Canada

How Floating Buildings Could Help Save Cities From Rising Seas

Floating architecture "takes whatever level of water is thrown at it in stride"

Rising sea levels are threatening coastal cities worldwide, and some architects and urban planners are looking to floating and amphibious buildings as a way to adapt, NBC News reported.

The may float on shorelines and waterways or alternate between floating and resting on solid ground. Waterstudio, an architecture firm from the southwest Netherlands, designed nine floating homes that look somewhat like big, floating houseboats, for the town of Zeewolde.

Another set of floating Waterstudio homes in Amsterdam will be joined by a floating housing complex, complete with restaurant and gardens, set to open in 2020.

"It's fundamentally for flood mitigation, but in our time of climate change where sea level is rising and weather events are becoming more severe, this is also an excellent adaptation strategy," said Elizabeth English, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Ontario, Canada, about floating architecture. "It takes whatever level of water is thrown at it in stride."

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