Architects Of The Floating World

Architects Of The Floating World 28-May-2004 Forget the little Dutch boy who held back the deluge by putting his finger in the dike: architects in the Netherlands are busy designing new houses that float serenely on the flood... Water houses, Amsterdam, IJburg

You can hear the jokes already: too much hydroponic skunk, a crate or three of Grolsch, and then a sudden architectural epiphany: "Shtop! What are we doing? Let's build the chilled out houses that can go with the flow instead up uptight dikes and defences!" Inevitable, no doubt. But the Dutch architects who have invented new buildings designed to accept rather than resist the rising torrent may well have come up with the perfect housing solution for a globally-warmed world. After all, if the scare stories are right - and the Hollywood version of the eco-apocalypse, The Day After Tomorrow, splashes across British cinema screens this weekend - there really is a tide in the affairs of men. And pretty soon we'll be in it up to our necks.

Dutch Dilemma The Dutch, as smart Alecs with a GSCE in geography will know, have always had a bit of a tricky job keeping their feet dry. Half the country lies below sea level and about 60% of its 16 million people live in these low-lying areas. Water houses, Amsterdam, IJburg

To add to the problem, Holland is one of the most densely populated places in the world, which is why for centuries the Dutch have built on polders - reclaimed land protected by a complex network of dikes, canals and windmilldriven pumps. Despite all of these, the country has often been overwhelmed by catastrophic flooding. Back in 1953 more than 1,800 people died in a deluge and in 1993 and 1995 severe flooding caused billions worth of damage.

These recent inundations could be the shape of things to come: according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, rainfall in the Netherlands could increase in the coming century by up to 25% and the sea level rise by more than three feet. Faced with this grim reality, the Dutch have decided to rethink their time-honoured methods of defence and come up with more innovative ways to live with the threat. Building houses that float is part of the plan: instead of holding back the water, the Dutch have decided to live on it.

Floating Suburbs Canadian floating house

Houseboats, I hear you say. Not quite. The water houses designed by architect Art Zaaijer for the building company Ooms Bouwmaatschappij certainly float. But the six two-storey versions constructed as prototypes have staircases and pitched roofs and don't look remotely like a boat. Built on an floating platform made of styrofoam wrapped in a thin shell of concrete, the walls and floors are fashioned from light-weight prefabricated wooden panels and the facade is clad in coated aluminium, making the outer skin maintenance-free. The Canadians have been using this system for years and the Dutch are now adapting it to create whole new water-based urban quarters. Among the most prominent is the new Ijburg district of Amsterdam which, when finished, will provide 18,000 homes, as well as floating offices, schools, hospitals, and transport facilities. Aqua Villa, Ooms Bouwmaatschappij

Ooms Bouwmaatschappij's six houses are now a sales centre for the new scheme and the company will eventually provide 500 of the new homes in the development. At ¬200-500,000 a pop, they don't come cheap. And it's difficult to see where the little Gullits and van Nistelrooys of the future will kick a ball around. But that hasn't stopped 5,000 people joining the waiting list. Maybe it's the fact that they can always move the house elsewhere if they don't like the neighbours. The homes are manoeuvred into place by a tug boat and can be transported in the same way - so a bit of site-swapping seems on the cards.

Maas Attack Factor Architecten

Art Zaaijer is not the only Dutch architectural practice dreaming up floating houses and cities. An alternative version, designed by Factor Architecten, has been constructed by the developers Dura Vermeeron on a small estate on the banks of the river Maas, south of Arnhem. When the river breaks its banks each of the the 37 houses will rise on a pair of 15-foot concrete piles to escape the torrent. As the waters recede the amphibious houses drop back down to earth again. The attractive split-level structures, with curved roofs, clapboard exteriors, and flexible open-plan interiors, certainly put a lot of British new-built houses to shame. Flood homes, Factor Architecten

Facing the river and enjoying marvellous views, they're surrounded by ample terraces and jetties where the residents can moor their boats. Dr Chris Zevenburgen, of Dura Vermeer, says floating houses are the future for Holland: "Forty per cent of new homes to be built in the next few years will be built in areas prone to flooding. So we have to do something or we will suffer." He's not alone in thinking this: if you want to see just how seriously the Dutch are taking the idea, check out H2OLLAND, a Royal Institute of Dutch Architects' website showcasing many of the most innovative schemes. Not Waving... Could similar development happen here? There's certainly a case to be made. According to the Environment Agency, five million people and 1.9 million British homes are at risk from flooding. And global warming will make the problem worse. Thames barrier

A recent government-backed report looked 80 years into the future and concluded that river and coastal flood risk could increase between two

and 20 times, while the risk of flooding from rainfall could increase between three and six times. Like Holland, Britain is densely populated and desperate to build more houses. The Government plans thousands in the Thames Gateway area, much of which is below sealevel. Plans are afoot to upgrade the Thames barrier but the jury is out on whether that will be enough. In the meantime, John Prescott - and no jokes, please about the Deputy PM's exceptional buoyancy - has been extolling the virtues of Poundbury and the new town of Seaside in Florida. We might yet regret that he didn't take a trip to Amsterdam. Michael O'Flynn © Find A Property 2000-2007 Click here to comment on this story For centuries, the Dutch have built dikes to protect themselves from the sea. Now, with predictions of more frequent flooding due to climate change, they are looking for ways to live with water, not fight it. That change of thinking is reflected at a new housing project in this central Dutch village about 60 miles southeast of Amsterdam. It is a community of amphibious homes. Unlike the houseboats that line many Dutch canals or the floating villages of Asia, the several dozen homes are being built on solid ground. But they also are designed to float on flood water. Each house is made of lightweight wood, and the concrete base is hollow, giving it shiplike buoyancy. With no foundations anchored in the earth, the structure rests on the ground and is fastened to 15-foot-long mooring posts with sliding rings, allowing it to float upward should the river flood. All the electrical cables, water and sewage flow through flexible pipes inside the mooring piles. The 700-square-foot structures are on the “wrong” side of a dike in a beautiful flood plain of one of the country’s main waterways, the Maas River, overlooking lush marshland and a harbor. Housing also drives idea That addresses another constant fight in the Netherlands — finding space for housing in Europe’s most densely populated country, says Chris Zevenbergen of Dura Vermeer, the company behind the project.

He says floating houses could help make up the 40 percent shortfall in land suitable for development over the next 50 years. At a starting price of 260,000 euros, or about $310,000, for a house with three small bedrooms, the homes are at the high end of the market for a village like Maasbommel. But many have been sold, and the first residents are about to move in. “They are pretty much just regular houses,” says builder Hans van de Beek. “The only difference is that when the water rises, they rise.” Boats required So, during times of high water, people will need a boat to get from the dike where they park their car to the “comfort” of their floating home. For more than 1,000 years the Dutch have been holding back the sea, and even reclaiming it. Landfills and windmill-driven pumps have created vast fields, called polders, for new cities, pastures and cropland. If it weren’t for its system of dikes and canals, as much as half of the Netherlands could be submerged. The country was hit by flooding twice in the past decade, in 1993 and 1995, causing billions of dollars in damage. In 1953, more than 1,800 people died during a deluge, referred to ever since simply as “the disaster.” Scientists warn that global warming will make it worse. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change predicts rainfall in the Netherlands could increase by up to 25 percent and the sea level could rise 43 inches in this century. “Due to the changing climate, the Netherlands and its delta areas will be confronted with rising water,” Zevenbergen says. “This is a way for people to live in the low-lying areas that would otherwise be uninhabitable.” © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4852739/