Floods, droughts, hurricanes, forest fires - once rare weather events are becoming more common and powerful due to climate change. And it's impossible to deny it. At the same time, more and more people are moving to cities around the world. This is a dangerous combination, as urban populations are more at risk of destruction from the effects of global warming. Millions of people around the world may be at risk just because of where they currently live.
But simply relocating at-risk populations will do nothing - for example, relocating a fishing village will leave people without livelihoods, and moving industries to cities would mean even more environmental destruction. We need to find a more sustainable, long-term solution - to create homes that are resilient enough to withstand frequent and extreme natural conditions without increasing our carbon footprint.
Experienced designers, architects and engineers have worked hard to find a solution that could satisfy both of these challenges: designing homes that can survive future conditions on Earth without further damaging our environment. Here are some of the most creative ways we can adapt our habitats and mitigate the negative effects of climate change.
Systeding
Sisteming - the practice of creating permanent settlements on structures located in areas of the sea outside the jurisdiction of any country - is becoming more and more popular. In April 2017, the term was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, and at the same time a new way of life emerged that uses 71% of our planet's virtually unused surface - the ocean.
Sea levels are rising even faster than experts predicted, which is why private firms, governments and researchers are increasingly turning their attention to the oceans. Open waters, far from any land, are not the most attractive or accessible place to settle, but as ice caps melt and populated areas flood, we may have to evolve and get used to living in water.
Many projects, some in development and some completed, aim to transform the ocean into new land using sand or embankment. Similar projects, for example, in the United Arab Emirates, have significantly expanded the inhabited area.
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But adding sushi does not mean solving the problem of tides and rising sea levels. Alternative: settle on the surface of the water on a floating island.
Floating island
The concept of water settlement is not new: the inhabitants of Lake Titicaca began building their villages hundreds of years ago on floating, interconnected rafts of floating reeds.
The Seasteading Institute, a global team of biologists, engineers, investors and environmentalists, met in 2008 with an ambitious goal: to design a modular, fully functional and floating eco-village. The Floating Island Project was to use concrete structures for floating platforms, also anchored to the ocean floor. These islands can be moved and rebuilt according to the needs of the inhabitants of the island. Its original design allowed 250 people to live on 11 platforms with the ability to add further. Instead of living independently on land, the "floating island" was built specifically for protected waters, and it can still be reached from the shore.
In January, the government of French Polynesia, a collection of 118 islands spanning more than 2,000 kilometers across the South Pacific, signed a memorandum with the Seasteading Institute and its affiliate startup Blue Frontiers to begin developing a pilot floating island project in 2020.
The Seasteading Institute proposed to build the first island village in 2020 in a lagoon off the coast of South Tahiti. The floating islands will be tied to the ocean floor about a kilometer offshore, with platforms the size of a baseball court. “We’ll have bungalows, we’ll have condos, apartments, research facilities, an underwater restaurant,” Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute, told NBC News. "It will be a standalone tourist attraction, a showcase for a stable society."
The institute will use the floating village of Tahiti to test a range of sustainable technologies, such as using recycled plastics and local coconut fibers as building materials. This will show whether people can live this way and whether ecotourism can be a viable foundation for the local economy.
Floating islands are especially badly needed in French Polynesia - the narrow islands' proximity to the sea makes them vulnerable to rising sea levels over the next century. The latest model predicts that 5 to 12 percent of the islands will be underwater by 2100. Thousands of residents live a few meters above sea level, so a disaster can happen at any time. And it's not just about rising sea levels - stronger and more frequent storms caused by warming seas could pose an even greater threat.
Anchorage to the ocean floor means that the floating island itself will be highly exposed to bad weather. Even being in calm waters can be devastating for the islands. Access to basic needs such as fresh water and fuel will also be a problem - it will be difficult for floating communities to completely free themselves from dependence on mainland support.
House from an amphibious yacht
Going into the ocean can be beneficial not only for those who need it the most, but also for those seeking luxury. Design firm Arkup is promising solar-powered "luxury and livable yachts" for those with $ 2-3 million to spare.
Arkup is a rectangular 25-meter vessel with four bedrooms and over 371 square meters of luxury. Electric thrusters at the bottom of the yacht propel the boat. Four 13-meter hydraulic blades (long tubular ridges) at each corner lift it above the ocean surface.
The company promises to bring modern, sustainable technology to its livable yacht. The vessel is fully solar powered and contains its own water purification systems as well as local waste management, allowing the vessel to operate off the grid.
Stronger storms of the future probably won't be a problem either. Arkup architect and partner Cohen Olthuis said the habitable yacht can withstand winds at 251 km / h, which is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane.
While the upfront costs of this kind of life will definitely be high, renewable energy and rainwater treatment will mean yacht owners won't have to pay any bills. And maybe taxes.
Arkup plans to start building the first prototype in 2017, in Miami. Olthuis believes there will be more floating households in Miami, Tokyo and New York over the next 5-10 years.
Weather the storm
Climate change is likely to make hurricanes more intense. The 2017 hurricane season fell into this trend - although there were no more storms than usual, they were quite powerful and broke a 124-year record.
