While browsing the Arcitecture category over at Superuse.org I came across The Rig hotel. The concept behind this, and indeed the entire Superuse site, is simple: recycle everything. And why not? According to the article “there are approximately 4,000 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico varying in size, depth and mobility that will be decommissioned within the next century. If a deck on one of these rigs is about 20,000 square feet, then there is potentially 80 million square feet of programmable space just oft the coast of the United States.”
The obvious concern here is what to do when the next major hurricane bombards the gulf. Well, there’s an interesting solution to that… Fill the centre of the rig with water. Indeed “spaces are organized around a core of water, which allows light to penetrate to the center of the rig. The core of water acts as ballast to stabilize the rig during ocean storms, and reduce the effect of seasickness.” Eureka! I have absolutely no clue how that would work, but they also propose the centre core of water could be used for underwater Cirque Du Soleil shows, and I’m all about some Cirque!
Read the entire article, including the PDF, over at Superuse.org.