Power Barges ~ Flexible Floating Infrastructure

Thanks to gCaptain for spotting an improved Power Barge system...

"A new modular medium speed engine power barge design [...] This radiator-cooled modular power barge design permits the same hull to be utilized with a range of power outputs from 80 MW to 180 MW. [...] The new design is presently being modified for dual fuel and natural gas operations to suit combined operations with LNG […] and combined cycle systems for specific market opportunities."

Power barges are the fastest way to ramp up electricity (and cogen + water desal) infrastructure in coastal or navigable river areas. By floating in and being modular, they can be incrementally added to (with more barges) or floated out and moved to new or better location (and/or refurbished). See also my previous posts on this topic!

Habitat ’67 ~ Safdie Reinvents Apartment Building

Moshe Safdie at TED speaks about reinventing the apartment building and his iconic, modular, livable Habitat '67...

Big Steel Box ~ How Ship'n Containers Are Made!

Anish at MarineInsight answers How Are Shipping Containers Made? by pointing out this great video by the folks at Big Steel Box...

The Stack ~ Fast Modular Apartment Construction

Matt Chaban writes in Crain's NY about Modular apartment building rises in 19 days...

"Nineteen days. That is all the time it took to put up a 28-unit, six-story apartment building in the Inwood section of Manhattan this summer. The secret? Modular construction."

Check out construction timelapse!

Container Pop-Ups ~ Rapid Rehersal Storefronts

I'm fascinated by containerized solutions generally, but I especially have pop-up retail storefronts on the mind right now.  Things like what we've seen Boxman Studios do. We need to try these out on currently crappy parking lots in Kendall Square -- MIT's lots of ugly underused space should get this temporary, design-rehersal treatment!

Modular Apartments ~ NEAPO's 5-Story Buildup

Finnish modular construction firm NEAPO just shared images of their latest project, a five-story residential apartment building...

"38 apartments with total floor area of 2,508 m² constructed of large modules, the size of the entire apartment. The prefabricated modules as well as the lift shafts are delivered to site as single elements. The building consists of 38 apartments (modules), the largest with a surface area of 73 square meters."

Healthcare Train ~ South Africa's Phelophepa!

Thanks to Railways Africa piece Second Healthcare Train Launched for describing the Phelophepa Healthcare Trains! It's so obvious and brilliant and great once you hear about it, but I had no idea that this exists till just now!

"On the introduction of Phelophepa II, public enterprises minister Gigaba says: “What started off 18 years ago as a modest three-coach eye clinic has become an internationally well-known beacon of hope, providing healthcare throughout South Africa, especially in rural areas. [...] Each train has 20 permanent staff, 16 contracted security officials and 40 students on board. They function as training institutions for South African and international final-year professional health students, not only providing practical experience for nursing, dental, optometry, psychology and pharmaceutical students, but also attracting catering students needing an opportunity to practise their skills."

I personally appreciate that global pharma giant Roche has made a major CSR commitment to the Phelophepa in partnership with South African infraco Transnet's Foundation! Here's a Journeyman Pictures piece on the original train...

Floating Utilities ~ Waller Marine's Power Barges

Very interesting to see these Waller Marine-built power barges...

"...two 300' x 100' barges, each equipped with GE 7FA turbines, that have a combined power generating capacity in excess of 340 MW of electricity. [...] launched in 180 days. Waller Marine designed and managed the construction of the barges, along with the installation of the power plants on the barges, utilizing over 900 men working in shifts, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. This video shows the highlights and progress of the construction, the launch of the barges and their subsequent movement by tug and heavy lift vessel."

FYI, here's inside of the GE 7FA's...

Boxman Studios ~ Containerized Instant Places!

Very cool to see the Boxman Studios containerized instant party places and other retail and event venues...

"...the first company in America that handles the design, manufacture and deployment of containers for individual and commercial use. [...] We’ve breathed life into decommissioned metal containers for use as everything from hip, mobile lounges for parties, to traveling immersion experiences for brands. [Next we're] working with government agencies on a range of platforms; designing urban markets for local municipalities; and developing affordable housing solutions for international deployment."

Another in a growing set of shipping container architectures.

NEAPO ~ Modular Construction Solutions @ MIT

Fantastic to have visitors from innovative Finnish company NEAPO here today at Media Lab. NEAPO's a pioneer of modular construction solutions, including the Tubetower uplifting innovation, retrofitable top-floors Penthouses, modular new apartments, and even this factory-built three storey apartment floated to its final destination! Check out their embedded build-video. One central element to their approach is lightweight steel honeycomb paneling they call FIXCEL. Perhaps the most interesting historical thing about the NEAPO story is that the company emerged from the Finnish shipbuilding supercluster as a spinout from Shippax, the interior and accommodations company.

Floating Solutions ~ Flexible Heavy-Lift Action...

I've written before about floating hospital ships, Shell's ginormous LNG processing ship, floatable power plants, and other flexible infrastructure (including lots of containerized stuff) and even a jail. Here's some new additions to the list! First, NEAPO's float-in three-storey apartment block built at Turku Shipyard and transferred in one go by water to the island of Hirvensalo, Finland... To build the Snøhvit LNG processing facility in the remote northern Barents Sea, