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Floating homes in Miami

By Maria de Juan
Neomania Magazine
Volume 38
February.22.2019

 

A innovating form of home has been presented at Fort Lauderdale Boat Show by architects Koen Olthuis and Arkup. The first prototype has been built on Miami River in 2018 and is expected to make a revolution in housing history.

South Florida, especially Miami and the Keys, was one of several regions that Hurricane Irma pummeled in early September last year.

The Category 4 storm brought winds of up to 70 mph, destroying hundreds of houses and knocking out electric power for 5.8 million homes and businesses in Florida.

A new type of solar-powered home could withstand future storms and rising sea levels. Created by the architect Koen Olthuis and a housing startup called Arkup, the new design caused great impact at Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in 2018.

Floating houses are completely powered by roof solar panels and have systems to collect and purify rainwater. They include systems that collect and purify rainwater for residents to use for their bathing, kitchen and plumbing needs. Each home’s layout can be customized.

These moveable homes would be able to withstand winds of up to 156 mph, classified as a Category 4 hurricane. They are designed to be buoyed so that when water levels rise during a storm, they will bob with the water.

The luxury homes, which Olthuis and Arkup call “livable yachts,” will feature hydraulic jack-up systems to anchor and stabilise them during storms and hurricanes. They are designed to lift 40 feet above the ocean to prevent flooding.

The team expects each home to cost $2 million to $3 million. Olthuis is known for designing homes on water. His innovating architecture firm, Waterstudio, has concentrated exclusively in floating buildings for over a decade.

In 2006, they created and built a similar house off the coast of De Hoef, in the Netherlands. Unlike with the livable yacht concept and other kinds of houseboats, its owner can’t drive it away.

Waterstudio also designed a floating villa, a floating hotel in Dubai and a floating wildlife habitat tower in Dianchi Lake, near KunmingChina, all completed in 2018.

Koen Olthuis is a young Dutch architect born in 1971. He studied Architecture and Industrial Design at Delft University of Technology. He is founder of the Dutch architectural firm, Waterstudio which specialises in floating structures to counter concerns of floods and rising sea levels. The firm is currently based in RijswijkThe Netherlands.

In 2005, together with Paul Van de CampOlthuis co-founded another company that focuses in developing floating structures.

In 2010, together with David KeuningOlthuis is the author of an innovating book called “Float!: Building on Water to Combat Urban Congestion and Climate Change” (Frame Publishers, 2010).

Olthuis is currently a member of the Flood Resilience Group UNESCO-IHE. The Group in Delft, focuses on establishing resilient urban water management. Often partnering with both private and public organisations, this Group takes a trans-disciplinary approach to enhance te resistance of cities to extreme weather events by incorporating urban water system planning, design and governance.

Koen Olthuis owns eight patent rights on the method for producing floating bases.

The young architect, inventor and book writer was protagonist inTIME Magazine in the article “Are they worthy?”. In 2007, Olthuis was ranked as number 122 in TIME readers’ poll as “the most influential people of the year“, with a rating of 45 out of 100 possible points. He reappeared in the same ranking on November 2011.

Livable yachts and other floating homes are the future of housing, especially in the face of climate change.

We can guess to see more floating neighbourhoods in the next 5 to 10 years. They will probably happen in MiamiNew York and Tokyo.

Cities will start to see the water as an asset for the architecture of the future.

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Koen Olthuis as speaker at Batibouw Brussels

Koen Olthuis  shared Waterstudio’s vision of  ‘The Rise Of The Blue City’ at Batibouw Brussels.

 

By Batibouw
February.21.2019

Op donderdag 21 februari reikt BATIBOUW opnieuw de Belgian Building Awards uit. Tijdens een galadiner, met architect Koen Olthuis als keynote speaker, worden de winnaars bekendgemaakt van vijf architectenawards en één innovation award. De Belgian Building Awards prijzen de realisaties van architecten, bouwheren, studiebureaus en aannemingsbedrijven. BATIBOUW organiseeert dit evenement in samenwerking met redactiebureau Palindroom, de Orde van Architecten, architectura.be en magazine Ik ga Bouwen & Renoveren.

