Floating Infrastructure - Large Scale Public Spaces on Water

The strain and pressure on the global city infrastructure can be efficiently relieved by allowing this infrastructure to step “onto” the water and thus break this ever existing barrier. Apart from the fact that by doing so we manage to create new and attractive public space in the environment which is usually scarcely utilized, floating architecture also provides extremely high resilience while minimizing the environmental impact. Important thing to keep in mind is that these spaces of water often exist in the very heart of cities where availability of building sites tends to be extremely limited. We have provided practical demonstration on how large public spaces can successfully exist on water and how floating architecture has a potential to deliver new realities by physically mirroring the city on this recently hostile water space. The paper draws on physical data developed and implemented in delivery of multiple successful large scale floating architecture projects. This data is comprised of research and development studies from multiple technical fields relevant for delivery of floating architecture such as stability studies, studies of water banks suitable for fixing/mooring, studies of construction and outfitting material and similar. The paper removes any doubt that large floating architecture projects such as floating hotels, floating hospitals, floating sports activity center with Olympic size swimming pool, floating museum, floating climbing center, floating bars and restaurants and many others can successfully exist in the hostile environment of bodies of water that meet the city shores. Apart from this fact, floating architecture is able to deliver solutions that provide high resilience while minimizing the environmental impact.