco-credentials are impressive: Solar panels on the roof supply power, and tanks collect and purify rainwater for drinking and bathroom use. Sadly, the prototype has already sold, but the company is building several custom projects riffing off the same design, as well as planning smaller, marginally more affordable models. From $5.5 million

PREMIER ESCALANTE PONTOON BOAT
There’s no better party venue than this 35-foot double-decker pontoon, with room for up to 20 people: A stairway turns into a slide from the upper deck straight into the water. Need we say more? The design incorporates more practical measures as well, including a hard-sided changing room/bathroom, plus a refrigerator, sink, and wine cooler. With 800 horsepower or more, the Escalante is packing as much power as some speedboats. Just make sure not to leave anyone behind. From $154,150

ROM 28
The aptly named ROM, which stands for Rebuild Ocean Motivation, will construct a boat your way at its shipyard in Aveiro, Portugal. Former technology consulting executive Jorge Martins founded the startup four years ago to bring superyacht customization to smaller craft, upgrading workaday designs in a sleeker, sportier style. When Martins unveiled this specific model in January, he promised only 20 of the eight-passenger 25-footers would be made; just 14 remain. From €230,000

relates to Floating Mansions and Diving Drones! Summer’s Hottest Water Whizbangs
The BigAir Yacht Blob isn’t as deadly as it looks, we promise.
Source: FunAir

BIGAIR YACHT BLOB
This classic lake toy was first developed in Texas from an army-surplus fuel bladder. Like a seesaw, when someone jumps onto a specific spot from a boat, the force will propel anyone sitting at the other end up to 30 feet in the air. Austin-based FunAir has reengineered the blob for use on the ocean, adding stabilizer outriggers to prevent it from turning over and an inflatable stand-off to stop anyone from bashing back into the hull after they jump. It takes only around 20 minutes to set up.$4,000

NAUTIBUOY FLOATING PLATFORMS
Countless companies produce platforms like this that can be jigsawed together to create a pontoon at the back of any vessel, be it speedboat or superyacht. The big differentiator for this British company’s offerings is the quality of construction, with drop-stitch cores and strong, durable PVC borders. NautiBuoy’s own ballast system keeps the platforms stable, and the teaklike finish is stylish and slip-resistant. Buy one to act as a parking slot for your Seabob or Jet Ski, and attach it to another for an impromptu, al fresco cocktail lounge.From €3,805

relates to Floating Mansions and Diving Drones! Summer’s Hottest Water Whizbangs
Knock yourself—or a friend—out with a Yacht Joust.
Source: FunAir

YACHT JOUST
Anyone prepping to compete on Wipeout can finesse their dueling skills with a few sessions on this inflatable platform 5 feet above the water. The lightweight batons are easy enough for kids and adults to handle. Yacht Joust can be secured almost anywhere—in a small cove or close to a beach to drum up some cheers or jeers from spectators—and packs down to the size of a carry-on bag. $8,000

AQUAGLIDE RESIDENTIAL MINI PARK 4
Install this 38-foot-long inflatable obstacle course behind your boat or lakefront home. The main appeal is a 10-foot, high-velocity slide, complete with an interior mesh floor at the bottom for safer splashing. You can also loll on the water, safe from the sun, under the roof of the Ohana lounge platform. Small decks connect the two elements, making it a cinch to hop into the splash zone. And if you want to expand your water park, other Aquaglide inflatables attach easily. $8,600

click here for source website 

Waterstudio.nl - Tiny Floats

Morsowanie w architekturze, czyli budynki na wodzie

By JS
Labe
2021.January.19

W 2020 roku wszyscy piekliśmy chleb, w tym morsujemy. Zawsze pozytywnie reagujemy na trendy, które niosą za sobą korzystne skutki, np. zdrowotne, a morsowanie niewątpliwie zalicza się do tej kategorii. W architekturze również mamy do czynienia z czymś w rodzaju morsowania – mowa tu o budynkach na wodzie. Poniżej przedstawiamy najciekawsze przykłady tego rodzaju architektury.