 

Arquitectura flotante ante el aumento de los niveles del mar

By NBC4
April.19.2019

 

Algunas casas flotantes ya existen en un vecindario de Amsterdam.

El aumento del nivel del mar amenaza a las ciudades costeras de todo el mundo por lo que algunos arquitectos y planificadores urbanos están buscando edificios flotantes y anfibios como una forma de adaptación, informó NBC News.

Pueden flotar en las costas o alternar entre flotar y descansar sobre suelo sólido. Waterstudio, una firma de arquitectura del suroeste de los Países Bajos, diseñó nueve casas flotantes que se asemejan a grandes casas flotantes para la ciudad de Zeewolde.

Otro conjunto de viviendas flotantes Waterstudio en Ámsterdam se unirá a un complejo de viviendas flotantes, con restaurante y jardines, que se inaugurará en 2020.

“Fundamentalmente es para la mitigación de inundaciones, pero en nuestro tiempo de cambio climático donde el nivel del mar está aumentando y los fenómenos meteorológicos se vuelven más severos, esta es también una excelente estrategia de adaptación”, dijo Elizabeth English, profesora asociada de la Universidad de Waterloo. Arquitectura en Ontario, Canadá, sobre arquitectura flotante.

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Face à la montée des eaux, les maisons flottantes néerlandaises s’exportent

By Annick Capelle
RTBFR.be
December.12.2018
Photo credit: Radouane El Baroudi

Dans un quartier calme de Delft, cinq maisons modernes se reflètent dans un bassin d’eau, créant un effet miroir. Reliées à la terre, par un simple ponton, ces maisons flottent. Olaf Janssen vit dans l’une d’elles avec sa famille depuis 2013. “Nous avons conçu cette maison de façon telle qu’il n’y ait plus de frontière entre la maison et la natureexplique-t-il en ouvrant les deux immenses baies vitrées du sol au plafond.

La maison est construite sur trois niveaux. À l’étage inférieur, les chambres sont littéralement immergées. À travers leurs fenêtres situées en hauteur, le regard frôle le niveau de l’eau. “C’est ce qui rend cet endroit si particulier. De temps en temps, on voit passer un canard ou une oieraconte Olaf en souriant.

Au niveau supérieur, une autre chambre, et même une terrasse sur le toit surplombant le quartier et le parc adjacent. Sous le ponton, des tuyaux flexibles amènent l’eau et l’électricité, et permettent l’évacuation des eaux usées.

Olaf Janssen a construit lui-même sa maison. Son entreprise, “Balance d’eau”, s’est spécialisée dans le créneau des maisons flottantes. Selon lui, le prix de vente de sa propre maison s’élève à 750.000 euros. Un prix normal pour les grandes villes néerlandaises. D’autant que la surface totale de l’habitation est de 220 mètres carrés : “La construction d’une maison flottante coûte 10 à 20% de plus qu’une maison classique. Mais le prix du lotissement sous l’eau, est moins élevé. Donc ça compense le surcoût“.

Le principe d’Archimède

200.000 kilos, c’est le poids de l’habitation d’Olaf Janssen. Et pourtant, elle flotte, comme un bateau. Le secret ? Un immense caisson moulé de béton sous le bâtiment qui permet la flottaison, selon le principe d’Archimède. La structure de l’habitation est légère, ce qui assure une grande stabilité. “Quand il y a beaucoup de vent, ça bouge légèrement. Mais il ne faut pas s’accrocher pour autant.

Pour éviter qu’elle ne parte à la dérive, la maison est arrimée à des piliers immergés. En fonction du niveau de l’eau, elle monte ou descend le long des piliers. “S’il pleut très fort, la maison s’élève. Et donc, on a une vue différente, puisqu’on est plus haut… Une différence de niveau qui, en période de fortes pluies, peut aller jusqu’à 25 centimètres, selon Olaf.

