TED Talk: 10 Reasons that Future Cities Will Float
Archdaily, March 2014
In his talk at TEDx Vilnius, Koen Olthuis compares the cities of today with those at the turn of the 20th century: “cities are not full, we just have to search for new space… they made elevators and built a vertical city. We have to do exactly the same, but our generation has to look at water.” With that in mind he looks at the top 10 reasons that floating cities are becoming a more popular idea, including: they provide solutions for topical issues such as flooding and sustainability; they can be used as ‘plug in’ travelling global amenities, useful for things like Olympic Stadiums; or could even allow us to rearrange urban areas.
BBC News: Flood-proof homes the Dutch way
BBC News featured Koen Olthuis and Waterstudio’s Watervilla IJburg
As thousands in the UK continue to deal with the misery of flooding, the Netherlands is pioneering the field of flood-proof homes.
Projects include floating homes, which rise and fall with the water levels, and amphibious homes that sit on dry land but float is water encroaches.
While the amphibious houses cost about 20% more than conventional buildings, the Dutch have learned the investment is still cheaper than that of cleaning up afterwards.
