Dubai is getting these stunning $23 million floating villas that can withstand flooding

pulse

January 10, 2018 7:47 PM

Waterstudio, a Dutch architecture firm known for is floating structures, designed 33 private villas on artificial islands off the coast of Dubai.

Like a number of coastal areas around the world, the is becoming increasingly vulnerable to sea level rise.

According to a 2017 study from the Emirates Wildlife Society and World Wildlife Fund, researchers expect ocean levels to rise around three feet by 2100. If that happens, water would inundate about 8.1% of the Emirate of Ajman, 1.2% of the Emirate of Sharjah, and 5.9% of the Emirate of Umm Al-Quwain.

This year, Dubai is getting its first of 33 floating villas by Waterstudio, which collaborated with French oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau.

The islands will also include outdoor patios with trees and a pool.

The homes will not exactly be affordable. Each island will cost between $23 million and $27.5 million.

They went on sale in 2015.

The islands will range in size from 150,000 to 450,000 square feet.

The only way to reach them will be by boat or seaplane. If water levels rise, so will the homes.

The floating, concrete base of the islands are designed to last for 100 years, according to Olthuis.

Waterstudio has exclusively built floating structures for over a decade. In 2008, the team completed this floating neighborhood in Amsterdam.

Waterstudio's latest luxury villas are part of an even more ambitious project that began in 2003 called "The World," a 24-square-mile archipelago of over 300 artificial islands. Dubai-based developer wants to start building homes and hotels on them by 2020.

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Prior to 2009, “The World” had already racked up $25 billion debt. The financial challenges have only gotten more difficult.

The Amillarah villas could revive the fantastical project. "We will see more floating neighborhoods in the next five to 10 years," Olthuis said. "Cities will start to see the water as an asset."

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