Autor: JS

Zdjęcia: i29/Ewout Huibers, Waterstudio.NL/Arkup, Waterstudio.NL/tinyfloats

Unoszący się dom

Unoszący się dom (ang. Floating home) zlokalizowany w Amsterdamie, zaprojektowany przez architektów ze studia i29 jest częścią Schoonship – wioski składającej się z 46 gospodarstw domowych. Celem projektu jest stworzenie najbardziej zrównoważonej ekologicznie społeczności zamieszkującej domy na wodzie w Europie. Dzielnica zakłada pełne wykorzystanie energii wodnej, minimalizację odpadów i tworzenie warunków sprzyjających rozwojowi różnorodności biologicznej.

Właściciel pragnął, aby dom wyróżniał się wyjątkowym kształtem, co bez wątpienia się udało. Atutem tego budynku jest jego zmieniająca się forma zależnie od strony, z której na niego patrzymy.

Jednocześnie widok z wewnątrz domu jest bardzo różnorodny, bo zapewnia dostęp do krajobrazu z kilku stron.

Mimo surowości budynku wynikającej z kształtu i koloru elewacji, wykorzystanie do jego budowy desek oraz ulokowanie budynku na wodzie sprawia, że jest w tym projekcie pewne ciepło. Dom niewątpliwie wyróżnia się na tle sąsiadujących budynków, ale jednocześnie doskonale się z nimi komponuje.

Willa Arkup

Oprócz faktu, że ten wyjątkowy budynek pływa i tym samym może łatwo zmieniać swoją lokalizację, jest odporny na huragany. Kwestia ta jest szczególnie istotna z uwagi na położenie willi w Miami, czyli w miejscu, w którym problem występowania huraganów nie jest obcy jego mieszkańcom.

Projekt Koena Olthuisa z Waterstudio jest odporny na sztormy dzięki możliwości podniesienia budynku na ponad 3 metry nad poziom wody, co sprawia, że znajduje się wtedy poza zasięgiem silnych fal.

Nie sposób pominąć faktu, że w wyniku ocieplenia klimatu wielu miastom grozi zalanie przez wrastający poziom wody. Takie budynki jak willa Arkup mogą być jedną z odpowiedzi na ten problem.

Hortusboatanicus

Projektanci z Waterstudio patrzą w przyszłość również w przypadku tego domu. Architekt Koen Olthuis, autor projektu, na swoim Instagramie podpisał zdjęcie tego budynku słowami: „Wyhoduj sobie swój obiad na dachu”.

Niewątpliwie umożliwia to dom na wodzie ze szklarnią stworzoną na dachu budynku.

Podkreśla taką możliwość przewrotna nazwa projektu, czyli Hortusboatanicus, która została zaczerpnięta od Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, czyli jednego z najstarszych ogrodów botanicznych na świecie, założonego w 1638 roku. Zastąpienie słowa „botanicus” na „boatanicus” trafnie oddaje charakter tego wyjątkowego domu. Smacznego!

Click here for source website

Solar powered yacht – sails and moors for off-grid escape

By Karing Kloosterman
Green Tech and Gadgets
2020
.Aug.19

solar powered home yacht can moor like a barge in Amsterdam

A movable home that can plunge its support deep into the water against hurricanes, or be brought on land to live off-grid.

I grew up as a Dutch girl in Canada. Among part of our family’s storytelling and legends was the tale about the Dutch boy who plugged a dyke with his thumb to save his town, the country, the world? from an encroaching sea. The flatlands people of Holland or The Netherlands as you might call them are at home with the idea of climate adverse consequences.

artuk's solar power house boat roams to any city

The houseboat reimagined

The national psyche is built on man against nature or man with nature, and for that the Dutch people have been reasonably doing unreasonable things against climate change and for helping the environment. See our article on the extraordinary city of Rotterdam, the home to one of resident writers, or Boyan Slat, who boldly plans to clean up the seas with his plastic-corralling invention.

fly in with your helicopter to this solar powered house boat

Whatever floats your boat. Call it a yacht, a barge, a houseboat, but it’s not a tiny home.

While Americans might rather escape to Mars with Elon Musk, the Dutch are battening down the hatches and are offering more reasonable approaches to dealing with Mother Nature, or an angry Mother Nature. Consider the Dutch firm who has designed a solar powered yacht that can lower stilts for a more permanent mooring.

Like the modern trailer also known as the #tinyhome or #vanlife, this yacht appeals to a certain eco personality that might also want to settle like the barge dwellers in Amsterdam. It is not your father’s houseboat.

solar power houseboat

Full speed ahead

The solar powered boat is created by the Dutch architecture studio Waterstudio.NL for the yacht maker Arku in Miami, with an option of it becoming an off-grid home.

