Skip to content
Architecture, urban planning and research in, on and next to water
+31 70 39 44 234     info@waterstudio.nl

Christie’s to Sell the World’s First Portable Private Islands

By Jim Dobson
Forbes
August.2015

 

Christie’s International Real Estate has announced a new initiative to build self-sufficient and eco-friendly private islands around the world for consumers looking for a unique residential opportunity. The world’s first truly portable private islands.

Amillarah Private Islands will allow guests to make their own self-sufficient island and determine its location anywhere in the world. Brands often provide luxury services by adhering to the consumer’s every wish, and Christie’s, along with its partner Dutch Docklands, will be bringing both luxury real estate and customization to a new level with these islands.

“This partnership with Dutch Docklands fits in perfectly with our strategy,” said Michael Sherman, vice president of corporate communications, Christie’s International Real Estate, New York.

Amillarah Miami Island rendering

Amillarah Miami Island rendering

A private island to call your own may sound like a fantasy or a lifelong dream, but with Amillarah Private Islands it is a reality.

Amillarah has created unique tailor-made floating residences designed by famed Dutch architect Koen Olthuis, who was named one of the most influential people by Time Magazine. These completely self-sustainable floating islands are free from environmental impact, safe from rising sea levels, and will create a new underwater habitat for sea life.

Create your own private paradise wherever you want. Not only can you customize the size, shape, and style of your floating residence, but you get to choose where you want it to be located. Miami? Maldives? Dubai? New York?

Amillarah Miami Island rendering

Amillarah Miami Island rendering

Amillarah is the creative vision of expert developer Dutch Docklands. Founded in 2005 by Paul H.T.M. van de Camp and Koen Olthuis, this innovative company is based on hundreds of years of Dutch expertise or “Know-H2OW” in water defense technology and management.

For hundreds of years the Dutch have lead the world in water defense technology, which is why Amillarah Private Islands’ developers Dutch Docklands was the perfect fit to develop these luxury, floating islands. Working globally in cooperation with Christie’s and famed oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society charity, this is the ultimate team.

Amillarah Private Island rendering

Amillarah Private Island rendering

Whether you prefer a romantic styled island surrounded by natural green, your own tropical island with white sandy beaches or a modern urban contemporary styled island, it is up to the buyer.

Amillarah Private Islands are self-sufficient, scarless developments with the latest state-of-the-art green technology, which keeps their environmental impact at a minimum.

Completely stable on the water, the base of the island is built to last for far over 100 years and will create a new underwater habitat for sea life.

Amillarah Maldives Island rendering

Amillarah Maldives Island rendering

MALDIVES

In one of the most beautiful lagoons in the Maldives, the company is developing in a Joint Venture with the Government of Maldives 10 Amillarah Private Islands. The breathtaking lagoon is only a 25-minute boat transfer away from the airport. The islands will all be designed with a maximum of privacy and luxury in mind, giving the owners the ultimate get-away-from-it-all.

Amillarah Dubai Island rendering

Amillarah Dubai Island rendering

DUBAI

The company has signed a deal with OQYANA Real Estate for a total of 33 Amillarah Private Islands within the OQYANA WORLD FIRST developments on ‘The World Islands’ project in Dubai.

The deal was inked in Dubai between Ali O Alghannam, CEO of OQYANA Real Estate and Paul van de Camp, CEO of Dutch Docklands, in the presence of Zeyad Abdullatif Janahi, the Chairman of OQYANA Real Estate Company.

Amillarah Maldives Island rendering

Amillarah Maldives Island rendering

MIAMI

Connected to the Inter Coastal and the Ocean, a 175 acre Lake will be the scene of the first Amillarah Private Islands in the United States.

30 Amillarah Private Islands and a VIP amenity island will service the rich and famous of the Miami upper crust while providing the ultimate bragging rights.

Private boat service, butlers and a well-trained island staff ensure a luscious stay at one of the world’s most talked about developments in recent decade. The Miami islands will be surrounded by the upscale nightlife, restaurants , shopping and entertainment this ultimate destination has to offer.

Amillarah Dubai Island rendering

Amillarah Dubai Island rendering

Click here for the pdf

Click here for the source website

 

An island of my own

By Zoe Dare Hall
The Daily Telegraph
July.2015

 

 

An island of my own

Your own private island cheaper than the average London home

An island might be the ultimate status symbol but 65 per cent are on sale for less than £350,000

In the rarefied world of trophy homes, there’s little that says “I’m absurdly rich” like having your own private island.

Johnny Depp has one in the Bahamas without even a house on it. “That’s a growing trend among island owners, especially celebrities, who like the idea of camping out and not leaving a footprint,” says Kate Everett-Allen, co-author of Knight Frank’s “Island Review”, which looks at the latest trends in island living.

Others prefer to share their private islands, such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who recently paid around $100 million for a chunk of Kauai island in Hawaii.

