Floating: design for living on water
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4013/sdrj.2025.182.05Abstract
The paper speculates on floating solutions for a world where flooded cities are proliferating because of climate change. It highlights a specific aspect present in the author's post-doctoral thesis on the chaos that fosters creation, manifested through design and architecture for disaster relief, particularly those related to rain. Intending to understand technologies for floating, it presents four different projects that could serve the same scenario of populations threatened by rising sea levels: the restoration of a water vehicle, mobile platforms adapted from containers, a prefabricated self-built floating system and a plan for a modular maritime metropolis. The results provide a comparison between the advantages and disadvantages of this way of life of floating communities. In conclusion, it presents ontological design as a guiding principle to be adopted by designers for a transition to a future on water.
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