Waterstudio.NL 4 Health Enjoyment and Challenge Centre, near Oranjestad, Aruba — a floating hotel and medical centre, 2007-8 5 Watervilla Aalsmeer, a private house, 2004 6 Apartment complex, Woubrugge, 2007
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Floating Happily, buildings can float. There are two mod- els for floating foundations. The Canadian model is based on the diving raft with concrete poured around polystyrene. These structures are unsink- able, but tend to be less stable for non-square geometries. Not surprisingly, the Dutch have been experimenting with floating buildings. Based on the river barge, Dutch technology consists of a floating concrete container in which the lower level becomes an underwater basement. Waterstudio Architects of Holland have designed floating houses and are currently developing a 25-storey floating office tower and courtyard housing prototypes. To date, floating buildings depend on nearby dry land for services or are anchored with mooring poles that also provide an umbilical connection for services. Without sea defences, floating buildings will be extremely vulnerable to increasingly vio- lent storms, except where large expanses of newly inundated lagoons could provide a storm-damping environment in flat low-lying areas. Floating build- ings could be effective in marshy delta areas that are already threatened by rising waters.
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