From Jill Fehrenbacher and Sarah Rich
at Inhabitat, we learned about Waterstudio :
In the months following Katrina, one of the most interesting design solutions we found for dealing with rising water levels was the amphibious architecture of Dutch firm Waterstudio. Architect Koen Olthius specializes in a unique technology that allows land-based buildings to detach from the ground and float under rising water conditions. Olthius’ claim to fame is that he focuses exclusively on aqueous design – design for building in, on and at the water – in a country where water dominates the landscape.
This design – if a flood-prone city grid were designed around having, say, 10% of its building stock built this way – would provide precious evacuation time – and since these structures are might well survive serious flooding – they’re the avant-garde
of the recovery. Once the water recedes – these structures won’t need to be rebuilt.