Revolutionary! Japan Develops Floating, Earthquake-Resistant, Flood-Proof House That Could Change the Global Engineering and Construction Landscape

Written by Valdemar Medeiros

Published on 15/09/2023 at 18:50

Foto: ODF

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Floating House In Japan Draws Media Attention, Promising To Be A Solution For Floods. The “Property” Can Float Up To 5 Meters And Is Fully Waterproof.

The Ichijo Komuten, a real estate company, recently made headlines by presenting a floating house in Japan. According to the company, the flood-resistant “property” is not only able to stay waterproof during floods but also float.

Floating House In Japan Could Be The Solution For Floods

The loss of housing due to floods is an undeniable problem worldwide and, despite engineers and architects trying to find solutions, few have proven to be truly effective.

However, a renowned real estate developer in Japan claims to have found a solution focused on preventing people’s homes in the country from being flooded and swept away by floods.

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Its floating and flood-resistant house was recently featured on a popular Japanese TV show and since then has been receiving a lot of attention online. The TV channel TBS recently visited one of Ichijo’s testing sites, where the company’s new flood-resistant house was being subjected to a simulated flood.

Although it looks like a regular property, when the water began to rise around it, the floating house in Japan began to lift off the ground, eventually floating a few centimeters above it. Other solutions are always swept away by severe floods; however, Ichijo’s latest invention features a locking system that prevents this.

The floating house is connected to a series of iron bars that come out of the ground with thick cables, ensuring that the house stays in the same place while the floodwater passes beneath and around it. As the waters recede, the floating house returns to its original position.

New System From Japan Costs Only US$ 5,700

The floating house in Japan also has special openings that close in case of flooding, and the plumbing also has special valves that prevent water from entering the inside of the house. Electrical equipment like air conditioning is positioned in the upper half of the property to ensure that water does not reach them.

According to engineers at Ichijo Komuten, most houses flood when the water reaches window level; however, since their floating house can rise up to 5 meters above the ground, it is unlikely that water will reach the windows, and everything else is sealed.

Model of the floating house demonstrated during the Japanese TV show

Japanese media reports that clients who wish to build a new house with Ichijo Komuten can opt to have this system embedded for an additional cost of only 770,000 yen, equivalent to US$ 5,700, which seems quite reasonable if it really works as advertised.

Ichijo Komuten is one of the largest housing companies in Japan and over the past two years has set three Guinness World Records, including being the largest factory for pre-produced housing materials and also the most successful custom home company.

Underground Temple To Prevent Floods

Impressive engineering was used in the construction of the Shutoken Gaikaku Hosuiro project, an underground drainage system covering an area of 6.3 km in Kasukabe, Saitama, located on the outskirts of Tokyo. The construction of this ingenious complex took 17 years, from 1992 to 2009, costing over US$ 3 billion.

It is seen as the largest underground rainwater diversion channel in the world, built to prevent overflow from the rivers in the Saitama and Tokyo regions caused by storms and typhoons. Its capacity is 670,000 tons, and the pumping is only activated after ten hours of heavy rain.

Revolutionary! Japan Develops Floating, Earthquake-Resistant, Flood-Proof House That Could Change the Global Engineering and Construction Landscape

Floating House In Japan Draws Media Attention, Promising To Be A Solution For Floods. The “Property” Can Float Up To 5 Meters And Is Fully Waterproof.

Floating House In Japan Could Be The Solution For Floods

New System From Japan Costs Only US$ 5,700

Underground Temple To Prevent Floods

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Revolutionary! Japan Develops Floating, Earthquake-Resistant, Flood-Proof House That Could Change the Global Engineering and Construction Landscape

Floating House In Japan Draws Media Attention, Promising To Be A Solution For Floods. The “Property” Can Float Up To 5 Meters And Is Fully Waterproof.

Floating House In Japan Could Be The Solution For Floods

New System From Japan Costs Only US$ 5,700

Underground Temple To Prevent Floods

A giant printer called the “Ferrari” of concrete has landed in Latin America and can already build a 120-square-meter house in just 48 hours, making the traditional construction site look like something from the last century.

A British company has installed in the middle of the ocean the world’s first floating platform that generates electricity 24 hours a day from the temperature difference between the surface and the depths of the Atlantic, without relying on wind or sun.

Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has ceased to be a climatic phenomenon and has become a biological system that feeds on itself, with 8,000 kilometers in length, 37 million tons of algae, and scientists confirm that it is now permanent.

China is building an artificial island in the middle of the sea, covering 20 km², to construct the largest offshore airport in the world, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. This $4.3 billion project is anchored on more than 3,000 pillars embedded in the rock beneath the ocean and is scheduled to open in 2035.

A robot named Walter does the work of five bricklayers per hour and can save the construction industry, where the average age of professionals is 46 years and almost no one wants to learn the trade anymore, in the United Kingdom.

Austrian engineers have developed an inflatable concrete technology that transforms flat slabs into domes using only air pressure, eliminating scaffolding and temporary forms, and potentially changing the way bridges, tunnels, and curved roofs are constructed worldwide.

Engineers had to pour concrete mixed with tons of ice throughout entire nights in the Dubai desert to erect the Burj Khalifa; any carelessness could clog the pipes half a mile high.

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