FLOATING CITY
A sustainable city for 50.000 people
Architecture firm Luca Curci Architects, in collaboration with Tim Fu Design, presents Floating City, a project proposal for a sustainable floating city for 50.000 people. The project has been conceived by an international team of architects and designers with the support of Artificial Intelligence.
The project combines sustainability with population density and it aims to build up a zero-energy city with 100% green transport systems. The sustainable city allows its residents to get into a healthier lifestyle, in connection with natural elements, re-thinking the traditional concept of community and society. Several renewable energy resources, such as wind, water turbines and solar panels are also incorporated. Energy storage solutions. Water desalination. Food production and farming are integrated and follow a zero-waste policy.
“Floating City is designed to support the global response to the threat of climate change”, said Arch. Luca Curci and Tim Fu
The Floating City community will feature a total of 25 acres of interconnected platforms, which would accommodate more than 50,000 people. Each neighborhood contains hi-rise and low-rise buildings surrounded by a membrane of photovoltaic glasses which provide electricity to the whole floating system and make it energy-independent.
Green zones and vertical gardens are spread all over the floating city, while meeting and social areas are thought for community life. Farming will be integrated with social space and will enable communities to provide their own food and be self-sufficient. Every floating island will include a community framework for living, including markets, spiritual and cultural hubs.
It is possible to reach Floating City by water or by air. The floating city is equipped with external and internal docks and several naval entries. Moreover, each floating platform is provided with droneports.
Sea levels and Climate Change
Half of humanity (4 billion people) lives in cities today and 5 billion people are projected to live in cities by 2030. The world’s cities occupy just 3 percent of the Earth’s land but account for 60-80 percent of energy consumption and 75 percent of carbon emissions.
Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies, communities, and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow. Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, weather events are becoming more extreme and greenhouse gas emissions are now at their highest levels in history. By 2100, scientists project that the sea level will rise at least another foot (0.3 meters), but possibly as high as 8 feet (2.4 meters), if we continue carbon emissions at our current rate (NASA – The Effects of Climate Change).
Floating City is a project proposal for sustainable and resilient cities. Adaptable, and scalable. Designed to adapt to the shifting needs of several coastal cities, particularly vulnerable to sea level rise due to their low elevation, like New York, Miami, New Orleans, Jakarta, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo, the project has the potential to expand and accommodate more than 200,000 people.
The Urban System
The floating City Urban System is planned to incorporate Smart Cities technologies and to connect more than 50.000 people dividing the platforms into functional areas.
The main residential floating platform is connected, by water and air, to all the other platforms of offices, government departments, healthcare facilities, and educational institutions, including all levels of schools and universities. The interconnected system also works as a tourist destination with several floating areas more oriented to the lifestyle amenities such as hotels, wellness and spa centers, sports centers, shopping malls, bookshops, and leisure attractions.
“Floating Cities will shape our future”, Arch Luca Curci and Tim Fu
Floating City will be presented for the first time during the Biennale Architettura 2023 “The Laboratory of the Future”, at the Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello and in other prestigious venues in Venice from May 20th to November 26th, 2023.
more. www.lucacurci.com
Luca Curci Architects
Luca Curci Architects deals with architecture design, from urban planning to interior design, bioclimatic planning and green building, consolidations and restructuring, structural calculation, architecture, and monumental restoration, urban design, leisure/sports spaces planning, design of luxury hotels, spas, tourist resort, furniture, interior, and industrial design.
Founded in 2006 by Luca Curci, an Italian artist, architect, and designer, the architecture firm has realized several projects of residential buildings, private houses, villas, restaurants, and stores. The company has presented the project “Vertical City – Zero-Energy City-Building” at the Knowledge Summit 2019 in Dubai, invited by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation. In 2020 has presented the project “THE LINK City-Forest”, a smart city “conscious oriented” for 200.000 people.
Luca Curci Architects has been published in many international magazines, like THE TIMES, AD Architectural Digest, The Guardian, El Mundo, CNN, Abitare, Global Construction Review, World Architecture, Landscape Middle East, The Huffington Post International, Polis Magazine, Inhabitat, Tall Building Magazine and many more.
Tim Fu Design
Tim Fu is a Canadian architectural designer based in London, UK. He is part of Zaha Hadid Architects and ZHACODE (computational research group) where he specializes in algorithmic design and computational research. He graduated from the Architectural Association in London (MSc dist.) and teaches in various workshops including Harvard GSD, ACADIA, PA Academy, and other academic institutions. His recent exploration into the use of A.I. in architectural design has been published in various media, including Designboom, Parametric-Architecture, youtube, and various platforms.
more. www.lucacurci.com