The Private Islands Blog » Weird and Wacky

The Octuri Wind Powered Yacht/Plane

The Islomaniac® — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 05:47:52 +0000

Put this on the list of things that every wealthy island owner should have. Designer Yelken Octuri has created a flying yacht for Omani princes Aziz, Dawood and Hashim. The flying yacht was designed to allow the princes to enjoy sailing along the Omani coastline. Four masts retract to become wings as the yacht turns into a plane.

The yacht plane is powered by four dual propeller Nissen & Brasseur powerhead engines. But when used as a yacht, the craft is essentially wind-powered, making it a super-efficient way to transition from sea to air transport and save energy while on the water.

In addition to being ideal for middle eastern royalty it would no doubt be great or island owners who could fly to their island then convert their plane into a pleasure craft to sail around the neighboring islands.

NOAH: A Floating Home for New Orleans

The Islomaniac® — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:00:39 +0000

After the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, designers and engineers began working together to developa plan to keep the residents of the Big Easy safe during times of flooding. One idea being proposed is a giant floating building called NOAH, which stands for New Orleans Arcology Habitat.

The habitat boasts 20,000 residential units as well as 3 hotels and 500 timeshare units. Also housed within its triangular walls is loads of commercial space, 8000 parking spaces as well as cultural spaces, public works and schools. The idea is that you could live your whole life in NOAH if you so chose.

In addition to using solar and wind power to support the structure, given its location on the water the building would also use water turbines to generate power. No doubt it would be quite the floating structure…if it is ever built!

The Ark: A Floating Hotel for an Uncertain Future

The Islomaniac® — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:34:19 +0000

With arable land becoming increasingly scarce and waters rising around the world, developers and engineers are looking at alternatives to finding places to lodge our ever growing population.

Russian architectural firm Remistudio has taken the concept of a man-made biosphere and gone to sea with its vision for the floating “Ark Hotel.” Designed to withstand floods, tidal waves and rising ocean levels as well as earthquakes and other natural disasters, the hotel concept would float and function independently on the surface of a body of water, providing a green, self-sustaining environment for guests who presumably, would never have to leave.

For more information on this unique development visit gizmag

Haunted Island

The Islomaniac® — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 05:29:52 +0000

Islands can be luxurious, relaxing and even…spooky!!! In a past episode of Destination Truth host Joshua Gates explores Pemba Island off the east coast of Africa. The island is reputed to be so haunted that many local fisherman wont visit the island. Apparently in the past hte island was used as a slave trading post. According to locals the island is haunted by the angry ghosts of deceased slaves. Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

Iceburg Cabin

The Islomaniac® — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 05:02:40 +0000

Part floating island and part floating home, architect Daniel Andersson has envisioned a nouveau lake house that lets guests sleep with the fish — where the living space sits directly below the water’s surface and from above emerges an expansive roof deck. Andersson’s design came about when he was approached by his client, Ålands Hotell & Restaurangskola, to create a fresh concept able to attract more guests to a resort located on the Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea. What resulted was this incredible iceberg like building that sits beautifully on the waterscape and provokes onlookers to consider new, unconventional forms for living.

Hawaii Sized Plastic Island

The Islomaniac® — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:23:21 +0000

Probably one of the most bold island development proposals I have seen in a long time a group of architects from the Netherlands have proposed a crazy idea to take all the plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean and recycle it into a floating island the size of Hawaii.

Climate refugees would be able to move there and live in recycled plastic homes, and work on farms or grow seaweed. The entire island would be totally self-sufficient once built, producing its own food and energy, and managing waste. While totally off the wall, this is an intriguing concept that gets our imaginations in motion about what we can do with that ginormous mass of plastic floating around in the ocean.

For more information on this proposal visit Inhabitat.

Underwater Skyscraper: A Self Sufficient City

The Islomaniac® — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:10:27 +0000

Upside down, self sufficient, floating island cities. The future will no doubt be an interesting place to be, where potentially millions of people will be pseudo-islomaniacs.

Touted as a self-sufficent floating city, Sarly Adre Bin Sarkum’s Water Scraper utilizes a variety of green technologies. It generates its own electricity using wave wind, and solar power and it produces its own food through farming, aquaculture, and hydroponic techniques. The surface of the submerged skyscraper sustains a small forest, while the lower levels contain spaces for its inhabitants to live and work. The building is kept upright using a system of ballasts aided by a set of squid-like tentacles that generate kinetic energy.

The architects “envision a future where land as a resource will be scarce; it is only natural progression that we create our own. Approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface is ocean, even more if climate change has its way, hence it is only natural progression that we will populate the seas someday.”

Source: Inhabitat.

: Underwater floating sky scraper

The Gyre: An Upside Down Floating Skyscrapper

The Islomaniac® — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:08:12 +0000

I remember when a simple floating building was the avant guard of design. Now engineers are pushing the limits with even more outrageous designs. Can you imagine living in a high-rise apartment building where the 360 degree views are of fish and saltwater?

Although still just a concept, this upside-down, underwater eco-skyscraper (say that five times fast!) could be the future of building, especially if sea levels rise and we are forced to spend our lives living on floating islands. Designed by Victoria BC-based firm Zigaloo the Gyre is a floating eco development meant to be both a research station as well as an off shore resort complete with shops, restaurants, gardens and recreation.

Powered completely by the sun, wind and ocean, the Gyre would offer a zero emissions stay for both tourists and researchers hoping to gain a better understanding of the ocean’s ecosystem.

Source: Inhabitat

Water Purification Island

The Islomaniac® — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:34:43 +0000

Man made islands are just for business and pleasure, they can serve a wide variety of functions including giving you a work out and purifying the water.

A new man made island design allows eco-conscious exercisers to synch your workout with a little river detox, then rehydrate with a cup of the fresh water you just filtered. This people-powered water purification island is designed by Jakub Szczesny as part of the synchronicity architecture and art festival in Warsaw, Poland. The premise of the poject is that it hooks up basic exercise machines to kinetically pump polluted water through four filters into overhead tanks that spill into a large drinking fountain at the end of the cycle.

This floating platform located on the Vistula River aims to empower citizens toward environmental clean-up, and apparently would work on any body of water with enough local bodies willing to pedal for their potables!

Source: Inhabitat

Haunted Halloween Island

The Islomaniac® — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:55:31 +0000

Although most of the world doesn’t celebrate Halloween, here in North America it’s the spookiest day of the year! Of course this isn’t to say the rest of the world doesn’t have their share of terrifying places. Considered one of the most haunted places in the world Poveglia is a haunted island near Venice, Italy.

This island isn’t messing around either, it’s darkened shores are strewn with polished human bones and it is reputed to be so scary that no tourists are ever allowed to set foot on it. In the late 1500’s when the plague ravaged Italy, and bodies were piling up by the thousands, city officials took the drastic step of sending the sick and dying, including children and babies, to the island of Poveglia and thrown into the pits of rotting corpses, where they were left to die in agony. As many as 160,000 tormented bodies were dumped there over the years.

The whole island is still covered in a layer of ash, the remains of all the burned bodies. Before long, local people began seeing strange things and hearing strange sounds coming from the haunted island. In light of the islands dark history, in 1922 they did the only logical thing…they built a mental hospital on the island!

The hospital was run by an excentric doctor who experimented on live patients. Lobotomies were performed using a basic hand drill or just a hammer and chisel. After years of these horrible experiments, the doctor himself began seeing ghosts. It is said they led him to the top of the bell tower, and forced him to throw himself off. It is rumored that the mental patients then bricked up his body in the bell tower. There his ghost remains, haunting the empty tower for all eternity. HAPPY HALLOWEEN