The craft is 75 feet long, is fully solar-electric, mobile and self elevating. This turn-key vessel is furnished and decorated in style by the acclaimed Brazilian furniture company, Artefacto.

interior design of solar power houseboat yacht

Interior designed to be as fancy as this concept houseboat

The first one is for sale at a cool price of $5,500,000.

iconic looking housboat

Have the captains drooling. This does not look like a houseboat. Transforms into stilted urban getaway at the port.

Arkup is a Miami, US-based company founded in 2016, to pioneer next-generation floating homes. The company rethinks life on water with its fully solar-electric, mobile and self-elevating livable yachts they call “future-proof blue dwellings.”

Weather and future proof, rain harvesting too

These livable yachts feature zero emission and silent electric propulsion which provide mobility and maneuverability. An automated hydraulic lift system, allowing the vessel to put down a stable foundation in up to 20 feet of water, ensures stability and hurricane resilience.

sailing away solar powered yacht into the sunset

Sail away with me. Or anchor for the night?

The livable yacht has four bedrooms in 2,600-square-feet of indoor space, with 4,350-square-feet in total, including its terraces and balconies. To achieve its sustainability objectives, the Arkup design is 100 percent solar-powered and has systems for harvesting and purifying rainwater, for complete independence.

With Covid and potentially other climate change disasters facing us, let’s start saving? The other option might be our collective thumbs in the dyke.

Click here for source website

Click here for pdf

Будинок-яхта: в Нідерландах розробили віллу, яка зможе ходити морем – фото

2020.Aug.19

Проєкт поки лишається лише в планах
Проєкт поки лишається лише в планах / Dezeen

Нідерландська студія архітектури Waterstudio.NL створила електричну яхту-віллу, яка буде автономною та зможе ходити на воді. 22-метрове судно у вигляді будинку можна буде закріплювати до дна або ж самостійно передислокувати на інше місце.

Віллу назвали Arkup 75, а проєкт планують реалізувати поряд з якимось із перенаселених міст, пише Dezeen.

Основа вілли є гібридною, адже будинок може плавати як звичайна яхта та легко протистояти морю. Але у разі виникнення шторму, приміщення підіймають над водою 12-метрові палі, які кріпляться до дна.


Будівля без проблем триматиметься на морі / Фото Dezeen

Оскільки “Аrkup” плаває, він може справлятись із звичайними хвилями, але коли активуються палі, будинок виштовхується з води,
– розповів архітектор.


Так будівля виглядає у статичному положенні / Фото Dezeen

Разом з гібридним фундаментом, приміщення обладнане електричною системою, що працює на сонячних батареях, а також технологією збору дощової води, що робить будинок автономним.

Сонячний панелі охоплюють весь дах, щоб забезпечити електроенергією систему кондиціонування, приладів, освітлення, та всіх інших операційних систем на борту.


Єдина проблема – відсутність місця для вирощування власних харчів / Фото Dezeen

Arkup 75 розроблений так, щоб нагадувати гладку прямокутну прозору коробку, з якої відкривається вид на океан, а стінки виготовлені зі скловолокна, мають також висувну терасу та великі розсувні вікна.


Так вілла виглядає всередині / Фото Dezeen

Вілла має житлову площу 404 квадратних метри і, теоретично, може перебувати у відкритій воді допоки якась із систем не вийде з ладу або закінчиться електроенергія чи вода.


Мешканці також матимуть терасу на “борту” / Фото Dezeen

Waterstudio.NL designs yacht villa that can be raised out of the water

By Cajsa Carlson
News Break
2020.Aug.18

Dutch architecture studio Waterstudio.NL has created a solar-powered electric yacht-cum-villa with retractable stilts that allow it to be raised fully out of the water to become an off-grid home.

Named Arkup 75, the craft was designed for yacht company Arkup with a hybrid foundation that allows it to float when moving, be semi-supported when alongside a dock or fully raised up from the water.

“The design was inspired by the way flamingos stand in the water,” Waterstudio.NL founder Koen Olthuis told Dezeen. “Only a leg in the water and the body untouchable above the surface.”

