It's been a long time since Maldives It is a vacation paradise and the pandemic hasn't dampened interest in its photogenic beaches. Last year, tourism practically returned to its pre-confinement levels, with 1.3 million views, which is pretty close to 2019's 1.7 million.
But now, this country that for so long has been associated only with its private water villas is about to offer a innovative and stable solution for an increasingly worrying problem: the sea level rise. The project has recently been given the green light Maldives Floating City, a set of 5,000 homes linked together and attached to the bottom of a 200-hectare atoll. Their design integrates them with their environment in a sustainable way, following a model respectful tourism with the environment and the culture of the area.
This colorful rendering of the Maldivian floating city gives an idea of what the project will look like when completed.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE FLOATING CITY OF MALDIVES
Just fifteen minutes by boat from Malé, where the international airport is located, the floating city will have hotels, homes, shops and restaurants. True to its commitment to sustainability and local well-being, it will be a totally car-free zone in which the transport will be limited to the bikes and to the quiet and small electric vehicles, such as buggies and motorcycles. Its paths of natural sand can be traveled safely on foot and the channels between the floating platforms can be crossed by boat.
In addition to having affordable housing, with which the locals will be able to live near Malé, international travelers will be able to acquire residence permits with the purchase of houses. The first block of floating buildings, which is already creating the construction Company Bison Maldives, will be taken to its final location very soon, and in August it should already be available for public visits, that will allow you to get an idea of what the houses will be like once they are finished. The construction of the modular city will start in January 2023, Y It will take about five years to complete.
The floating city is public collaboration-private Come in Dutch Docklands and the Maldivian government. The project is based on the dutch technology that allows the construction of flood-proof structures, and will include the founders of the company, architect Koen Olthuis and developer Paul van de Camp.
The channels between the floating platforms can be crossed by boat.
WILL FLOATING CITIES RESIST CLIMATE CHANGE?
The design proposed by the architectural firm water studio it was Finalist for the Best Futura Project at the 2022 MIPIM Awards, awards dubbed the Asian oscars of global development. Urban planning and design are based on multitude of factors, from the sea level rise forecast in the next hundred years to the resource and waste management, passing through the energy network and the shadows that a construction of that size will project on the seabed and its effect on flora and fauna. The structure of the city is, according to the website of the project, “a network of paths and canals inspired by nature” which resembles the beautiful and efficient way in which the stony coral diplomacy, with its peculiar shape so similar to a brain. But his link with nature does not end there. the city too will stimulate coral growth with the artificial reefs below it, which in turn will act as a breakwater to reduce the incidence of water movement.
Diploria stony coral was the inspiration for the fascinating forms of the floating city.
With the imminent threat which presents the climate change, interest in floating architecture as a sustainable alternative is increasing. We have several traditional examples, such as the reed islands of the uru people on lake titicaca waves Manipur Fish Farms, created from floating vegetation. Among the most recent examples we find the waterburt floating neighborhood, in Amsterdam, and hotels like CPHLIVING, in Copenhagen, and Off Paris Seine . If all goes according to plan, the world's largest floating city It will be a reality by 2027.
This article was published in July 2022 in Condé Nast Traveler India.