Dutch architect the Powerhouse Company has unveiled its design for a floating, carbon-neutral office for the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), a Rotterdam-based NGO that promotes measures to ameliorate climate change.
The Floating Office Rotterdam (FOR) will be moored in Rijnhaven, in the centre of Rotterdam. It will be built entirely from timber, and be carbon neutral in its operation thanks to solar panels on the roof and a water-based heat-exchange system.
Vegetation on the overhanging roof will help keep the building cool in the summer.
Nanne de Ru, Powerhouse Company’s founder and architect, commented: “By using the water of the Rijnhaven to cool the building, and by using the roof of the office as a large energy source, the building is truly autarkic. The building structure is designed in wood, it can easily be demounted and re-used. The building is ready for the circular economy.”
As well as providing office space for the GCA, it will have a restaurant for the general public.
The three-storey structure will be built offsite and towed into position. Work is expected to begin in the next few months and be completed in the autumn, when it will be opened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The building will house the GCA for up to 10 years, after which it will be available for rent and relocation.
Image: Powerhouse’s rendering of its floating office
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