'blue nomad' floating habitat weaves flax fiber into shelter on water amidst rising sea levels

Blue nomad floating habitat as future of housing

Students of Swiss boarding school Institut auf dem Rosenberg and SAGA Space Architects have unveiled Blue Nomad, a solar-powered floating habitat made of woven flax fiber. The Blue Nomad floating habitat, which was also shown at the recent London Design Biennale 2023, suggests the future of housing amidst the rising sea levels and the impacts of climate change, a prospect where lands are submerged in water and residents seek shelter inside floating architecture that was once just fictional. The Blue Nomad floating habitat can welcome two permanent residents and host their two guests and is modernized to employ the use of solar power.

Solar panels are expected to purely fuel the floating habitat’s propulsion and electricity, and so far, the design team has had no mention of the potential use of hydropower in Blue Nomad. A structurally optimized weave of flax fiber is planned to build the floating habitat as a way for the design team to show how to use and apply organic and regenerative material harvesting. ‘Multiple units can connect and share resources to great off-grid neighborhoods on water,’ the design team states, which suggests the possibility of constructing interconnected Blue Nomad floating habitats like townhouses but on water.

images courtesy of Institut auf dem Rosenberg

Floating architecture to address climate change

The Blue Nomad floating habitat by the students of Institut auf dem Rosenberg and SAGA Space Architects was originally thought of as a shelter for the modern nomad, for those who seek to travel and live on the water. Conceived by the students aged six to 18, the shelter on water draws inspiration from the first Polynesian nomadic settlements that explored the world via the Outrigger, a boat made of organic materials balanced by a side pontoon.

After the students drafted the sketch, they leveraged AI to bring their visions to life and see in the digital 3D how the floating architecture might look like. The idea for Blue Nomad came about when Rosenberg students met with Sir Norman Foster’s team at his foundation in Madrid. They acknowledged the impacts of climate change and the challenge of rising sea levels. They wanted to offer their architectural proposal to redefine the way people live in case the new reality takes place and help reduce the dependency on fossil fuels.

Blue Nomad floating habitat can welcome two permanent residents and host their two guests

Finding ways to adapt to environmental changes

Sebastian Aristotelis, Co-Founder of SAGA Space Architects, says that Blue Nomad floating habitat is climate sci-fi coming into reality, grounded in the vast ocean exploration heritage of Polynesian outriggers. ‘It is fitting that it is co-designed with the problem solvers of tomorrow, the students of Rosenberg. It gives me joy to work with this new generation of thinkers and leaders who are motivated to solve the challenges posed by climate change,’ he adds.

Bernhard Gademann, President of Rosenberg, echoes Aristotelis’ words as he says: ‘With the climate crisis on everyone’s agenda, it’s imperative we find alternative ways to adapt to our planet’s changing environment. By partnering with enterprises and industry experts such as SAGA, we enable our students to solve real-life problems, with the goal of creating a better future for all.’ Rosenberg will debut a model of Blue Nomad during a series of exhibitions throughout this summer and fall of 2023.

the water architecture is a solar-powered floating habitat made of woven flax fiber