Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) recently unveiled its vision for Oceanix City, a man-made ecosystem designed to grow, transform, and adapt organically over time, evolving from neighborhoods to cities with the possibility of scaling indefinitely. The idea was shown as part of the first UN high-level roundtable on Sustainable Floating Cities.
Oceanix City would be made up of modular neighborhoods of 2 hectares each that create self-sustaining communities of up to 300 residents. The neighborhoods would provide mixed-use space for living, working, and gathering. The built structures in the neighborhoods wouldn’t rise higher than seven stories to create a low center of gravity and resist wind. The buildings fan out to self-shade internal spaces and the public realm to lower cooling costs and maximize roof area for solar capture. Communal farming makes up the heart of each platform. Underneath the platforms, biorock floating reefs, seaweed, oysters, mussels, scallops, and clam farming clean the water and accelerate ecosystem regeneration.
Six neighborhoods can be clustered around a protected central harbor to create larger villages of 12 hectares that can accommodate up to 1,650 residents. A sheltered inner ring is surrounded by social, recreational, and commercial functions to encourage citizens to gather and move around the village. Residents can use electric vehicles to easily walk or boat through the city.
Six villages can then connect to reach a critical density and form a city of 10,000 residents. A large, protected harbor is formed at the center of the city and each city will include six landmark neighborhoods with a public square, market place, and centers for spirituality, learning, health, sport, and culture. These landmark neighborhoods will draw residents from across the city and anchor each neighborhood in a unique identity.
See Also: AIA awards six projects with the 2019 AIA/ALA Library Building Award
The floating cities can be prefabricated on shore and towed to their final destination, and when this is paired with the low cost of leasing space on the ocean, it creates an affordable model of living that can be rapidly deployed to coastal megacities in dire need.
In addition to BIG, Oceanix City collaborators include: MIT Center for Ocean Engineering, Mobility in Chain, Sherwood Design Engineers, Center for Zero Waste Design, Transsolar KlimaEngineering, Global Coral Reef Alliance, Studio Other Spaces (Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann), Dickson Despommier.
Related Stories
| Feb 15, 2012
Code allowance offers retailers and commercial building owners increased energy savings and reduced construction costs
Specifying air curtains as energy-saving, cost-cutting alternatives to vestibules in 3,000-square-foot buildings and larger has been a recent trend among consulting engineers and architects.
| Jan 9, 2012
Thornton Tomasetti acquires green consulting firm Fore Solutions
International engineering firm launches new building sustainability practice.
| Dec 19, 2011
USGBC welcomes new board directors?
Board responsible for articulating and upholding the vision, values, mission of organization.
| Dec 5, 2011
New York and San Francisco receive World Green Building Council's Government Leadership Awards
USGBC commends two U.S. cities for their innovation in green building leadership.
| Dec 1, 2011
Ground broken on first LEED Platinum designed school house built by volunteers
Phoenix public school receives the generous gift of a state-of-the-art building for student and community use.
| Nov 22, 2011
New Green Matters Conference examines emerging issues in concrete and sustainability
High-interest topics will be covered in technical seminars, including infrared reflective coatings for heat island mitigation, innovative uses of concrete to provide cooling and stormwater management, environmental benefits of polished concrete, and advancements in functional resilience of architectural concrete.
| Oct 20, 2011
Stellar hires Navy veteran Taylor as vice president
Stellar’s federal experience includes military exchanges (large retail stores on military bases), lodging facilities for military personnel, fuel stations, youth activities centers and recreational centers.
| Oct 11, 2011
AIA introduces five new documents for use on sustainable projects
These new documents will be available in the first quarter of 2012 as part of the new AIA Contract Documents service and AIA Documents on Demand.
| Oct 7, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: UL Environment releases industry-wide sustainability requirements for doors
ASSA ABLOY Trio-E door is the first to be certified to these sustainability requirements.
| Oct 7, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: UL Environment clarifies emerging environmental product declaration field
White paper defines EPD, details development process, and identifies emerging trends for manufacturers, architects, designers, and buyers.