An international group is currently working on a new type of underwater villa, complete with a floor entirely under the sea.
People like living near the water. There is just something soothing about being near the water, whether it’s the ocean, a sea, or river, or even a small creek. That yearning is, perhaps, built into us at a deep level, and it explains why property on the water – almost any body of water in any part of the world – is more expensive than property near it.
So it seems like a natural evolution for people to take that one step further and live in the water. And maybe even under it.
A development company known as Kleindienst recently introduced a new type of domicile, known as the Floating Sea Horse underwater villas, which are currently under construction offshore near Dubai. The structures are, for all intents and purposes, houseboats – just with a huge twist.
Each villa is a three story structure, anchored to the seabed roughly 1.5 meters from the bottom. The structures were tested extensively to find the right weight and distribution design to give them neutral buoyancy, meaning they won’t violently pitch and dip. It might get a little rough (and probably wet) in extreme weather conditions, but they are made to withstand relatively rough seas without causing the occupant much issue.
The real selling point of these villas, however, is the bottom floor, which is located completely underwater. The bottom floor features two windows – each 269 square-feet and 9.5 centimeters thick, made of clear acetate – offering an incredible view of the marine life.
“This is an original idea, to have a boat villa with a submerged floor where you can experience the feeling of stepping down into the master bedroom, be in contact directly with the walls, and see the reef, the marine life all around you — you’re surrounded by it,” said Gianfranco Rasile, the project’s architect.
The underwater villas are part of a larger project known as the Heart of Europe resort, a string of resorts around the world that include six artificial islands, a dozen or so hotels, and the world’s first climate-controlled streets.
The underwater villas were first commissioned as part of “The World,” the artificial archipelago consisting of 300 islands deliberately positioned to look like a map of the Earth. The World first began taking on residents in 2008, and despite some rough years following the Great Recession, the development – located 2.5 miles off the coast of Dubai – is seeing a resurgence of late. The Floating Sea Horse villas have since spun off into their own thing, but they are connected to the group behind The World, and a lot of the same themes are at work.
It has taken nearly 10 years, but the designs for the Floating Sea Horse villas will finally come to fruition, as they are expected to be fully operational later this year.
Once they are in operation, they have been designed to withstand the rigors of the Arabian Seas where they will make their debut. There likely will be others around the world in locations that have different conditions, but the high salt content makes the Arabian Sea an excellent testing ground and required several prototypes and tests prior to the final models.
“The Arabian Sea is very salty so we’re really restricted in the material we can use,” says Rasile. “Inside, if you look at the material we’re using — it’s teak and marble. You have to use materials that can resist the temperature and the salt in the atmosphere.”
The architects have also been preparing for this for years, bringing in coral reef from around the world and creating a thriving ecosystem. In other words, expect some incredible views. In total, there are more than 30 species of marine wildlife, including a few endangered species that marine biologists will keep an eye on.
“For several years we have been going to areas where construction is affecting coral reefs, and relocating them to the Gulf in order to save them,” says Kleindienst. “We will have more than 100,000 corals across 2 million square feet of seabed.”
This underwater villa design is part of a new wave (no pun intended) of developments built on the ocean, taking advantage of technological advancements in manufacturing. These villas are a little less ambitious than some of the others proposed, including floating cities with their own experimental forms of government, but that also means we should see these on the water very soon.