As part of UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda, Bjarke Ingels Group has proposed a vision for the world’s first resilient and sustainable floating community, designed to accommodate 10,000 people. “Oceanix City” is a response to the prediction that by 2050, 90% of the world’s largest cities will be exposed to rising seas, resulting in mass displacement, and the destruction of homes and infrastructure. The scheme is anchored in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, enacting circular flows of food, energy, water, and waste.
The city is designed to grow, transform, and adapt organically over time, with a scalable approach transitioning from neighborhoods to infinite cities. The two-hectare modular neighborhoods can accommodate up to 300 residents in a mixed-use space for living, working, and gathering during the day and night. All built structures are kept below 7 stories to create a low center of gravity and resist wind, while a fan-like form offers shading for internal spaces and the public realm.
Communal farming is at the heart of every platform, allowing residents to embrace sharing culture and zero waste systems. Below sea level, biorock floating reefs, seaweed, oysters, mussel, scallop and clam farming clean the water and accelerate ecosystem regeneration.
The six neighborhoods which form the BIG scheme are clustered around a protected central harbor, with social, recreational, and commercial functions placed in the sheltered inner ring to encourage citizens to gather and move around the village. The six villages come together to form a city of 10,000 residents with a strong sense of community and identity, complete with floating destinations such as public squares, a market, and centers for spirituality, learning, health, sport, and culture.
All communities regardless of size will prioritize locally sourced materials for building construction, including fast-growing bamboo that has six times the tensile strength of steel, a negative carbon footprint, and can be grown on the neighborhoods themselves. The cities can be prefabricated onshore and towed to their final site, reducing construction costs, and when paired with the low cost of leasing space on the ocean, creates an affordable future hosing module.
News via: Bjarke Ingels Group
Name: OCEANIX CITY
Code: SFC
Date: 03/04/2019
Program: Public Space
Status: In Progress
Size in m2: 500000
Project type: Commission
Client: OCEANIX
Collaborators: MIT Center for Ocean Engineering, Mobility in Chain, Sherwood Design Engineers, Center for Zero Waste Design, Transsolar Klima
Engineering, Global Coral Reef Alliance, Studio Other Spaces, Dickson Despommier
Location: (22.3193039,114.16936110000006)
