So what’s the most obvious way to stop sea level affecting
you?....Build a house that floats. Who cares what happens to the sea level as
long as you’ve got a good anchor. Failing that you can always use a rise in sea
level as an opportunity to find some new neighbours, or position yourself
closer to Tesco. Decided Waitrose is more your style? No worries, what with the
changeable climate it won’t be long before you can float off again and maybe
this time be deposited in a really desirable location.
I knew Rosie and Jim were on to something. Turns out someone
else realised too...
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| Ominous clouds over the floating houses in Ijberg, Amsterdam. Check out Marlies Rohmer's website for more information (and photos of the houses being towed through the canals of Amsterdam to get them to their final position) |
Architects in the Netherlands have designed and built houses
that can bob up and down with changing sea level (OK, you got me – these houses
are chained down so sailing off into the sunset with your house isn’t
technically possible...yet). The houses, on the outskirts of Amsterdam, float
using the Archimedes principle of displacing more water than their weight so
even though their hulls are made of concrete they still float. To make sure
that the houses are perfectly balanced, the future owners have to decide in advance
where they are going to position their furniture so that the builders can alter
the weight of the walls accordingly – personally, I’d worry about moving
furniture around and unbalancing the house.
So how is Canute doing in his floating house, (or castle)?
Well providing castles aren’t top heavy, and he doesn’t do anything drastic
with the furniture he'll be sitting pretty. These houses are not even the
first of their kind – turns out there are floating settlements all over the
world - for instance Pori, Finland, and Aberdeen in Hong Kong. I do wonder what sort of effect floating houses have on biodiversity by blocking out light and increased noise and pollution. These particular houses are built on a lake – if this area became tidal with future sea level rises the designs might have to be modified to cope with the waves. Long term if these problems can be allayed then floating homes do seem like a good way of coping with sea level rise - as long as you don't get sea sick!
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