Arkup 75 yacht villa by Waterstudio.NL
The yacht villa can be raised entirely out of the water on stilts

When it’s not travelling, the 22-metre long vessel can be anchored by four 12-metre steel spuds, which lower to the bottom at depths of up to 7.6 metres to keep it stable.

“As the Arkup is floating it can handle normal waves, but when the stilts are activated the house pushes itself out of the water,” Olthuis added.

“Now the waves can only hit the stilts, which makes it a hurricane-proof building.”

Arkup 75 yacht villa by Waterstudio.NL
The villa can also sail like a regular yacht

Along with the hybrid foundation, a solar-powered electric system, and a rain-harvesting and purification system make it capable of operating off-grid.

A solar array covers the entire roof to provide electricity for air conditioning, appliances, lighting, propulsion and all other operating systems on board.

Arkup 75 yacht villa by Waterstudio.NL
When raised on stilts it is described as a “hurricane-proof building”

Arkup 75, was designed to resemble a smooth, white frame that presents the ocean view as a picture, with glass-fibre walls, a retractable terrace and large sliding-glass windows.

It has a total living space of 404 square metres, is self-propelled and can, in theory, stay in open water indefinitely as long as there is enough solar power to provide energy.

Arkup 75 yacht villa by Waterstudio.NL
Arkup 75 can be fully lifted out of the water

Olthuis believe the yacht’s off-grid system will come in useful in the future, as he thinks sea-level rise and urban growth will lead coastal cities to develop on the water.

“Not just yachts but especially floating structures will take advantage of the space on water around our cities. These buildings are portable and can react to known and unknown changes in the demands of near future society,” he said.

“Covid is such an unknown change that has suddenly raised the popularity of off-grid, off-shore independent living.”

Arkup 75 yacht villa by Waterstudio.NL
The yacht-cum-villa can operate as an off-grid home

The architect added that Arkup is aiming to use the craft to demonstrate features that can also be applied to larger, high-density floating housing that could be built in the future.

According to Olthuis this is something that Waterstudio.NL has been advocating for almost two decades.

Arkup 75 yacht villa by Waterstudio.NL

“The water is being paved for water-based, high-density developments in cities threatened by sea-level rise and urbanisation,” he said.

“Each project is a small step towards those floating neighbourhoods.”

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What lies beneath: our love affair with living underwater

How the 1960s craze for oceanic exploration changed our relationship with the planet

By Chris Michael
The Guardian
2020.Jun.08

In November 1966, the Gemini 12 spacecraft, carrying two astronauts, splashed down in the Pacific. The four-day mission was a triumph, proving that humans could work in outer space, and even step into the great unknown, albeit tethered to their spacecraft. It catapulted the US ahead of the USSR in the space race.

From then, Nasa’s goal was to beat the Russians to the moon. That meant weeks rather than days in space, in an isolated, claustrophobic environment. There was one perfect way to prepare humans for these conditions: going underwater. The world was gripped. If we could land people on the moon, why not colonise the ocean as well?

Nasa scientists were not the first to dream of marine living. Evidence of submarines and diving bells can be found as far back as the 16th century. The literary grandfather of all things deep, Jules Verne, popularised the idea of a more sophisticated underwater life with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1872, but it was in the 20th century that the fascination really took hold.

In the 1930s, American naturalist William Beebe and engineer Otis Barton collaborated on experimental submersibles called bathyspheres which set records for deep diving and opened up the underwater realm of plants and animals to science. Swiss physicist and oceanographer Auguste Piccard created the bathyscaphe (which used floats rather than surface cables) in 1946, and his son, Jacques, was on the record-breaking voyage to explore the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth, in 1960. Auguste also created the mesoscaphe – the world’s first passenger submarine – in 1964.

Jacques Piccard in the mesoscaphe
 Jacques Piccard in the mesoscaphe, the world’s first passenger submarine, which his father, Auguste Piccard, created in 1964. Photograph: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
Dr William Beebe with a bathysphere.
 The bathysphere was invented in the 1930s by Dr William Beebe and was used to explore the ocean floor. Photograph: Chris Hunter/Corbis via Getty Images
The craze for living in the depths, rather than merely visiting, started in the 1960s, when Jacques-Yves Cousteau – inventor of scuba, wearer of red woolly hats and inspiration for ze French Narrator in Spongebob – brought the ocean vividly to life for millions around the world through his documentaries about life aboard his vessel Calypso.To Cousteau, the life subaquatic was, above all, for living. “Being French, he made sure his diving never got in the way of mealtimes,” writes author John Crace of Cousteau’s documentaries. “In fact, food and wine take almost equal precedence with the oceans in these films. No one is ever without a pipe or cigarette in their mouth, either. Except underwater, of course.”Cousteau channelled this vision of oceanic life into his underwater habitats, known as Conshelf (Continental Shelf Station). George F Bond, the father of saturation diving and head of the US navy’s Man-in-the-Sea programme, approached Cousteau with funding from the French oil industry: they wanted manned colonies at sea in order to help with future exploration.

