A giant, floating and self-sustaining research lab measuring around the size of an island could actually be the answer to collecting, cleaning, and recycling all the trash in the ocean.
Called the 8th Continent, this huge structural masterpiece won the 2020 Grand Prix prize for architecture and innovation of the sea, and from the photo alone, it’s easy to see why. Incredibly, the structure was designed to be so large that it will allow the operators to live, eat, work, study and sleep there full-time.
Looking like a magnificent alien object, the 8th Continent marine station looks just like a water lily, except that it’s chained to the bottom of the sea while being designed to float above the ocean currents.
According to the chief designer, it was modeled to be a “living organism that is fully self-sustainable.” It was also created with the intention of being able to host a number of different activities, with the most important being to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a 900,000-square mile area that happens to be characterized by plastic waste – containing trillions of individual pieces of trash, if not more. At the moment, it’s being cleaned using large nets using that use the currents to help it gather up and collect the insurmountable amount of trash that’s floating within the oceans waters.
Senior Designer of the 8th Continent, Lenka Petráková at Zaha Hadid Architects in London, who happened to win the award shared, “I was looking into marine species, animals as well as plants. And I was studying how they really interact with water environments, how they can harvest energy and how they work with nutrition, for example.”
As for the design of the lab, the three long legs – which look more like fins or tentacles – will have the ability to collect passing plastic waste while converting tidal energy into electricity at the same time. Then sitting on the top of the structure will be three research and education centers, while underneath them will be another three, tall and spiraling greenhouses that will have hydroponic gardens and even a water desalination plant.
Meanwhile, the spine of the facility is where the living and working quarters will be located, as well as where collected waste is sorted then recycled. Then, the underwater draft spire has been designed to hold the viewing platform for observers.
Although the entire idea is yet to be realized, and currently is just a huge dream since it’s still so early in the conceptual stage and the materials have yet to be hypothesized, it didn’t stop the designer Petráková to say she believes Elon Musk is the perfect person to bring her ideas to life. She said in an interview that since Musk has such a penchant for scientific machines, sleepless enthusiasm, and obviously billions to spend, he would probably be the best bet for the 8th Continent to ever get built in the first place.
Regardless of whether this project ever comes to life – which for the sake of the planet we certainly hope so – the design is so incredible that it seems like nothing else could even come close.
If you’d like to see more about this project, watch the video below.
What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
True Activist / Report a typo
