Floating University project

Floating hollow spheres are made of polypropylene with projections to prevent rotation. They restrict oxygen absorption and reduce emissions with an effectiveness of 80 to 90 percent. High winds can pose serious problems by blowing the spheres away (University of Arkansas and Louisiana State University, 1985). 

Plans were annoimced in 1997 by the Indian National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) for installation of a 1-MWe floating OTEC plant at a site near Tuticorin, South India. The project is being conducted jointly with a team from Saga University in Japan, headed by Professor Uehara. Operation of the 1-MWe demonstration vessel was scheduled to begin in 2001. 

Similar structures were designed in New Orleans, Louisiana, following Hurricane Katrina. In 2010, the Special No. 9 House, designed by John G. Wilhams Architects for the Brad Pitt Make It Right Foundation, won the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA/COTE) Top Ten Green Projects Award. The FLOAT house, also in New Orleans, is another Make It Right Foundation project developed by Morphosis Architects under the direction of architect and University of California, Los Angeles, professor Thom Mayne. 

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