Still from The Undersea World of Jaques Cousteau. The 1960s TV show chronicling Cousteau’s undersea explorations aboard the ex-Royal Navy minesweep, The Calypso
 The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, the 1960s TV show chronicling Cousteau’s undersea explorations aboard the ex-Royal Navy minesweeper Calypso. Photograph: ABC Photo Archives/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images
Jacques Cousteau’s 1964 documentary World Without Sun.
 Jacques Cousteau’s 1964 documentary World Without Sun. Photograph: Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock
Together, Bond and Cousteau built three Conshelfs. The first, in 1962, was suspended 10 metres under the water off the coast of Marseilles, but Conshelf II was a starfish-shaped “underwater village” that sat on the seabed proper, 30 metres down in the Red Sea off Sudan. It contained all the accoutrements of la vie louche, including television and radio. Cousteau used it as a base to explore the ocean in his yellow submarine, descending to 300 metres to capture the deepest footage yet recorded.His team spent 30 days beneath the waves, and in the process changed humanity’s relationship with the ocean by proving that “saturation diving” could allow people to spend long periods underwater. By diving to a certain depth, divers saturate their bodies with the inert gases in air. This allows them to exist at the extreme pressure of the ocean floor. It typically involves breathing a mix of helium and oxygen, to avoid the possibility of the bends and nitrogen narcosis.Conshelf sparked a craze. Sealab, Hydrolab, Edalhab, Helgoland, Galathee, Aquabulle, Hippocampe – more than 60 underwater habitats were dotted across the seabeds in the late 60s and early 70s from the Baltic to the Gulf of Mexico.

American aquanaut Berry L Cannon inside Sealab II
 American aquanaut Berry L Cannon inside Sealab II, developed by the US navy during the 1960s. Photograph: Abbus Archive Images/Alamy
The Cousteaus and their crew
 The Cousteaus and their crew relax after work on Conshelf II, in the Shaab Rumi reef in the Red Sea. Photograph: Robert B Goodman/National Geographic Creative
The craze even inspired two British teenagers, Colin Irwin and John Heath, to raise £1,000 to build Glaucus in 1965, which was little more than a cylindrical steel tank weighed down by old railway ties. “We all thought at the time, ‘This is the future’,” Irwin told the BBC on Glaucus’s 50th anniversary. “We may not populate the moon, but we’re going to have villages all over the continental shelf, and we thought it’s about time the British did the same thing.” They dropped it in the waters of Plymouth Sound and spent a week inside.It is the Nasa missions, however, that remain the most iconic of the 60s underwater living experiments. This is in large part due to the marine biologist Sylvia Earle, one of the most famous explorers of her generation. In 1969, Earle made history with Mission 6, when she and an all-female team of scientists spent two weeks on Nasa’s habitat Tektite (named after meteor remnants on the seabed). This Virgin Islands research facility was for studying aquatic life – marine science, engineering and construction underwater – and small-crew psychology in extreme conditions. The research was for the Apollo missions and the moon landing was just months away.Built by General Electric, Earle and her team would enter Tektite through what she calls an “underwater door” – emerging as if from a swimming pool into the deep-sea two-up, two-down apartment. It was dry, climate-controlled and comfortable, with carpets, bunks and a hot freshwater shower to wash off the salt. It even had a microwave.“Nasa had a team of psychologists watching to get insight into behaviour of living in isolation,” says Earle today. “We were there as guinea pigs: our research was on the oceans, their research was on us.”But Tektite wasn’t just a research station – it was a vision of stylish underwater living. With their scientific gear and Charlie’s Angels wetsuits in their Bond-villain lair, Earle and her team caused a media sensation.