L’eau : la recette de la ville du futur

Depuis plusieurs années, les maisons flottantes se multiplient aux Pays-Bas. On en dénombre près de 2000 aujourd’hui. À lui seul, le quartier d’Ijburg à Amsterdam accueille pas moins de 90 habitations flottantes. Dans ce pays dont un quart de la surface se trouve sous le niveau de la mer, le changement climatique oblige, en effet, les ingénieurs et architectes à réfléchir à de nouvelles solutions face à une possible montée des eaux.

Dans le cabinet d’architectes Waterstudio, à Rijswijk, près de La Haye, le carnet de commandes ne désemplit pas. Sur les étagères, une enfilade de maquettes de maison flottantes. “Depuis des centaines d’années, les Pays-Bas ont été menacés par l’eau. Et puis, ça a basculé. Aujourd’hui, nous ne voyons plus l’eau comme une menace, mais comme une opportunité, commente Koen Olthuis, le directeur de Waterstudio.

Son crédo : faire de l’eau un atout, pour construire des villes plus sûres et efficaces : “Les villes d’aujourd’hui sont très statiques. Avec des bâtiments arrimés au sol que l’on peut difficilement déplacer. En construisant sur l’eau, on fait des immeubles que l’on vient glisser sur l’eau, et que l’on peut changer de place à souhait“.

Des villes entièrement modulables vouées à se multiplier partout sur la planète. “Nous pensons vraiment que l’eau est un ingrédient de la recette de la ville du futur. Dans 10-15 ans, dans des villes comme New York, Miami, Singapour, on utilisera l’eau pour construire des immeubles plus en phase avec le climat.

Koen Olthuis nous montre les maquettes de maisons, voire même de complexes d’habitations, destinés au Canada, à Dubaï, ou encore aux États-Unis. “L’habitation flottante ne cesse d’évoluer, mais pour nous, elle est d’ores et déjà devenue un vrai produit d’exportation.

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These floating buildings are made from thousands of plastic bottles that can withstand flooding

By Lenna Garfield
Business Insider
April.20.2018
Photo Credits:Waterstudio

 

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world when it comes to flooding, storms, and impact from sea level rise.

In 2016, Bangladesh experienced four cyclones – a record number in the country’s recent history. And by 2050, sea level rise could inundate 17% of its land and displace up to 18 million people in Bangladesh, according to Atiq Rahman, the nation’s leading climate scientist.

Extreme weather events already flood many homes, schools, and commercial buildings every year.

An Amsterdam-based architecture firm called Waterstudio has come up with one possible solution: floating structures that can withstand storms.

Waterstudio will deliver five of these structures, called City Apps, in Dhaka, Bangladesh in late November.

Check out the project below.

Waterstudio will soon premiere five City Apps in Korail, a low-income community in Dhaka, Bangladesh. They are portable and can move to different neighborhoods.

Foto: A City App classroom in Amsterdam, Netherlands. source Waterstudio

City Apps can be customized for several types of uses, including classrooms, water filtration systems, medical clinics, or homes.


During the day, one structure will be a classroom featuring 20 tablet workstations and two teaching screens. In the evening, it will be used as an internet cafe.

Foto: A City App classroom in Amsterdam, Netherlands. source Waterstudio

The other four units will consist of a community kitchen, a facility with a public restroom and shower, and another with a back-up generator for electricity. The units are powered by solar panels located on the roofs.

Foto: A City App classroom in Amsterdam, Netherlands. source Waterstudio

The units will be buoyed to the sea floor, and move up and down as water levels rise, helping them withstand storms. They’re designed to be air-tight to reduce the risk of flooding.

Foto: source Waterstudio

The City Apps, which cost $53,000, were built in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Waterstduio CEO Koen Olthius told Business Insider.

Foto: source Waterstudio

Each foundation is made of wooden pallets, wire, and thousands of recycled plastic bottles, which allow the structures to float.

Foto: source Waterstudio

Founded in 2003, Waterstudio is known for its floating structures. It has constructed more than 200 buildings on water around the world, including these floating villas for a neighborhood called IJburg in Amsterdam, Netherlands:

Foto: source Waterstudio

Olthius hopes the City App project will provide valuable resources to neighborhoods in developing nations, especially ones threatened by climate change.