And a growing band are renting rather than owning, giving them the freedom to island-hop according to the seasons. Knight Frank calls them “wealthy millennials”, while Farhad Vladi, founder of Vladi Private Islands, who deals with many of the world’s island sales, refers to them as the “Facebook generation who like the excitement of island living but not the responsibility of ownership”.

There are currently a few hundred islands for sale ranging from wild, untouched outcrops to luxury hideaways with palatial homes or exclusive resorts. Most expensive is the 222-acre Cave Cay in the Bahamas on sale for $90 million (£58.4 million) with a deep-water harbour, private airstrip and house – plus permission has been given for 38 more properties and a hotel. Or, if you have $62 million, you could buy Halls Pond Cay, which would make Mr Depp your neighbour, both through Vladi Private Islands (0049 40 33 89 89; vladi-private-islands.de).

But 65 per cent of private islands are on sale for less than $500,000, according to Knight Frank, and some are positively cheap if you don’t mind forsaking the warm-watered idyll for something a little nippier on the toes and off the beaten track.

There’s Porcupine Island in Nova Scotia, for example, which Vladi is marketing for just under £30,000. There’s nothing on it, but you get a house on the mainland 800m away as part of the package.

The growth of technology – and the use of private jets – is making islands an increasingly attractive work-and-play option for the super-rich. “It’s much easier if you can work somewhere you enjoy spending time, and with Skype and video conferencing people can work from their islands, as Richard Branson does on Necker,” says Edward de Mallet Morgan from Knight Frank’s international residential department. He’s marketing Yadua island in Fiji with a guide price of $2.5 million-$3 million (020 7629 8171; knightfrank.com) – currently undeveloped but with permission to build overwater and island properties.

Accessibility isn’t a problem for Yadua; it’s 10 minutes by helicopter from Fiji’s main Nadi international airport. But if there’s one issue that is deterring prospective island buyers, it’s the prospect of having to start from scratch, building the infrastructure, installing utilities and finding someone trustworthy to run your empire when you’re off-island.

Buck Island in the British Virgin Islands – price on request through Knight Frank – removes much of that hassle as it already has a 12-bedroom clifftop house surrounded by 43 acres of tropical beauty. “It’s ready to go and with Beef Island’s airport a quick helicopter trip away, you can be master of your own domain but you’re close enough to get away if you need to,” says de Mallet Morgan.

Or easier still is to join the growing band of ultra-rich who are happy to sacrifice being the sole king of the castle in favour of buying into exclusive island resorts – which are driving the 69 per cent increase in private jet flights to island destinations in the past decade, according to NetJets. In that period, the number of private flights doubled in Antigua, Ibiza, the Greek Islands and Majorca. For the super-rich who slum it by flying commercial, the rise in the number of routes to the Balearics has done wonders for their desirability.

“Until 2012, you couldn’t even get direct flights in winter to Ibiza. Now Ibiza and Majorca have an ever-increasing number of direct flights all year, good IT connectivity and sought-after international schools, making them an ideal place for the work/lifestyle balance for young professionals,” says Everett-Allen.

The Caribbean islands of Mustique and Jumby Bay are rare examples of wealthy island communities whose villa owners own a share of the island. “They feel like private villages rather than commercially run operations and Mustique now has fibre optic across the island so it’s easy to work remotely,” says de Mallet Morgan.

You’ll need deep pockets to join them. Many of Jumby Bay’s properties are like mini-resorts with their numerous pavilions, hotel-like leisure facilities and private stretches of beach. The eight-bedroom Ty Molineux, set on eight beachfront acres, is Jumby’s biggest and priciest home, on sale for $28.5  million through Knight Frank. Annual running costs notch up a further few hundred thousand dollars a year (though you can recoup that through prime-season rentals).

On Mustique, the Balinese-style Mandalay – built in 1969 for David Bowie to include his recording studio in a pavilion hidden in the tropical gardens – (pictured below) is on sale for $20m (£13m), also through Knight Frank.

The appeal of luxury island life is also on the up in Bali, which had the greatest price growth in 2014, up by 15 per cent according to Knight Frank, followed by Mustique and Ibiza, in which property prices increased by five per cent. In Ibiza, Calaconta – where the huge, modern villas cost from €2.95 million (£2.10 million) through Knight Frank – has brought a new touch of luxury and concierge services to a peacefully remote spot on the south-west coast.

Barbados, meanwhile – whose properties had one of the highest number of online viewings among island markets last year, according to Knight Frank – may be too developed to offer the sense of getting away from it all, but its property is reaching ever more incredible heights of luxury to cater to the super-rich crowd in search of its inimitable brand of West Coast island luxury.

New to the market is Palazzate, a 75,000 sq ft beachfront mansion near Speightstown with an unprecedented price tag for the island of $125  million (001 246 262 8112; palazzate.com), while a little further down the coast is Platinum Bay, a new development of five beachfront villas that cost from $25  million (020 7647 7667; platinumbaybarbados.com) and come with “bespoke” concierge services tailored to each owner’s demands.

It’s not just the prospect of the hard work and continual expense that is leading to the world’s wealthiest steering away from buying their own private outcrop in favour of a ready-made, like-minded island community. They also face stiff competition from governments, NGOs and environmental organisations who are snapping up undeveloped islands to preserve the natural habitat.

“Ecology is becoming the buzzword for private islands and governments are landbanking them, partly to conserve them but they can also be an electoral winner,” says Knight Frank’s Everett-Allen.

The Canadian government is on an island-buying spree, currently purchasing 100 land masses in Nova Scotia. “It’s also happening in Europe and the Caribbean. There are no privately owned German islands left on the ocean now,” says Vladi, who calculates there are around 12,000 private islands in the world and only about 1,000 of them are developed and likely to remain privately owned.

“As soon as you build a marble palace on your island, it will be out of reach of the nature groups and remain in private hands. But undeveloped islands such as Ginger Island in the BVIs, on sale for $16 million, are ripe for purchase by the local government or conservationists,” he adds.

But while islands in private hands may be dwindling in number, new ones – despite what Mark Twain once famously said about investing in land – are starting to emerge.

Volcanic eruptions are creating new islands each year in Tonga, Russia and Japan, according to Knight Frank, and the growing need for “aquatecture” (homes that will withstand or repel flooding) is leading to the creation of new floating islands such as Amillarah, newbuild, eco-friendly private islands with villas priced from $10 million in Dubai, the Maldives and Miami (0096 033 36664; amillarah.com).

Whether you want to lord it alone over your own land mass or join a select group, whether you buy or rent, build a mansion or camp out like Johnny, there is no lack of luxury island living on offer around the world. And this is one trophy purchase for which you don’t even need to be a billionaire.

Click here for the website

Click here for the pdf

Living with water – Building with nature

By HKIE-YMC
Overseas delegation Hong Kong
2015

 

 

The delegates visited the architectural firm Waterstudio which specialzes in the design of floating building, landscape and urban planning solutions with floating components. Apart from the local developments, they have also worked on several floating projects in China, Unites Arab Emirate and the Maldives.

Click here for the pdf

Ces conceptions et techniques qui font du risque un atout

By Focus

Le cahiers techniques du bâtiment, Dossier risques climatiques

Ces conceptions et techniques qui font du risque un atout

Face a la montee des eaux et aux inondations de plus en plus frequebtes, certains architectes imaginent des solutions constructives qui depassent le simple cadre de l’habitat individuel. l’habitat flottant developpe aux Pays-Bas peut etre une source d’inspiration.

Click here for the full article

Green light for Dubai’s first private floating islands

By Parag Deulgaonkar
Emirates 24|7
June.2015

 

Oqyana World First to have 33 floating houses with own beach, garden and pool

Oqyana Real Estate and Amillarah Private Islands will create will be 33 luxury floating private islands with each having a garden, pool and beach. (Supplied)

Dubai-based Nakheel has given the go-ahead to the developer of the floating islands, which are part of Oqyana World First, on The World, an artificial archipelago of over 300 islands, according to the project developers.

“Nakheel has now granted our project with all the necessary permits in order to take the next step,” Oqyana Real Estate and Amillarah Private Islands said in a joint statement.

The developer claims it was the ‘first’ floating project ‘officially approved’ on The World, which has been developed by Nakheel, a wholly-owned government entity.

In January 2015, the two companies signed a deal to create a series of floating private islands as part of the project located on Australasia.

There will be 33 luxury floating private islands with each having a garden, pool and beach.

“We are offering floating private islands, tailor made to the clients specifications, based on our Dutch heritage of hundreds of years of working with the water,” Paul van de Camp, CEO, Amillarah, told Emirates 24|7.

“We do not want to start any sales before all permits are granted and all technical details are engineered.”

Completely stable on the water, the base of the island is built to last for far over 100 years and will create a new underwater habitat for sea life, the company states, adding, it is building similar islands in Maldives and in Miami in the US.

Oqyana World First comprises high-end villas, apartments, hospitality and retail elements.

In May 2015, this website reported that Kleindienst Group, developer of the Heart of Europe development on The World, had sold 35 of 42 Dh6.5-million ‘floating seahorses’, which will have the master bedroom and bathroom totally submerged underwater, to Gulf Cooperation Council nationals, Europeans and Indians.

The World

The World project is nine-kilometres wide and seven-kilometres long.

It covers an area of 931 hectares and will add 232km to Dubai’s natural 67km of beachfront.

The islands range from 150,000 to 450,000 square feet in size.

The project is divided into private estate island zones, commercial zones, which have low/mid/high density resorts, hubs for ferry transfer points and public visitor areas.

Click here for the website

Click here for the pdf

City App floats at Xpeditie Blauwestad

The Communication App functioned as internet school and café in the temporary city “Xpeditie Blauwestad” in Groningen, the Netherlands

City App on its location at Xpeditie Blauwestad

Children using the City App

Back To Top
Search