Recently, UN-Habitat and technology company Oceanix unveiled a model city called OCEANIX Busan at the United Nations headquarters. Located in the bustling city of Busan, South Korea, Busan on the Sea is a project jointly operated by the United Nations, the Busan City Government and the technology company Oceanix to create the world's first resilient and sustainable floating city. The project plans to build a blueprint for a modular marine city by building a man-made ecosystem that guides the circulation of energy, water, food and waste.
Image source: oceanixcity.com
"Busan on the Sea" consists of 3 floating platforms, which are connected to each other by sea bridges. After completion, the total area of the city will reach 62,700 square meters. The height of all buildings in the city is controlled within 7 floors to ensure wind resistance. Each building is fanned out, not only bringing a cool and comfortable environment to the interior and common areas, but also effectively reducing air conditioning costs while maximizing the roof area to capture more solar energy. People living in floating cities can travel through the city by boat, electric car or on foot. When completed by 2025, the Floating City will have a capacity of 12,000 inhabitants. Over time, communities can grow and change like organisms to adapt to new needs, growing from a city inhabited by 10,000 people to a thriving sea home for more than 100,000 people.
The United Nations said the main purpose of building "Busan on the Sea" is to provide solutions to sea-level rise caused by climate change and provide a case for creating sustainable lives. As early as 3 years ago, the United Nations has begun to explore the possibility of establishing floating cities. Data show that over the past 140 years, global sea levels have risen by an average of 20 to 22 centimeters. And that's just the beginning, with data from the journal Nature suggesting that rising sea levels are expected to put 2 percent of the world's population at risk of survival by 2050. As the global climate warms, rising sea levels will become a worldwide problem. But the oceans may destroy us, but they may also become new opportunities for our future development. In countries such as Norway and the Netherlands, a number of floating buildings have emerged, and these designs beyond imagination allow us to see the possibilities of life at sea.
Floating Sauna Island Norway
In Norway, saunas are part of life. In the fjord adjacent to the Oslo Opera House, there are many saunas floating. These saunas are like flowing cabins, guests can fade their heavy cold gear in the silver-clad winter, gently step into this warm world, let the hot and humid steam warm every inch of the skin. The traveling boats and cars and the cold winter air are gradually dissipated in the hot and refreshing bath. On this floating sauna island, it is often seen that tourists with bare upper bodies plunge into the clear waters of the fjord one by one, probably because the steam is too enthusiastic, and only the cold sea water can soothe the restless mood.
Image source: oslobadstuforening.no
This floating sauna island is located in the city bay of Bjørvica, which has a total of 6 unique saunas. From the traditional Estonian igloo shape to the simple cube geometry, although the sauna hut is not large, the water bar, the steam room are readily available, and some even have a special performance team to serve the guests. The most interesting thing is the sauna that stops in front of the Astrup Feunli Museum of Modern Art. Norwegian artist Siesel Turas designed a sauna perfume called Liquid Money, where the scent of "money" fills the pores of guests' pores that are expanded by heat with each wisp of steam. Every guest who comes out of this sauna smells of "money".
Global Adaptation Centre Headquarters Office Building, Netherlands
In Rhineport, Rotterdam, Powerhouse Company, an international architectural practice, has created a floating office building for the Global Adaptation Centre. The building adopts a prefabricated construction mode, and all modules use wood as the main building material, which can be dismantled and reused, which can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the building while enhancing the convenience of construction. By using the water of the Rhineport to cool the building and use the roof of the office building as a large energy field, the building is truly self-sufficient. Don't worry about buildings being submerged by rising sea levels, because when the water level rises due to climate change, buildings will float and adapt to the new environment.
Image source: powerhouse-company.com
It's also a practical and interesting building. The suspended balcony provides a permanent "sunshade" without affecting the influx of daylight from large windows onto the office floor. There is also a communal restaurant and swimming pool in the office building, where employees can relax during their breaks.
Kempinski Floating Hotel Dubai
The Kempinski Floating Palace in Dubai is a resort built on water. As the name suggests, the resort resembles a floating palace. Adjacent to Dubai Jumeirah Beach, the 4 sections of the main building are connected by a glass pyramid and equipped with gourmet restaurants, bars, spas and other recreational facilities, and large yachts can also sail in and out of the hotel center.
Image source: kempinski.com
Featuring 12 luxury villas connected by a pontoon bridge, this futuristic resort also comes with 156 rooms, which can be reached by hotel speedboat or your own boat. In addition to this, there is a floating helipad for customers to park their planes.
Blue Real Estate Floating City USA
Before the "Sea City" plan in Busan, South Korea, many real estate developers were eager to move on the treasure land of the ocean. A company called Marine Real estate has developed a floating city project between Miami and the Bahamas called Blue Estate. From the currently public concept, the blue real estate is like coming out of a science fiction movie, the entire city is built with high-performance concrete modules, 1500 meters long, 1000 meters wide, and the area is about half of monaco's land area. A 50-meter-high sea-proof levee is built around the city, and a giant blind curtain that can be automatically rotated can block hurricanes.
Image source: blueestateisland.com
Ocean Real Estate said the floating city would be the safest and most high-tech city in the world. The city has a large area of greenery and a variety of leisure facilities, such as fitness center, swimming pool and so on. In addition to this, the electricity used by residents comes from renewable sources. With the motto of "Freedom, Equality and Prosperity", BlueLand will launch its own set of laws and community guidelines. The city will use a proprietary cashless payment system to process all transactions, and each resident will receive a free bank account for transactions and savings activities. Blue Real Estate said the cost of living in the maritime city would not be much more expensive than living on land, and in addition to rent expenses, the cost of a family of four was about 5,500 Australian dollars (about 25,000 yuan) per month.
Floating airport south Korea
In addition to floating cities, South Korea also plans to build a floating airport in Busan. The airport is a behemoth, covering an area of thousands of square kilometers, but it is often a necessary supporting facility for large cities and islands. In 2021, South Korea's National Assembly approved a bill to build a new airport on Gadik Island, the largest island off the coast of Busan, to address the growing demand for air traffic and boost prosperity in the country's southeastern region.
Image source: investkorea.org
The floating airport is still under planning, and the Ministry of Land plans to begin developing detailed construction plans within this year after conducting an environmental survey. If this process goes well, construction is expected to begin in 2025 and the new airport will be operational in June 2035.
Hotel Swalt Norway
Nature-loving Norwegian-designed landscape hotels will never disappoint you. At the foot of Svatisen, Norway's second largest glacier, Six Senses Hotels has opened the world's first self-generated energy-efficient hotel, the Svart, which will open in 2023. "Svart" means dark blue in Norwegian, and the hotel took the name as a tribute to the deep blue Swatissen Glacier. The ecosystem of the Arctic Circle is extremely fragile, so Swarth Hotels actively advocates energy conservation, using clean energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal energy to generate electricity, achieving energy self-sufficiency and providing an excellent blueprint for sustainable tourism development around the world.
Image source: sixsense.com
To immerse visitors in Norway's pristine mountains, gorges and fjords, the hotel draws inspiration from the A-shaped wooden frames and coastal huts used by fishermen in northern Norway, combining futuristic design concepts with traditional materials and a unique circular design that is bold and stunning. Staying at the hotel, visitors can not only climb the Swatisen Glacier, walk between majestic peaks, steep cliffs and cascading waterfalls, but also watch the Northern Lights at the end of the night and feel the ultimate romance of the Nordics. In the summer, the Swatisen Glacier reaches a pleasant temperature of 23 degrees Celsius, making it the perfect season for kayaking, hiking and cycling.