Architecture

Lilypad floating city concept

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The Lilypad floating city concept is designed to house climate change refugees
The Lilypad floating city concept
The Lilypad floating city concept
The Lilypad floating city concept is designed to house climate change refugees
The Lilypad floating city concept
The Lilypad floating city concept
The Lilypad floating city concept
The Lilypad floating city concept
The Lilypad floating city concept
The Lilypad floating city concept
The Lilypad floating city concept is designed to house climate change refugees
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With global sea levels predicted to rise significantly over the next century due to climate change, a lot of people living in low lying areas are expected to be displaced from their homes. Architect Vincent Callebaut has come up with a possible relocation destination for these climate change refugees in the form of the “Lilypad” concept – a completely self-sufficient floating city that would accommodate up to 50,000.

With a shape inspired by the highly ribbed leaf of Victoria water lilies, the double skin of the floating “ecopolis” would be made of polyester fibers covered by a layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2), which would react with ultraviolet rays and absorb atmospheric pollution via a photocatalytic effect in the same way as the air-purifying concrete and paving stones we looked at last year.

The Lilypad floating city concept is designed to house climate change refugees

Three marinas and three mountains would surround a centrally located artificial lagoon that is totally immersed below the water line to act as ballast for the city. The three mountains and marinas would be dedicated to work, shopping and entertainment, respectively, while suspended gardens and aquaculture farms located below the water line would be used to grow food and biomass.

The floating city would also include the full complement of renewable energy technologies, including solar, thermal, wind, tidal, and biomass to produce more energy than it consumes. The Lilypads could be located close to land or set free to follow the ocean currents wherever they may lead.

The Lilypad floating city concept

While Callebaut‘s Lilypad concept is admirable in its aim of providing a home for displaced climate change refugees, it seems that these same people would be the last ones to be able to afford a place on what would likely be an enormously expensive piece of real estate.

Callebaut’s hope that the Lilypad becomes a reality by 2100 might also make it too late to benefit those worst affected by any rise in sea levels. Still, like the Green Float and Ark Hotel concepts, it’s an eye-catching design that will hopefully get people thinking about ways to tackle the looming problem of climate change refugees.

Via freshome.

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20 comments
Lucid
Like the article mentions, the problem is the real estate cost. So I really suggest everyone to take look at The Venus Project http://www.thevenusproject.com/ which promotes similar technologies, but the key is to make them freely available to the whole society.
Todd Dunning
So wrong in so many ways. So unworthy of Gizmag, which used to be a science and technology blog, not Mother Jones.

The mere mention of \'Ocean Levels rising\' is not only circa-2006 nonsense, but is scientifically ignorant of the fact that continent-covering ocean level rise of this level has never occurred on the planet, and was never predicted even by the most partisan climate alarmists. It\'s fun to manufacture a crisis like this to look cool to chicks. But sadly, polar ice levels, and ocean levels are the same today as they were 20 years ago. Check the NOAA raw observations instead of \'computer models\'.

The other liberal dream - Social Engineering in the form of cramming us all into somebody\'s beautifully-designed sardine can - looks cool, but humans don\'t work this way. We have our own individual needs and expressions, and won\'t conform to an Eco-Loon\'s idea of a politically correct \'habitat\' - sorry, prison.

Instead, try creating tools that help us individually attain our own goals and accomplishments, including living spaces we can build to our own taste. That may be a little too free-market for eco-lefties to handle, but nature does prevail eventually.
windykites
Why not just build them on the land, on stilts, and then wait for the sea level to rise, or not. Come to think of it, just build all new buildings on stilts. You could use the space at ground level for car parking. Too easy?
Facebook User
@Todd
This idea that individuals should be able to use up earth\'s resources without giving any thought as to the impact this could have on everyone else who lives here will eventually destroy ALL people on this planet. You projected all sorts of nonsense fear mongering into your post and it\'s all bunk. If we continue the way we are with this planet of \"individual\" consumers who all set about destroying the planet that everyone lives on, none of us whether it be individual or collective will survive. The idea that we could continue this endless over-production on a finite planet is itself \"utopian\".
yrag
LOL!
Must be a slow day for science/tech, this Lilypad floating city concept has been \'floating\' around since at least 2007. Same renderings from then too.
Richie Suraci
Looks great, but what if someone pulls the plug on the bottom and it starts to sink.....what happens teh????? Maybe we can make these at a rent contolled levels so social security, social services ad welfare can pay for them...
Todd Dunning
Facebook User... sorry, it\'s not 1972 any longer.

The world is in great shape and will survive for another 4 billion years. Your Hemp messenger bag won\'t really matter to anyone but your own sense of sanctimony.
Daniel Vulikh
@Todd
Wow man, must be nice for you to be omniscient. So easy to see everything when you\'re so high up the food chain.
Go ahead. Make a snide comment. You\'re very good at those. I even checked my spelling so you can focus.
Gadgeteer
Looks like an updated but less practical version of Sea City, introduced some 40 years ago.
http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~bat/sea-city.html
Todd Dunning
Daniel it takes a vastly higher level of omniscience to predict that suddenly, after billions of years, the last tiny 200 years of industrialization will force the oceans to rise to the level you would get moving earth\'s orbit a few percent closer to the sun.

Never mind that there is not even enough land- and glacier-based ice to make but a few inches\' difference even if you melted all of it. And the ocean ice...well...floats already. By the way, that means that even if it melted, the ocean levels would stay the same.

There are real scientific problems that need solving, and we don\'t have to make up new ones.