Rebuilding communities devastated by such storms will be slow and expensive - in August, Hurricane Harvey caused $ 180 billion in damage, making it one of the most costly natural disasters in U. S. history. Obviously, houses need to be built to be as durable as possible, especially in hurricane-prone regions.
Design company Deltec Homes creates living spaces designed to withstand catastrophic storms. The Deltec model house is completely circular so that the wind will bend around the structure and not concentrate on one side. The internal structures supporting the floors diverge like spokes on a wheel, further reinforcing the structure. Framed lumber used in Deltec homes can hold up to 1200 kilograms per square inch, making it twice as strong as conventional framing material.
The windows are made of extra strong glass that can withstand adverse weather conditions. Unlike conventional windows with vinyl or aluminum frames, hurricane-resistant impact-resistant windows can withstand winds of up to 320 kilometers per hour. Glass is handled so as not to shatter into small pieces, which is one of the greatest dangers to people when hurricanes damage buildings. Each house costs between $ 225,000 and $ 320,000, depending on size.
Deltec has built over 5000 homes in over 30 countries. Until now, none of them have been destroyed by the harsh weather. “I think it's inevitable, whether it's 10 or 50 years from now, that the vast majority of homes will end up being built this way,” says Deltec President Steve Linton.
Eco-friendly housing
Coping with severe weather is just one way to combat climate change. Traditional home construction requires energy and materials that exacerbate the effects of climate change.
Reducing the environmental impact of a new home can be achieved by choosing environmentally friendly materials and renewable energy sources - another great way to mitigate the effects of global warming. For example, builders can choose from recycled or natural materials - straw, untreated lumber, and non-toxic paints and finishes.
Simon Dale, a UK homeowner and builder, takes the green home concept to the extreme. In a pioneering eco-village in Wales, he built a house that closely resembles the home from Tolkien's science fiction novel The Hobbit. The house that Dale, his wife, and his two children live in is only $ 4,000 and took four months to build.
The house hugs the hill, protecting it from the elements. The frame is made of oak from a local forest. The floors and metal structures are made from scrap metal. The building is insulated with straw.
While these sustainable homes are difficult to implement globally, they set a precedent. They show that the construction of houses of this kind is indeed possible.
Tubular lunar settlements
As the world's population grows and climate change makes living conditions on Earth unpredictable, people may have to seek refuge elsewhere. Moreover, work is already underway - for tens of years we have been scanning the skies in search of planets that could shelter human life, looking for water on the surface of Mars and building (at least mentally) rockets capable of taking 100 people to Mars at a time.
The moon appears to be the closest possible stepping stone to further space exploration, many space experts say. Humans have not been to the moon since 1972, but may soon return.
Overcoming the harsh living conditions on the lunar surface and establishing a permanent base is no easy feat because the moon is not very hospitable to humans. One day (and night) lasts up to 14 Earth days (and a full day is just over 29 Earth days). The moon has very little atmosphere, so humans will have little to breathe and temperatures fluctuate dangerously - rising to 123 degrees Celsius during the day and dropping to -233 degrees at night. Streams of charged particles regularly wash over the landscape, making life on the moon difficult and dangerous.
Instead of building a base on the lunar surface where it would be vulnerable to harsh conditions, we could build habitat in newly discovered lava tunnels. According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, these massive cavities are large and permeable enough to house entire cities.
At the 2010 Global Lunar Conference in Beijing, scientists developed a detailed idea of what a lunar base might look like in 2050. Buildings need to be domed to match the wavy lines of the moon's surface.
“Inside the lava tubes there will be circular domes through which we can see the blue Earth and the midnight sun,” says Bernard Foin, executive director of the International Working Group on Moon Exploration.
Jan Werner, CEO of the European Space Agency, has his own vision of what life on the moon can be: a "lunar village." While Werner's Village is supposed to be the result of international collaboration, design firm Foster + Partners has turned it into a full 3D render. The dwellings are represented by a series of connected domes, and the colony itself is supposed to be built near the south pole of the moon to maximize the intake of sunlight.
In the absence of an atmosphere that could protect people from meteorites and solar radiation, designers see the use of local materials to protect future residents.
Construction begins with a lunar lander, which has two inflatable domes on board, which will be the first sketches of the habitat. The robotic 3D printer will then spend three months collecting moon dust, carefully digging up the soil layers and forming a foamed protective layer around the inflatable dome. The completed structure can accommodate up to four people.
To the moon and beyond
The creation of a lunar base may only be the first step as people move further into the solar system. Mars has long captured the public imagination, and private space agencies funded by the state and government are working to send manned vehicles to the Red Planet. However, there are still many obstacles to overcome before placing a permanent base on the planet - the atmosphere of Mars is made up mostly of carbon dioxide, temperatures are very low, and dust storms are dangerous.
In 2015, NASA launched its first 3D-printed housing competition, encouraging participants to design Martian homes using local resources and 3D-printed capabilities.
Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office won first prize for creating the Mars Ice House. This project uses a 3D printer to enclose the structure in a thick layer of ice mined on the surface of Mars. The ice forms a blanket around the central dwelling, a two-story structure brought to the Martian surface from Earth. The space between the ice blanket and the outside of the dwelling forms a buffer that protects residents from harmful elements on the surface of Mars.
Ilya Khel