Rising sea levels are tearing more and more coastlines from the earth, submerging cities, ecosystems and entire cultures. F.U.S.S. (Floating Units for SeaSteading) is an innovative system of artificial floating platforms designed to host life, facilitating the construction of human settlements on the water and ensuring their well-being through the creation of a closed ecosystem of goods and services.
F.U.S.S. represents an essential first step towards adaptability to new lifestyles in harmony with an evolving environmental apparatus that we must learn to respect and coexist with, a social migration that reinterprets the concept of the city and participates in the personification of the future.
The basic module of the project is composed of hexagonal concrete platform 50 metres in diameter and 8 metres high, made buoyant thanks to air chambers inside the structure; the dimensions were carefully identified to balance the architectural and engineering requirements of the superstructure without compromising the limits of stability and flexibility that must be observed in the open sea; an essential combination of design and engineering has been adopted to favour a gradual transition from traditional ways of living on land to a new lifestyle on the water. The project follows a design mentality typical of the Italian culture identifiable in social relationships and in the authenticity of its handcrafted products an undisputed strong point in the field of sustainability; these factors are translated into common urban spaces, light and modular building materials produced using low environmental impact techniques, an architecture permeated by internal courtyards, porticoes and balconies that integrate the enclosed spaces with the outdoors, and green areas used for biodynamic farming of seasonal foods that support a vegetarian and Mediterranean diet.
While the vision of a city on water may be futuristic, it is still necessary to begin the process of transition to more sustainable lifestyles as soon as possible. F.U.S.S. thus generates SEAform, the first floating prototype designed for the city of Venice and promoted by VeniSIA, a Venetian start-up accelerator, for the Architecture Biennale in 2023. The choice of the city of Venice was made to investigate the feasibility of the project through the identification of local stakeholders that can be involved in the process. SEAform is not just the initial step toward a community on water but a project to raise awareness of the future, a display of technologies to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposal.
Principal Academic Tutor
Giovanni Bracco, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Energy, Politecnico di Torino
Academic Tutor
Giuseppe Scellato, Departement of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
External Tutors
AndreaGulisano, Wave for Energy Srl
Alice Rosiello, MOREnergy Lab, Politecnico di Torino
Team members
Agata Bandini, Architecture and Urban Design, Politecnico di Milano
Marta di Castri, Ingegneria dei Sistemi Edilizi, Politecnico di Milano
Sara Leoni, Architecture-Built environments-Interiors, Politecnico di Milano
Edoardo Lo Vecchio, Product Service System Design, Politecnico di Milano
Ludovica Gaia Mariella, Architecture for Sustainability Design, Politecnico di Torino
Ilaria Turtula, Architecture-Built environments-Interiors, Politecnico di Milano
Benedetta Zuccarelli, Building Architecture, Politecnico di Milano