World’s Largest Artificial Floating Island (Photo: Rober Koehler)
The world’s largest artificial Floating Island has recently been opened in the South Korean capital, Seoul. Floating island under construction on the Hangang (Han River) is first equipped with an aquatic convention center and it is made for concerts, conventions, exhibitions, water sports and restaurants.
Floating island consists of three man-made inter-connected islets. Islet 1, the biggest of the three islets, is three stories high and measures 10,845 square meters. It includes a 700-seat convention hall. Islet 2, a three-story structure measuring 5,373 square meters, puts a focus on developing facilities for cultural events. Islet 3, two stories high, takes up a 4,164 square-meter area and is devoted to various aquatic leisure sports activities like yachting. The total number of seats for exhibitions and conventions reaches 1,400 uniting all three of the islets. The islands can accommodate 6,200 people and are set to make the Han River, which 59 million people visited last year, an even more popular tourist spot.
About $80 million was invested in the sprawling 20,382 square-meter Floating Island. There are numerous projects next to and on the water, to ensure the Han remains an important focal point. The riverbanks are also being transformed into parks and public spaces. From the drawing board to the opening of the floating island, there were months of painstaking work. The central challenge was how to keep three heavy structures afloat, using only giant buoys and mooring chains. The whole thing also had to be environmentally friendly. It is scheduled for completion in September this year.
Choi Heung-Soon, with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said: The north and south sides of the river have been developed with housing, and the river was only something to look at in this area. But now, with the floating island, we can really make use of it and create a new culture.