Foto: source Waterstudio

Waterstudio is working with local developers on the project in case they want to build more units.


“Some people live very close to the water — in vulnerable locations,” he said. “They can use these structures to improve their neighborhoods.”

Foto: source Waterstudio

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How floating architecture could help save cities from rising seas

By Kate Baggaley
NBC

 

 

From New York to Shanghai, coastal cities around the world are at risk from rising sea levels and unpredictable storm surges. But rather than simply building higher seawalls to hold back floodwaters, many builders and urban planners are turning to floating and amphibious architecture — and finding ways to adapt buildings to this new reality.

Some new buildings, including a number of homes in Amsterdam, are designed to float permanently on shorelines and waterways. Others feature special foundations that let them rest on solid ground or float on water when necessary. Projects range from simple retrofits for individual homes in flood zones to the construction of entire floating neighborhoods — and possibly even floating cities.

“It’s fundamentally for flood mitigation, but in our time of climate change where sea level is rising and weather events are becoming more severe, this is also an excellent adaptation strategy,” says Dr. Elizabeth English, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Ontario. “It takes whatever level of water is thrown at it in stride.”

NEW KIND OF FLOOD READINESS

From ground level, amphibious houses look like ordinary buildings. The key difference lies with their foundations, which function as a sort of raft when the water starts to rise.

In some cases, existing homes can be retrofitted with amphibious foundations to give people in flood-prone areas a less costly alternative to moving or putting their homes on stilts, says English, founder of Buoyant Foundation Project, a nonprofit based in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana and Cambridge, Ontario. “What I’m trying to do is to take existing communities and make them more resilient and give them an opportunity to continue to live in the place that they’re intimately connected to,” she says.

There are also new constructions built with amphibious foundations, such as a home designed by Baca Architects on an island in the River Thames in Marlow, England. When waters are low, the house rests on the ground like a conventional building; during floods, it floats on water that flows into a bathtub-shaped outer foundation.

Amphibious architecture isn’t about to displace conventionally designed buildings. But experts say it could become the norm in parts of Virginia, Louisiana, Alaska, and Florida, and other areas that are vulnerable to rising seas. “For some communities this might be a saving grace,” says Illya Azaroff, director of design at New York-based +LAB Architect PLLC and an associate professor of architecture at the New York City College of Technology.

FLOATING HOMES

Other architects are taking things a step further and building on the water itself. The Netherlands is a hotspot for such floating construction. Waterstudio, a Rijswijk-based architecture firm, recently designed nine floating homes for the town of Zeewolde. The homes look a bit like oversized floating houseboats.

Waterstudio has also designed a number of floating homes for Amsterdam’s IJBurg neighborhood. Soon these will be joined by a floating housing complex designed by the Dutch firm Barcode Architects and the Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group. When construction is completed in 2020, the complex will have 380 apartments as well as floating gardens and a restaurant.

Floating buildings and neighborhoods are not a new idea, of course. Vietnam and Peru, among other countries, have had floating communities for centuries. But floating architecture could allow cities around the world to grow and evolve in new ways, says Waterstudio founder Koen Olthuis.

Olthius envisions cities with floating office buildings that can be detached and rearranged as needed. “It can be that you come back to a city after two or three years and some of your favorite buildings are in another location in that city,” he says, adding that buildings might be moved close together to conserve heat and separated when summer arrives.

SPREADING OUT

Floating architecture can do more than prevent flood damage. By allowing the construction of buildings over water, it can give cities additional room to grow. Waterstudio is collaborating with developer Dutch Docklands on a planned community in the Maldives that will include 185 floating villas. The flower-shaped development will have restaurants, shops, and swimming pools.

The firms are also collaborating in the Maldives to build private artificial islands that will be anchored to the seafloor. The idea is to provide new places to live for residents of the low-lying islands, which are at risk of being swallowed up by rising seas. “We will let the commercial project show that the construction can work and then work with the government to help the local community,” Jasper Mulder, vice president of Dutch Docklands, told Travel + Leisure.

