£320 million floating island in the Maldives

The floating islands are part of a joint project that many hope will be the solution to the impending environmental crisis the islands could face over the next 50 years.

Thanks to climate change and the forecast of increasing sea levels, the Maldives — which are now only one and a half metres above sea level — could one day be totally submerged.

The project is a joint venture between the Maldivian government and Dutch Docklands, a Holland-based firm that specializes in building everything from floating prisons to floating conference and hotel complexes and homes.

The 5 Lagoons Project — 80 million square feet — will include: a private islands project with $10 million villas; a floating 18-hole golf course with an undersea tunnel; a conference complex and hotel; 185 $1-million waterfront homes connected along a flower-shaped quay as well as a separate floating island with homes for residents of Malé, the country’s capital.

The first phase of the $1-billion project will go on sale later this year with other parts of the development to be started over the next two to five years. Privately financed, the project is a joint venture between the Maldivian government and Dutch Docklands.

Paul Van de Camp, chief executive officer of Dutch Docklands, and his company worked for two years with the Maldivian government to come up with a plan. Key to the deal was allowing foreign ownership of the high-end villas that would be constructed. In exchange Van de Camp’s company would build a separate floating island with homes for the bulk of the country’s population.

All of this will be done with an eye to protect the islands’ natural resources and environment, said Van de Camp. The floating islands will not hurt or touch the coral reefs and coral beds that surround the island nor the other marine life in the Indian Ocean that surrounds the Maldives.

“The Maldives are the biggest marine protected environment in the world,” said Van de Camp in an interview with the Star during a short visit to Toronto. The government is very cautious about anything that could potentially harm the aquatic life, the environment and tourism.

The floating islands will be anchored to the seabed using cables or telescopic mooring piles. They will be stable even in storms, the company says. One of the reasons designers decided to build lots of small islands was to lessen any shadow of the seabed because it could affect wildlife.

Van de Camp and his partner, architect Koen Olthuis, have plenty of experience when it comes to designing floating things.

Since its inception a decade ago Dutch Docklands has built all kinds of floating islands and buildings in Holland, including a floating prison, a floating conference centre and thousands of floating homes.

Until recently Van de Camp hadn’t thought of taking his vision abroad because he had so much work in Holland. “But because of the environment issue, we decided our expertise could be exported,” he said.

“As Dutch people we know as nobody else knows the fight against water is a fight you’ll lose. Water is so strong you have to come up with different solutions.”

With the Maldives project about to launch, Van de Camp is looking at other international possibilities. One such location could be Toronto which is ideally suited for a series of floating islands because of its location on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Van de Camp suggests that a series of floating islands would give a different dimension to the city — a new footprint that abandons the idea that the only way a city can expand is to build towers.

“We think cities shouldn’t always be looking backwards and creating highrise buildings. They should also look to the water to see if they could come up with solutions on the water that would give a better shape to the city.”

For golfers who struggle to avoid the water hazards, it could be a challenging course.
The Maldives has revealed plans for a radical £320m floating course, which players access by an undersea tunnel.
The course is part of a massive plan to replace the sinking islands with a network of man made, floating islands.
With an average elevation of just five feet above sea level the Maldives, with its 1,192 islands in the Indian Ocean, is the lowest country in the world. 

The floating golf course that could soon form the centerpiece of the Maldives, replacing its islands as they sink below the surface of the sea

Amid fears many of the islands will soon sink into the sea, the Maldivian government has started a joint venture with the architectural firm Dutch Docklands International to build the world’s largest series of artificial floating-islands.
The Dutch firm has already built floating islands for prisons and housing from slabs of concrete and polystyrene foam.

The hotel and conference centre, which resemble a starfish from above, will be built within circular reefs to allow visitors to dive right from the beach

In the Maldives, the floating islands will be anchored to the seabed using cables or telescopic mooring piles, making landforms that are stable even in storms.
The architects chose this approach to minimise damage to the seabed, and also chose to build lots of small islands to reduce the shadow on the seabed, which could affect wildlife.
The islands will be constructed in India or the Middle east to reduce costs, then simply towed to their final destination in the Maldives.

The real thing: The Huvafen Fushi resort in Maldives, which researchers say could soon be under water, along with the rest of the Maldives.

The islands will also be designed for swimmers, divers and even private submarines to enter them from below, and the Dutch firm designing the scheme has said visitors will be able to rent private submarines that can surface right in the middle of their living rooms.

Watch out for the water hazards: The plans include an 18 hole golf course designed by Troon, complete with clubhouse

The idea is the brainchild of Dutch firm Waterstudio who designed the project.
It is being engineered by floating architecture specialists Dutch Docklands.
CEO Paul van de Camp said: 'We told the president of the Maldives we can transform you from climate refugees to climate innovators.
'And we have a way of building and sustaining this project that is environmentally friendly too.
'This is going to be an exclusively green development in a marine-protected area.'
The first part of the project to be built will be the golf course.
'This will be the first and only floating golf course in the world - and it comes complete with spectacular ocean views on every hole,' said van de Camp.
'And then there's the clubhouse.
'You get in an elevator and go underwater to get to it.
'It's like being Captain Nemo down there.'

Players will access the floating course via a series of underwater tunnels so wide they can even accommodate a golf buggy

Designer Koen Olthuis said: 'We'll be building the islands somewhere else, probably in the Middle East or in India - that way there's no environmental cost to the Maldives.
'When it comes to the golf course, the islands will be floated into position first and then the grass will be seeded and the trees planted afterwards.'
Development on the course is expected to begin later this year, and it should be ready for play by the end of 2013 ahead of the full launch in 2015.

The course will be split over different floating islands, while private cabins will also be located on some of the islands

The proposed site is just a five-minute speedboat ride from the capital of Male, giving golfers the chance to make quick journeys to the mainland.
Amazingly, the course will even be powered by solar energy which is a resource the Maldives has plenty of - as it's located just north of the equator. 
The designers claim the entire resort will be carbon neutral.

43 private floating islands will be built, complete with a jetty to moor your yacht and a pool.

The ambitious plans will also feature 43 private islands.
Called Amillarah (the Maldivian word for Private Island).
This unique project exists of 43 floating private Islands in a archipelago configuration.
Each has its own jetty for yachts, along with a pool. Palm trees give each mini island its own secluded area.

Even the low cost 'affordable' housing has a luxury feel, complete with waterside jettys.

The 'workers islands' will be in their own area of the Maldives, allowing workers to commute by boat to other areas

The sea views of the Maldives most popular resorts are set to be kept - but on a floating island instead of a real one

Coral Atoll near Maldives Island. Researchers say it could soon be under water, so plans for a series of floating islands are being drawn up.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk