Floating habitat: designing a residential, cultural and recreational complex on the water using the principles of sustainability and renewable energy

There is a growing awareness around the world that traditional mitigation strategies which attempt to control water flow, increase the likelihood of catastrophic consequences in the long term, when failure occurs after years of unsustainable development behind flood barriers. As global climate change causes sea levels to rise and weather events to become more severe, severe flooding is becoming more common around the world. Large populations living in deltaic or riverine floodplains will be particularly affected by the worst events. Floating architecture is a defense strategy to deal with climate change that works simultaneously with natural flood cycles in flooded areas and instead of creating an obstacle with the help of a sustainable architecture approach, it enables the flow of water to be directed and controlled. The construction of such buildings can provide significant cost savings compared to other flood and climate change mitigation strategies. This research reviews case studies of existing and proposed overwater buildings with a discussion of their systems and components. It also discusses the construction limitations of some regulatory barriers that have discouraged its development and possible ways forward.