Six Amazing Floating Solar-Powered Buildings

HIMALAYAL - SHANGHAI - CHINA

1. WaterNest 100    
 
 

Designed by well-known Italian architect Giancarlo Zema and produced by EcoFloLife, the WaterNest 100 is an eco-friendly floating house. The 100 square meter residential units are made of up to 98% recycled materials, including the laminate timber and aluminum hull. Skylights, balconies and large windows encircle the dwelling, allowing for efficient lighting and beautiful waterfront views. 60 sq m of photovoltaic panels embedded in the rooftop provide up to 4 kWp of internal electricity.  

The house can be positioned along rivers, lakes, bays, atolls and calm sea areas. The interiors are warm and welcoming, and include a living room, dining room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. The 12m diameter circular layout can be configured as a house (1 to 4 people), office, lounge bar, restaurant , shop, or exhibition space.  

2. Smart Floating Farms     
 
 

Forward Thinking Architecture, a Barcelona-based group focused on sustainable design, imagines large, three-story farms that float through the ocean powered by solar panels. The Smart Floating Farms would house massive hydroponic farms and, beneath them, fish farms, making each barge a nearly self-sustaining, veritable grocery list of items for a clean, healthy diet.

Aside from the area being used for actual growing of plants (automated hydroponics) and hatching of fish, there would be water-access points and a desalination plant (to convert ocean water to fresh water and then use it for farming), a slaughterhouse for the fish and an area to package products for sale. Solar panels, wind turbines and wave energy converters could turn environmental forces into usable electricity. It could potentially yield 8.1 tons of fruits and vegetables and 1.7 tons of fish annually.    

3. Floating Retreat     
 
 

What could be a better eco retreat than drifting along the coastline in your own self-sustaining floating resort? Designed by?Michele Puzzolante, this aquatic escape is a waterworld-esque floating island that offers a slice of the good life - even as the world's receding shorelines become cluttered with hotels. The Solar Floating Resort (SFR) sleeps six and sports an underwater observation room, aphotovoltaic thin-film skin, and an on-deck Jacuzzi.

The ship features a thin-film solar skin applied to a lightweight balsa-reinforced fiberglass hull. The round shape of the vessel provides constant exposure to the sun, feeding batteries during daylight hours to supply clean energy through the night. The interior skin is layered in?dye-sensitized?thin-film PV?to absorb artificial light at night, creating a 30mm?vacuum?with the outer layer. While original, this setup is both extraordinarily expensive and impractical–but hey we’re on vacation. 

4. Exbury Egg    
 
 

Exbury Egg is a floating off-grid workspace and home, installed on the shore of the Beaulieu River, UK. It was conceived by artist Stephen Turner, and created with the help of both Perring Architecture and Design, and SPUD design studio. The egg-shaped structure will support Turner for a year as he carries out observations on the local environment and produces his works of art. 

As Exbury Egg is required to float, its construction was logically entrusted to local boat-builder Paul Baker, who used reclaimed cedar, and locally-sourced Douglas Fir to produce a buoyant, waterproof structure measuring roughly 6 x 2.8 m (20 x 10 ft). It will remain tethered in place by ropes. There's no electricity on-board, so the artist will rely on solar chargers to keep his cell-phone, digital camera, and laptop juiced-up.

5. Grand Cancun 
 
 

This concept architecture was inspired by our fight against global warming, it addresses problems that we will be facing such as scarcity of water, pollution of coastal shores due to debris, hydrocarbons from congested marine traffic, and space. Grand Cancun would become the first marine platform that recover instead of exploiting its environment, it utilizes platform concept instead of an artificial island, thus, creating more space yet less impact in marine ecosystem. 

The mega building will be totally self sufficient. There will be hotels, convention centers, malls, and cinemas, and many more entertainment complex to provide you with ultimate experience in conventions and hospitality. It has zero-carbon footprint while providing the city clean drinking water and energy from renewable resources. But the ultimate goal is to help clean the seas, the technology used will separate water from hydrocarbons and floating solids. It is very ambitious project, don’t you think? Solar panels and vertical wind turbines help in avoiding environmental visual pollution, the building will also harvest tidal and wave energy, collect and reuse rainwater.

6. Floating Pavilion   
 
 

In an effort to address the challenges of climate change and sea level rise, the City of Rotterdam has started to build some intriguing floating structures. The first pilot project is a catalyst for climate change-proof architecture called the Floating Pavilion that consists of three connected hemispheres that look like bubbles anchored within the Dutch city’s old harbor. It sets an unprecedented example for innovative, sustainable and climate-proof architecture. 

Constructed by Dura Vermeer, the floating hemispheres are 40 foot tall and the total floor area is the size of four tennis courts. The translucent shelter is made from a strong, anti-corrosive plastic called ETFE, which is 100 times lighter than glass and therefore ideal for a floating structure.