This master thesis, by Bjarne Winther, concentrates on rethinking our way of living, and reconsiders the organisational forming of cities for future generations to come. The title Aquatecture comes from the project’s objective of fashioning a housing complex upon the water surface. Interaction between the residents on both land and on water is prioritized as the complex offers the residents an ease of access to an internal courtyard and the surrounding water directly from the homes. The housing complex has for this research been situated in Limfjorden between Aalborg, Egholm and Nørresundby, as aalborg only has a minor part of the city that is not threatened to be submerged and larger areas of the city under threat of periodically flooding. Aquatecture offers a way of living within the city close to water without the risk of being flooded as the building hovers with the rising and falling of the water levels.
Additionally, to rethinking the way of living in cities and on water, the building is built for zero energy standards in consumption of energy and comfortable indoor climates, to offer a justifiable alternative for building strategies in the future for coastal cities, in addition proposing a way of expanding.
Aquatecture takes a holistic design process of the three focal points; sustainability, modern living and the interaction with the water. Thereby, the result of this thesis is a sustainable housing complex dealing with the impending climate changes through; architecture, construction and indoor comfort, the housing complex has been designed to benefit from the close connection to the water foundation whilst securing for submerging as the icecaps melt, providing comfortable living standards in close connection to water.