Futuristic Floating Residents

Shole

Project idea

There are millions of unused containers in the world. Containers are ideal building material. They are well known for their durability, adaptability, light weight, low cost and ease of stacking, creating a recycling trend that we are feeding off.

They can withstand practically any weather, such as hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes. since they are originally built for transport, they can easily move when they need to.In this project, we used containers to design student dormitory.

We tried to look one step ahead of the Competition theme, so we focused on a global dilemma. (Climate change)

To do this, we considered a real site to have evidence and closer analysis to the subject that not only the site context is valuable, but also the regional location, weather conditions, economic and social conditions are involved with the project.

In this project, we considered the student theme as a sustainable housing, which in terms of the formation concept,also (Sea level rising, electricity shortage, land loss, land prices) we paid a lot of attention to the geometric shapes because it was important in terms of adapting to the structural conditions on the site and even cost-effectiveness.

Project description

(SLR) Sea Level Rising in coastal cities have a negative impact on the lives of residents. Findings support the argument that traditional land reclamation methods are not a practical long term solution apart from its various disadvantages on the ecosystem.
Projecting future sea level is challenging, due to the complexity of many aspects of the climate system and to time lags in sea level reactions to Earth temperature changes.

Studies have concluded that a global sea level rise of 200 to 270 cm (6.6 to 8.9 ft) this century is "physically plausible". Sea level rises can affect human populations considerably in coastal and island regions. Widespread coastal flooding is expected with several degrees of warming sustained for millennia.

Further effects are higher storm-surges and more dangerous tsunamis, displacement of populations, loss and degradation of agricultural land and damage in cities. Natural environments like marine ecosystems are also affected, with fish, birds and plants losing parts of their habitat.

Our approach to solve this problem was to adapt to environment and use floating structure against Sea level rising impacts.

Societies can adapt to sea level rise in three different common ways: implement managed retreat, accommodate coastal change, or protect against sea level rise through hard-construction practices like seawalls or soft approaches such as dune rehabilitation and beach nourishment. For some human environments, such as so called sinking cities, adaptation to sea level rise may be compounded by other environmental issues such as subsidence. However, they might not always be able to do so, due to natural or artificial barriers. Old fashioned and traditional land reclamation solutions practiced should be abolished and replaced by floating structures wherever possible. The distinct sustainable and flexibility features of floating buildings in settings and environments makes them preferred for their various applications and advantages.
Apart from the disastrous impacts of such traditional methods like ruining the aquatic environment and coral reefs, such traditional solutions like land reclamation method is functional only where water depth is shallow (max. 15–20 m). In a situation where water depth is more than the 20 m, henceforth the seabed would be very soft and as a result, land reclamation solutions are no longer cost effective or even reasonable.

Floating structures developed through the last decades concluding that it’s the most sustainable solution against sea level rise (SLR), preferring it to land reclamation approaches regarding sustainability, lifespan, and cost-effectiveness.

Technical information

We chose floating architecture as a solution to adapt to the environment due to sea level rising and the high cost and scarcity of land. Floating structures are more economical, Eco friendly, modular, or detachable at certain times of the year compared to construction on land.
Sea surface temperature is more suitable than land temperature, which is warmer at night and cooler than the ground during the day, which reduces energy using to cooling and heating in hot and cold seasons.
We put water turbines Under the floating structure that generate a lot of the necessary electricity using the energy of the sea waves. We also used solar cells on the second floor roof to generate electricity. Due to the shortage of drinking water and high relative humidity in the region to supply drinking water, we installed hydro panels on the outer walls of each container in the wind direction to produce drinking water out of air. We designed the base in a hexagonal shape, which provides different views of the sea and can be expanded. We connected hexagonal bases using a square shaped float to provide access to the neighborhoods and create a suitable distance between the hexagon bases in the site. Hexagonal and squared platforms interlock together for further expansion as a dynamic growth strategy. Six hexagonal models and five squared models assembled to create a district neighborhood. When modules gather together they can resist against sea waves and can easily expand in the future.

Our Material Strategy:
We used 15 containers (40Ft) and cut them in the middle so that we will have 2 containers(20ft). The result of cutting 15Pcs (40Ft) containers is 30Pcs (20Ft) containers.
To provide living space for students, we put two containers (20ft) which provides the suitable space for living and facilities. We placed the containers like perpendicular to the hexagonal diameters and then shifting the containers away from the deck to create terrace for each room and air conditioning path. We removed two containers to create an entrance to the block. Repeat the ground floor containers on the first floor by rotating them with shifting the containers again to the outside. Repeat ground floor containers without rotation on the second floor with shifting again. Shifting and rotating containers provides shading for each level and minimizes using extra material in hallways. each levels roof can be used as hallway for upper level.

Documentation

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