“They called us the aquababes, the aquanaughties, all sorts of things,” Earle recalls with a snort. “We speculated what they would say about the astronauts if they were seen the same way – would they be the astrohunks?”

Habitats such as Glaucus, Conshelf and Tektite were built as tributes to humankind’s abilities, but their true achievement was to spark an entirely different understanding of marine animals. “Back then we could only explore using nets, and just saw dead bodies – not living creatures. Having the continuous interaction allowed us to get to know individual animals,” Earle says. “[In underwater habitats] we could stay, the way you look at bears or birds: we were there for the long haul, 24 hours a day or night. It was possible to see how a little group of damselfish reacted when a predator tried to swipe their eggs, for example.

Peggy Lucas with team leader Dr Sylvia Earle
 Engineer Peggy Lucas and team leader Dr Sylvia Earle in Nasa’s Tektite habitat in the Virgin Islands. Photograph: Bettmann Archive
Artist’s cutaway view of the Tektite II habitat.
 Cutaway model of Nasa’s Tektite II habitat. Photograph: NOAA Central Library Historical Fisheries Collection
Dr Sylvia Earle diving.
 Dr Sylvia Earle diving off Magic Point, New South Wales, Australia, with a Port Jackson shark in 2004. Photograph: The Sydney Morning Herald/Fairfax Media via Getty Images
“You look at a school of fish and they all look alike, but when you really look at them – well, it’s like a bunch of people getting on the New York subway: a fish would say they all look the same, but we know they’re different. Getting to appreciate the individuality of creatures other than humans was a breakthrough for me – it reinforces that you can’t just lump them all together.”But, in 1973, the world was shaken when Opec declared an oil embargo. Energy prices in the west skyrocketed. At first, the oil shock fuelled even wilder fantasies of a watery future, straight out of science fiction. Architects and designers imagined whole cities underwater, fed by hydropower stations, with deep-sea mining using freight submarines.Much like living in space, though, it’s extremely difficult to live underwater. Aquanauts spending months in saturation suffered intense pressures on their body tissues – their brains, nervous systems. There were also interpersonal problems. As the marine biologist Helen Scales notes in her 2014 radio documentary The Life Sub-Aquatic:“If you’ve ever lived in a house with anyone, the first thing you do is storm out if you have a quarrel. You’re not going to do that [underwater].”Advances in robotics changed the game. Much of the research being done by Earle and her colleagues could be more efficiently performed by humans operating devices remotely from the surface. By the end of the 70s, the US government pulled back on its efforts. The moon missions were over. So, it seemed, were the ocean habitats.A few people refused to let the dream die. One was Australian Lloyd Godson. His habitat, BioSub, experimented with sustainability. Fuelled by solar panels, it featured a support system adapted from work by American high school students, with algae removing the CO2 from his exhalations and creating oxygen. In 2007 he moved in. It worked – sort of. “By day 12 I was lethargic, getting really irritated with people asking questions,” he told the BBC. “My wife told me to call it a day.”

In 2010 Godson spent 14 days underwater at the Legoland aquarium in Germany and used a fixed bicycle to set a world record for generating electricity underwater.

The SeaOrbiter designed by French architect Jacques Rougerie
 The SeaOrbiter, designed by French architect Jacques Rougerie. Photograph: Jacques Rougerie
Better funded is the French architect Jacques Rougerie, who has built a career designing underwater habitats and environments. “I had the pleasure of going on Cousteau’s Calypso, participating in expeditions, talking to the crew – and what he created was a fascination for underwater living,” Rougerie says from his office in Paris. “The early explorers opened the chamber of the possible for humanity. When you are underwater you feel like you’re in a new dimension – floating in space, like an astronaut.”Citing Leonardo da Vinci as an inspiration, Rougerie designs sea museums, underwater laboratories and habitats, and his foundation hosts an annual competition for students to conceive of underwater villages. Rougerie himself has twice lived for long periods underwater, and both times he didn’t want to return to land. “Sadness invades you,” he says. “I was happy to come back and see family, but the first thing you think of is the next experience.”Rougerie’s ultimate goal remains that old 1960s dream: a proper underwater village, housing up to 250 people. In his vision, these aquanaut settlers would live in osmosis with the ocean, in a self-sufficient, autonomous community running on renewable marine energy such as tidal power, wave sensors and ocean thermals.Perhaps most ambitious of all is SeaOrbiter, Rougerie’s take on the International Space Station for the ocean. It looks like a floating seahorse: two-thirds of its 51 metres are submerged, with panoramic windows, the lower section acting to stabilise a huge sail-shaped portion above water.“The goal, above all, is to help the climate and biodiversity by exploring across the grand currents of the ocean,” he says. “To float 24/7 on a permanent structure, a combination of men and robots with a scientific purpose.”

