Architects say that the future of cities is underwater. Shimizu Corporation from Japan has designed what they call as Ocean Spirals, which, as the name suggests, are habitable spiral spaces deep in the ocean. Its designers estimate that one of this will be completed by 2030.
But it seems that Dubai is ahead of Japan in the underwater construction technology. Well, at least a step ahead.
Four kilometers off the coast of Dubai, there exists the world’s first partially underwater villas known as The Floating Seahorse. Each villa, designed and produced on a dry dock in Dubai Maritime City, has three levels: one underwater, one at sea level, and an upper deck.
Developer Kleindienst Group took more than 5,000 hours of research and 13,000 hours of design and engineering to make the Floating Seahorse a reality. The team was composed of 200 designers, engineers, and architects from 25 countries.
Of course, the design firm made the villas to be complete with the house essentials: a kitchen, dining area, bathroom, and master bedroom. But there is a twist: the last two are submerged covering 270 square feet on the interior.
There is also a glass-bottomed jacuzzi inside and a 500-square-foot coral garden just outside the walls. In addition, there is a massive floating bed and an observation deck to maximize the off-the-coast living.
And because it is in the ocean, the owners of the villa can only access the structures through boat or seaplane. There are floating jetties around once home if the owners want to visit their neighbors living in other Seahorses.
Each of this villa costs $2.8 million, with Kleindienst rolling out even larger homes amounting to roughly $3.3 million like the Signature Edition line. Since the new ones are much more expensive, it has major upgrades from the original model.
The Signature Edition. Photos via The Heart of Europe
The Floating Seahorse is only a part of a chain of islands known as The Heart of Europe, which is manmade reconstructions of actual European nations on a small scale. The mother project is called The World which is an even larger chain of islands.
Models of the Seahorses went on sale in 2015, with about 60 of them sold in the same year. But it was only in early of 2016 that a Seahorse was completed and rolled out.
Photos and Info Source: The Heart of Europe
