(image credit: Vincent Callebaut Architectures)
it is said that the global water level will continue to rise, putting those residing in low-lying areas at risk of being displaced, thus becoming refugees of climate change. it may sound like something that will only happen in a movie like 2012, but this unpleasant prospect might well be very real. it is certainly not too late for us to think into the future and crack our brain to think of how we will cope with such calamity. one, and possibly the only solution to counter such rising tide scenario would be a floating island or city and Vincent Callebaut Architectures‘ concept, Lilypad, is a completely self-sustainable floating Ecopolis that is intended for such purpose.
capable of housing up to 50,000 people within its 500,000 m2 surface and sub-surface area, this stunning floating architecture of the future drew its inspiration from the highly ribbed leave of the great lilypad of Amazonia Victoria Regia. Lilypad is designed to be a zero carbon emission city through the integration with all forms of renewable energies such as solar, thermal, wind, tidal energy et cetera. the double layer skin of this amazing architecture is made of polyester fibers covered by a layer of Titanium Dioxide (TiO2), which would react with ultraviolet rays and absorb atmospheric pollution via a photocatalytic effect, thereby purifying the air.
we have not seen a lot of floating city but from the few concepts that we have witnessed, the Lilypad is perhaps the most breathtaking and phenomenal concept to date. needless to say, this won’t be happening anytime soon as Callebaut has designed the Lilypad with a vision set in 2100 which, judging from the recent drastic climate changes in recent years, could be a little too late. nevertheless, we hope this stunning work would receive the attention from designers, architects, private and government institutions from around the world and hence, set forth to provide a practical solution to the climate change refugees.
via Inhabitat
