This book highlights state-of-the-art research findings on floating developments in both inland and coastal waters with focus on living, recreation and working offshore. It includes six themes: (1) business case and real estate development, (2) spatial planning and architecture, (3) food and energy production, (4) ecological impact and nature-based solutions, (5) governance and social impact and (6) design and engineering of (infra)structures. The book presents key issues addressed when utilizing water space. It gives an overview of findings and discussions from the world’s leading experts from the industry, policymakers, entrepreneurs, researchers and identifies new opportunities as well as fosters collaboration on floating projects for a more climate-adaptive, socially inclusive, sustainable and better world.
Łukasz Piątek is an architect, marine designer, researcher and educator working in the field of civil and naval architecture with special regard to floating buildings and cities. He is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology, a founder of water-oriented design practice Kilson Design and a member of the Society of Floating Solutions (Singapore). He was involved in many interdisciplinary projects including elaborating the building code for floating buildings as an external reviewer in the Polish Register of Shipping, a consultancy for the City of Warsaw on implementation of floating swimming pools and co-designing the restoration of the oldest Polish tall ship ‘Generał Zaruski’. He was the co-chair of the 3rd International Conference on Amphibious Architecture, Design and Engineering ICAADE 2019. His Ph.D. thesis about contemporary floating architecture in Poland defended cum laude has won the award of the Polish Minister of Economic Development.
Lim Soon Heng has a five-decade-long career in the marine industry, much of which with Keppel Corporation. He has considerable experience in the planning, and the design of shipyards including floating docks, piers, and wharves. He is excited by the opportunities that mega floating structures can offer to address so many of humanity's problems, including rising sea levels and climate change. This is facilitated by the skill sets that marine engineers and naval architects have acquired, particularly from the offshore rig building technology. Floating structures are economically attractive compared to land-based structures if their full life cycle is taken into consideration. He believes if Singapore cannot get it right in two important challenges, the future ahead is one slippery slope: It has to find viable strategies to resolve its energy resilience and its land scarcity. In that regard, floating structures offer robust solutions.
Chien Ming Wang is TMR Chair Professor in Structural Engineering, University of Queensland. He is Fellow of Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers and Fellow of the Society of Floating Solutions (Singapore). He is the leader of the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre research program on offshore engineering and technology. His research interests are in the areas of structural stability, vibration, optimization, plated structures and mega‐floats. He has published over 460 journal papers and 10 books on these topics. He has won many awards that include Nishino Medal, JN Reddy Medal, Singapore’s Minister of National Development's R&D Award for Floating Wetlands at Punggol Waterway, Lewis Kent Award, IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award and Grand Prize of Next Generation Container Port Challenge.
Rutger de Graaf-van Dinther civil engineer, entrepreneur and researcher with a M.Sc. and Ph.D. (both finished cum laude) of Delft University of Technology. He is a director and founding partner of three water innovation companies: DeltaSync, Blue21 and Indymo. With these companies, iconic floating projects were constructed such as the Floating Pavilion Rotterdam and Floating Ecohomes, Harnaschpolder Delft, the Netherlands. More recently, the innozowa floating solar project was added to this list. De Graaf is also applied research professor of water innovation at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. His research topics include: floating urban development, resilience, adaptive urban development, innovative monitoring of climate adaptation measures and water quality. From 2010 to 2015, he was Editor of the Journal of Water and Climate Change of the International Water Association. He is (co)author of multiple international books, book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles.