 

The islands are also meant to offer a sheltered new habitat for marine life.

There are also plans for entire floating cities. The Seasteading Institute, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, hopes to attract 200 to 300 residents for a floating village scheduled for completion in the waters off Tahiti by 2020. Homes and other buildings in the community will be constructed atop a dozen or so floating platforms connected by walkways. Eventually, the institute hopes to create communities built from hundreds of platforms with millions of residents.

“I don’t know if amphibious or floating architecture will go that far, but it is within the realm of possibility,” Azaroff says. “The overarching goal is to, one, keep people safe and, two, to allow the natural cycles to continue. Floating architecture allows you to do that in a really profound way that we didn’t have before.”

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Waterstudio published in “Floating Houses- Living over the water”

Floating Houses –  Living over the water

Two projects of Waterstudio are published in the book “Floating Houses –  Living over the water”.

Waterstudio.N L www.waterstudio.n1 Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Photos © Architect Koen Olthuis – Waterstudio.NL

Villa `Ijburg’ – plot 13

This design was done for an Amsterdam urban expansion site where one specific area was designated to have only floating houses. As with the other dwelling for this same area, limitations in the building outline were strict, forcing the design to be clear and powerful’ within these regulations. Pushing the regulations which only allowed half of the top storey to be used. This design quite literally took the complete rectangular outline of the building envelope as a frame in which transparent facades were placed. Within the frame the several functions were placed, defining where the glass paneling should be transparent or closed. The top storey still only occupies half of the floor surface, but the white frame now encloses the remaining outside terrace, visually completing the basic and almost austere volume. Within the frame, glass panels were used with several slightly different colours, adding some subtlety to the scheme.

The lower floor, which is partly beneath waterlevel. contains the bedroom, a bathroom with sauna, as well  as some storage and a study-rooms. On the ground  floor, where the entrance is situated, two blocks in  the layout create an, entrance hallway, and close off  the stairwell, leaving the rest of the surface almost  completely open. The blocks contain the toilet, storage  space, and kitchen equipment. The whole of the floor  is used as a large living-kitchen. On the upper floor the volume containing the living-room was given a curved outline, which give a little playfulness to the otherwise I is geometric appearance.

Waterstudio.N L www.waterstudio.nl Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Photos © Architect Koen Olthuis – Waterstudio.NL

Villa jjburg’ – plot 3

This plan was designed for an urban water-development area in Amsterdam. Strict limitations of the building envelope and 2,5 storeys,, while maximizing effective floor space for the principal, forced the designers to, come up with a strong architectural principle that organized the dwelling with only modest means. The location at the end of the pier, where the view should be focused on the water while shielding off the dwelling from adjacent houses, provided the initial starting point. The architectural concept comprises of two basic shapes, filled in with glass panels. The main volume is enveloped by a white stucco slab that runs along the le storey floor, covers the entire back wall and roof, forming a continuous line that frames the living area and the open view. This simple yet elegant shape is complemented by a second shape in wood formed by the terrace floor and curving up to form the banister. Together, these two simple gestures define a distinct, almost iconic appearance.

On the lower floor, which is partly below waterlevel, three bedrooms and the bathroom are situated. The ground floor is largely an open layout where only the toilet and some storage space separate the entrance area from the main space. Two large swinging doors can be used to close off the hallway. A neatly designed cupboard containing television is the only main element in the open space. Behind this, two stairs lead to the lower storey and to the working-area on the top floor. The ceiling of the living room is made in the same wood as the outside shape to really carry through the concept of the two curved shapes making up the dwelling.

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Koen Olthuis bij WNL Op Zondag, 4 februari 2018

WNL
Feb. 4 2018

De zondag begint met Rick Nieman. Met nieuws, vrolijke kwesties en prominente gasten. Partijleider Henk Krol van 50Plus strijdt tegen de aflosboete. Anna Dijkman over de nieuwe serie Stand van Nederland. Jeroen van Koningsbrugge en Dennis van de Ven over politieserie Smeris. Architect Koen Olthuis met een fascinerend verhaal over drijvende steden.

WNL Op Zondag

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