Despite Rougerie’s claims that he has secured Chinese investment, SeaOrbiter appears no closer to pushing off.

Indeed, after all the projects of the past 50 years, only one permanent underwater habitat remains on the entire planet: Aquarius Reef Base, a research station run by Florida International University and which sits 20 metres down on the seabed off the Florida Keys.

Fabien Cousteau waves from inside Aquarius Reef Base, a laboratory 63 feet below the surface in the waters off Key Largo, Florida in 2014
 Fabien Cousteau waves from inside Aquarius Reef Base, an ocean-floor laboratory off Key Largo, Florida in 2014. Photograph: Wilfredo Lee/AP
Aquarius plays host to a stream of people – scientists, film-makers, astronauts, even Jacques Cousteau’s grandson Fabien – who want to experience time underwater. As part of Nasa’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations (Neemo), the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, famous for singing David Bowie songs aboard the International Space Station in 2013, used Aquarius to train.But Aquarius is still just a small research station, with room for just six people. In the 21st century, underwater “living” has become almost exclusively the preserve of hotels and resorts that sell “experiences” to guests via underwater glass ceilings and fish windows. The world’s largest underwater restaurant opened in Norway in 2019. Submerged hotels in the Maldives, Fiji, Dubai and Singapore use elevators to take guests below the waterline, and feature amenities such as Poseidon’s undersea chapel (“for a wedding ceremony or vow renewal truly unlike any other”), and are a lot more comfortable than Tektite ever was.Instead, the architects and scientists who still look to aquatic habitation spend most of their time thinking not about underwater cities, but floating ones. Long the refuge of the poorest city dwellers, such as the vast Makoko floating slum of homes on stilts in Lagos, houses on water have become newly popular as waterfront property prices – and sea levels – have risen across the world.So far, most of this effort to colonise the water has gone into land reclamation projects, such as the Odaiba island in Tokyo, or South Korea’s Songdo “smart city”. Architects in Dubai even tried to create a scale model of the entire Earth off its coast. However, reclamation is expensive, and requires constant maintenance to keep the ocean from reclaiming the space. Japan’s Kansai airport is sinking.

Under in Lindesnes, Norway, is the world’s largest underwater restaurant
 Under in Lindesnes, Norway, is the world’s largest underwater restaurant. Photograph: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images
Exterior view of Under
 Exterior view of Under: the restaurant is 5.5 metres beneath the sea. Photograph: Tor Erik Schrøder/AP
Architect Koen Olthuis thinks it’s more natural for cities to spread by floating. His firm Waterstudio builds floating buildings, mainly in the Netherlands, to help cities be more resilient. Recently, Olthuis started adding submerged levels to his structures. “In Holland the licences for dwellings on the water are small, but they say nothing about living underwater.”The goal is partly ecological, Olthuis says. “Ten years ago, it was about proving that a structure did not have a negative effect – but now it’s about also having a positive effect.” He points to the “rigs to reefs” principle where abandoned oil rigs have been transformed into habitats for ocean life. Waterstudio’s Sea Tree builds on that concept: it’s a platform that attracts birds, bees, fish and water plants into a single dense floating structure that can be moved between cities. He says the first Sea Trees have been commissioned by a Chinese developer in Kunming, who was asked to create a tourist attraction after a dam permanently altered the landscape.The Bjarke Ingels Group last year revealed a concept for a buoyant municipality called Oceanix City – a modular system of floating islands clustered in multiples of six to form a kind of archipelago. Meanwhile, the Seasteading Institute, founded by PayPal’s Peter Thiel and the grandson of the economist Milton Friedman, continues to pursue its libertarian goal of floating communities living outside the boundaries of national law. The Chinese construction giant CCCC has a design similar to Oceanix City, while the architect Vincent Callebaut has imagined a city called Lilypad with a series of oceanic skyscrapers that would house 50,000 people.“I see blue cities,” says Olthuis. “Not floating cities. Just a city growing over water, taking advantage of the floating structures but in the same pattern as on land – a kind of Venice but floating, that can be used in New York, Miami … any city that’s threatened by water.”

