Floating neighborhoods, the Dutch bold solution to a sinking world

These projects are not limited to European countries such as the UK, France and Norway, but also apply to French Polynesia and the Maldives, a country in the Indian Ocean where rising sea levels pose an existential threat.

There are even proposals to build floating islands in the Baltic Sea and build small cities on them.

Houseboats can be built on any coast and can withstand flooding from rising sea levels and rain by staying above water.

Unlike houseboats, which can be easily unmoored and moved, houseboats are attached to shore, often on steel poles, and are usually connected to local sewage systems and electrical grids.

Structurally, it is similar to a house built on land, but instead of a basement, it has a concrete hull that acts as a counterweight, allowing it to remain stable underwater.

In the Netherlands, these are usually three-storey square prefabricated terraced houses built on separate sites using traditional materials such as wood, steel and glass.

For cities facing worsening flooding and housing land shortages, floating homes could serve as a model for expanding urban housing in the era of climate change.

Founded by Koen Olthuis in 2003. water studioa Dutch architecture firm specializing in floating construction, claims that the relatively simple nature of houseboats is perhaps their biggest advantage.

The homes he designs are stabilized by pillars dug approximately 65 meters deep and fitted with shock absorbers to reduce the sensation of shaking from nearby waves.

When the water level rises, the house rises, and when the water level falls, the house falls. But despite their apparent simplicity, Orthuis argues they have the potential to transform cities in ways not seen since the introduction of elevators that pushed skylines upwards.

“We now have the technology and the possibility to build on water,” says Orthuis, who has designed 300 floating homes, offices, schools and health centers. He added that he and his colleagues “think of themselves as city doctors, not architects, and they think of water as medicine.”

The idea is not so far-fetched as the Netherlands is largely built on reclaimed land, with a third of it below sea level. In Amsterdam, where there are nearly 3,000 officially registered traditional houseboats on the canals, hundreds of people are moving into houseboats in previously abandoned neighborhoods.

Scoon tip designed by a Dutch company space & matter, It consists of 30 homes, half of which are duplexes, next to a canal in a former industrial area. The district is just a short ferry ride from central Amsterdam, where many of its residents work.

Community members share almost everything, including bicycles, cars, and food purchased from local farmers. Each building has its own heat pump, and about a third of the roof is devoted to green space and solar panels. Residents sell their surplus energy to each other and to the national grid.

“For us it is normal to live near water, and that is exactly the goal,” says Dutch television director Marjan de Block. He started the project in 2009 and organized a group of architects, lawyers, engineers, and residents to carry it out.

Located 90% below sea level and home to Europe’s largest port, Rotterdam is home to the world’s largest floating office building as well as a floating farm where robots milk cows and supply dairy products to local supermarkets.

Since the opening of the Floating Pavilion, a solar-powered meeting and event space in the Port of Rotterdam in 2010, the city has seen floating buildings as one of the pillars of its climate change adaptation and resilience strategy and has stepped up its efforts to integrate projects of this type.

“Over the past 15 years, we have reinvented ourselves as a delta city,” says Arnaud Molenaar, Rotterdam City Council’s head of resilience. “We don’t just see water as an enemy, we see it as an opportunity.”

To protect cities from climate change, in 2006 the Dutch government implemented the “Space for Rivers” program, which strategically floods certain areas during heavy rains.

This paradigm shift is about adapting to rising water levels rather than resisting them.

Orthuis said the Netherlands’ housing shortage could increase demand for houseboats, even in “room-for-the-river” areas where flooding is part of the landscape for at least part of the year.

Experts say one million new homes will need to be built over the next 10 years to alleviate the Netherlands’ housing shortage. Houseboats could help relieve pressure on the lack of land available for development.

Dutch companies specializing in floating structures are also receiving a number of requests from overseas developers for more ambitious projects.

blue 21is a Dutch technology company specializing in floating structures and is currently working on developing a series of floating islands in the Baltic Sea.

The development could potentially house 50,000 people and connect to a privately funded $16.9 billion undersea rail tunnel linking Helsinki, Finland, to Tallinn, Estonia. The project is backed by Finnish investor and Angry Birds entrepreneur Peter Vesterbacka.

Water Studio will oversee the construction of a floating residential complex near the Maldives capital Male this winter. 80% of Male’ is a lowland area less than 1 meter (3 feet) above sea level. It consists of affordable and simply designed housing for 20,000 people.

An artificial reef will be constructed under the hull to encourage marine life. The building pumps cold seawater from deep to power its air conditioning system.

“The idea of ​​a mad magician building a houseboat is no more,” says Orthuis. “We are now thinking of water as a tool to create blue cities.”

However, houseboats come with many challenges. Strong winds, rain, and even the passing of large cruise ships can cause buildings to sway.

Schoonchip resident Siti Bolen said when she moved in, the storm made her think twice before going up to her third-floor kitchen, where she felt the shaking the most. “I can feel it in my stomach,” he said, adding that he has since gotten used to the feeling.

Houseboats also require additional infrastructure, requiring special waterproof cables and pumps to connect to municipal services on higher ground, and construction work to connect to mains and sewers.

In the case of Schoonchip in Amsterdam and the floating office building in Rotterdam, new microgrids had to be built from scratch.

However, the benefits may outweigh the costs. Rutger de Graaf, co-founder and director of Blue21, says the rise in unprecedented and devastating storms around the world is causing city planners and residents alike to look to water for solutions.

He argued floating development could have saved lives and billions of dollars in damage when deadly floods hit Germany and Belgium last summer, killing at least 222 people.

“If there is flooding, we expect many people to move to higher ground. But the alternative is to stay close to coastal cities and consider expanding to the waterfront,” de Graaf says.

He added: “If we believe that rising sea levels will displace hundreds of millions of people later this century, we must start scaling up water development now.”

*This is a Spanish version of a story originally published on BBC Future. If you want to read the original version, click here.

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