Floating Island

For centuries, the Peruvian Uros people have been living on islands made out of reeds on Lake Titicaca.  In for these islands to hold together, it essential that the reeds be living.  As reeds from the bottom (4 to 8 feet down) disintegrate into the lake, more are added to the top layer of the island.

The islands were originally created as a place of refuge from the the conquering Incas in the 1500s, offering the unique tactical advantage of being able to simply drift away from the enemy. Today there are still hundreds living on these floating platforms, subsisting on fishing and trade in woven reed products. 

They even have tiny island outhouses, where reeds help absorb human waste.

Meanwhile in Baton Rouge, a company is manufacturing and selling floating islands. Floating Island Environmental Solutions is creating the islands out of recycled PET plastic bonded with marine foam (for buoyancy).

They are marketing these as a solution for levee stabilisation, shoreline protection, marsh creation, and revegetation - not for habitation (at least not by people...yet).

 

Posted by Paul Rivers 9:51pm, December 8th, 2010

Sources:

• "Fascinating Living Growing Architecture." Funzug.com. www.funzug.com/index.php/architecture/fascinating-living-growing-architecture.html (accessed December 8, 2010).
• "Floating Island Environmental Solutions - Applications." Floating Island Environmental Solutions - Welcome. http://www.floatingislandes.com/applications/ (accessed December 8, 2010).