An artists’ rendering of the Sea Tree project – a structure to attract fish and other wildlife to an area.
 An artist’s rendering of the Sea Tree project by Dutch architects Waterstudio. Photograph: Waterstudio
OceanixCity – a modular system of floating islands clustered to form an archipelago. Concept by Bjarke Ingels Group
 Oceanix City – a proposed modular system of floating islands form an archipelago. Photograph: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group
Aerial view of Oceanix City
 An aerial view of Oceanix City. Photograph: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

The craze for deep-sea living wasn’t entirely folly, though. Rougerie says that time beneath the waves changes our outlook on the planet, helping inspire the environmental movement. It’s why continues to sponsor the competition to design underwater cities. “The biggest threat to our ocean is man: pollution, chemical and plastic. But I’m convinced that the young have a conscience and they’ll do everything in their power – they’re totally committed and willing to find a solution.”

Sylvia Earle, too, believes that man’s understanding of the universe has been changed by underwater exploration. “In the last 50 years,” she says, “two major things have happened: the expansion of our technology into the skies above – which has given us great insights into the blue speck in the universe that we couldn’t understand any other way – and going deep in the ocean, which has also changed everything.

“It has taught us that life exists everywhere, even in the greatest depths; that most of life is in the oceans; and that oceans govern climate. Perhaps because we’re so terrestrially biased, air-breathing creatures that we are, it has taken us until now to realise that everything we care about is anchored in the ocean.

“It’s the ocean that drives planetary systems – and we have done more harm to our life-support system in the last 50 years than we have in all previous human history,” she says. “If we fail the ocean, nothing else matters.”

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Arkup#1 Miami

By Antony Funell
ABC Australia
2019.Dec.18

La casa galleggiante di lusso autosufficiente

L’ultima frontiera del lusso abitativo a Miami

Arkup#1 Miami è una vera e propria houseboat lunga 22,9m, si sviluppa su 2 piani e comprende 404 mq di superficie coperta.

La progettazione è frutto del lavoro tra lo studio americano Arkup e l’architetto olandese Koen Olthuis con un team di oltre 20 specialisti provenienti da 5 Paesi diversi ed è stata commissionata dall’amore del proprietario per gli yacht ed il mare.

Arkup#1 Miami: la casa galleggiante di lusso autosufficiente

La sua caratteristica più interessante rispetto ad altre case galleggianti sono i suoi 4 pilastri idraulici telescopici che possono essere dispiegati ad una profondità di 6m per stabilizzare l’abitazione e sollevarla dal fondale al di sopra della linea di galleggiamento, al fine di evitare onde e ridurre la manutenzione dello scafo.

Arkup#1 Miami: la casa galleggiante di lusso autosufficiente

I progettisti hanno anche certificato che è classificata per resistere ad uragani di categoria 4 fino a 250 mph (250 km/h). Nell’Arkup#1 troviamo anche pannelli solari da 36 kW e batterie fino a 1.000 kWh sufficienti ad alimentarla autonomamente.

L’acqua piovana viene raccolta dal tetto e purificata per renderla potabile ed è dotata di ogni comfort: internet, tv e radio. La casa è azionata da una coppia di propulsori azimut elettrici da 100 kW (134 CV), che le consentono di raggiungere sino a 7 nodi di velocità (13 km/h), senza l’utilizzo di carburanti.

Arkup#1 Miami: la casa galleggiante di lusso autosufficiente

La casa è molto luminosa e perfettamente climatizzata, si sviluppa su una pianta rettangolare regolare cinta da ampie vetrate. Al piano terra: salotto, zona pranzo, cucina, bagno e la terrazza esterna di ben 77 mq con angolo cucina ed area relax.

Arkup#1 Miami: la casa galleggiante di lusso autosufficiente

Al piano superiore, ci sono 4 camere da letto, ognuna con bagno privato. Gli interni sono caratterizzati da linee pulite ed un’estetica minimalista in cui domina il bianco. I mobili sono progettati su misura e realizzati con materiali sostenibili.

Questo gioiellino è ora in vendita per 5,5 milioni di dollari!

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