Staying afloat (a lesson from the Lower lands)

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

A Dutch family friend of mine lives in one of those neat floating houses in the "water quarters" in Amsterdam which were built back in 2011. He told me about what life is like in such a place, and said that, although the architects were claiming those houses were perfectly stable and their residents could hardly ever feel a tremor, in fact whenever a storm came to the area, they definitely could feel it. "But it's not something one can't get used to, anyway - and I can hardly imagine a home more perfect than this", he concluded.

The floating homes as they're called are simply houses that are put on a huge floating concrete podium filled with styrofoam - unsinkable, as the architects say. It's a specific construction where each of the houses is attached to their respective pylons in such a way that would guarantee their immobility. The good thing is they could change their position if need be, which is a big advantage when you want to adapt to an environment where the sea level is constantly changing.

And change it sure does! The whole idea is that this should be the next step in the Dutchies' attempt to provide a smart response to the increasing sea levels and the larger precipitation levels in recent times, triggered by climate change (sorry climate change deniers, it's exactly places like these where its effects are most clearly observed). About 1/3 of the territory of the Netherlands is under or just at the sea level, and sea levels are gradually rising. It's expected to increase by about a meter and a half within the next century, and 4-5 meters for the next couple of centuries (according to recent scientific estimates).

Meanwhile there's a threat coming from the river levels as well. Obviously, the Dutch have figured they could not withstand all that pressure through dikes alone, so they may be in need of a total rethinking of their approach. This has started to bring a new paradigm in their attitude to water - now they're viewing it as an asset and a chance rather than a threat. It's certainly a challenge, in any case. A challenge to innovation and ingenuity. And the Dutch have never shied away from embarking on huge projects to tackle problems like these, I'm sure you've noticed.

The new "living afloat" strategy strives to find symbiotic benefits from water rather than trying to fight it. The projects that programs like this housing quarters involve, also include water defense systems and encompass more than 30 projects that are supposed to guarantee the safety of 4 million people from the river basins of the Rhine, Maas, Vaal and IJssel, a total worth of 2+ billion euros.

Other countries are already showing interest in this example, among them Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and the US. Envoys from around the world are again looking to the Dutch for expertise and advice. Cities like New York and New Orleans have been trying to defend themselves from the water threats for years, and they're now seeking the cooperation of the Dutch construction engineers.

Countries like the Maldives which are especially vulnerable to this problem, are literally going to be saved from extinction if they implement a version of the Dutch technology, because the rising sea levels are a direct threat to them. In Holland, Utrecht, Friesland, Gelderland, Overijssel and especially Flevoland, life on these floating homes has now become a real fashion, more and more people jumping in on the bandwagon. In the near future the first floating residential complex in Europe will be completed in the Hague.

The whole thing was invented by Koen Olthuis, the "floating Dutchman" who specialized in designing such floating buildings. He turned the unsinkable concrete basin into a platform and placed houses, garages, gardens and terraces on it. He believes the city of the future will consist of a patchwork of such floating platforms, which could be moved here and there at will in case of need. It's a completely new construction paradigm that introduces a crucial element of flexibility and adjustability which in time may become a necessary feature as an increasing number of territories around the world are starting to face similar challenges.

Comments

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

IJburg is about 15 min by bicycle from where I live, we go there often in the summer weekends as there are a couple of city beaches. It's interesting because a decade ago it was just water and now you have a densely populated residential area (about 20k housing units) with better living quality than most of the city, and ultramodern architecture. In fact the whole IJ canal which links the North Sea to the Rhine is one big artificial canal in which artificial lands such as IJburg, Lelystad were built. One of the features of water living is that you pay no land tax, which for normal houses can be as high as 30% of the estate value (over 30 years) in Amsterdam. While there are many water houses and houseboats in other parts of Amsterdam (especially in the center, Waterlooplein / Amstel / Grachten ) the floating houses in IJburg are more sophisticated and perfected technically and for living quality.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of those narrowboat homes that I once saw at the Oxford canal. People use them as holiday apartments, they're connected to the electricity and water grid, they have internet, etc. It's essentially like a floating home, very hippie-style. You spend some weeks living in one place, then you move on to another when you get bored there, I suppose. Pretty cool stuff.

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

The movable aspect is way overrated, I don't think any of the water houses here in Amsterdam are ever moved.



Even for the houseboats to ever move would be very rare, because there are no empty water lots in the city and one doesn't just vacate their lot and travel in an incredibly slow and un-seaworthy boat. Most if not all houseboats are just anchored on their own lot for decades on end and are ever so rarely rebuilt or replaced by new ones.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Now this reminds me of those cool Google offices...

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Old news. Seattle (and the surrounding Pacific NW) has had such floating homes for over a hundred years. Take an old log, lash it to another old log, gather scrap and build. Lash a few neighbors together and you've got a neighborhood (well, not really, since "neighbor" is Dutch for "next farmer", and tilling season is a bitch on the lake; the horses do okay for a while, but damned plows keep sinking and dragging them under).

Thing is, these are cozy neighborhoods, not Waterworld-style oases of resilient humanity. Some are trendy (http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattleafloat/2013/10/11/seattle-floating-home-featured-in-luxury-home-magazine/), some not so much (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Floating_homes_near_1st_Avenue_South_Bridge,_Seattle,_1954.jpg). They depend upon outside food and supplies. Even if the Dutch could house people in barge batches, could they grow sufficient foods on the same cost effectively? I doubt that very, very much.

Complexity is all well and good when the people wishing it have the resources to expend on it. Simplicity is what you get when that proves unaffordable, as cool as it otherwise sounds.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, and the Tanka people in China have been living on floating boat homes for centuries. Take that, Seattle! :-P

Even if the Dutch could house people in barge batches, could they grow sufficient foods on the same cost effectively?

Hello, the Dutch have created an entire province in the sea, and turned it into the most fertile flowerbed of their country. Ever heard of Flevoland?

Theorizing is all well and good - until you actually come to the ground and see real people living in real circumstances.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

And I forgot the artificial islands on lake Titicaca, which probably pre-date those lazy Chinese. Silly me.

Flevoland, the Green Heart of the Netherlands, yes, these are all examples of complexity coordinated over time to gain advantage. Whether it be with windmills or electricity powered by wind turbines, them pumps don't power themselves.

Speaking of theorizing being all well and good, consider complexity and crisis. With rising sea levels expected, the amount of societal and technological complexity required to keep the lowlands land increases; but at a time of crisis, which has a way of forcing simplicity.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Eh, OK (I guess).

[telemann.livejournal.com]

That looks pretty cool! Louisiana is looking into innovative ways to help protect homes and trailer homes from flooding and hurricane storm surge




More @ http://www.buoyantfoundation.org/

[brother-dour.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I wonder if this system would effectively isolate a house from highly expansive soils? Around here we don't have to worry much about wide-spread flooding or storm surges, but man does the 'gumbo mud' wreak havok on foundations.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

I kind of like the idea of feeling the storm :)