| The Floating Dutchman! Houses Float on Floods |
| Written by Hank Green | ||
| Tuesday, 04 September 2007 | ||
 The Dutch have been fantastic in carbon-neutralizing their country. It may be because they are a kind and well-educated bunch of people. Or it may be because they have the most to lose. A good deal of their country has been built below sea level. As water levels rise and storm surges continue to pound their coast, Dutch ingenuity is starting to get proactive with its architecture. Instead of building higher and higher dikes, fighting the unfightable power of nature, Hans van de Beek is creating floating houses.  No, they aren't house boats. They're regular old houses that sit on the shore and look out on a canal. The difference is, when floods rise, so do the houses. The houses are built of light weight wood and the concrete bases are hollow and water proof. In floods, the houses simply become boats. They float in place attached to mooring posts until the waters subside, and then they simply settle back into their foundations. All electical cables, water and sewage lines are connected through flexible pipes into the static mooring lines, so the houses can even continue to function during a flood. I sincerely hope that we aren't really going to need this kind of technology in the rest of the world. But it's good to have the Dutch working on this stuff just in case. Via Inhabitat
Comments
(6)
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written by weee , September 05, 2007
A great example of designers taking environmental constraints into consideration and working with them cleverly.
:)
written by Dan , September 05, 2007
This is friggin' amazing....we need this to happen down in the southern part of America YESTERDAY!
...
written by Lindsey , September 05, 2007
wow! that's awesome.
Even if that wasn't...
written by Rob , September 05, 2007
a great and practicle solution (which it is), it's still pretty cool
 . I bet it doesn't cost a lot extra to do either.
the mighty mississippi
written by Ella , September 06, 2007
considering the danger and probabability of another levee break this would be ac reate thing to see happen. It might cost some but considering the rampant destruction of New Orleans it could save a lot of cash
I'm Dutch
written by Marianne , September 07, 2007
Thanks for the kind remarks. This is not the only initiative with amphibious houses, there are plans for complete villages on the water.
We already have had many (serious) floods from rivers (and in 1953 from the sea), so all waterbased plans and constructions are welcome! | ||
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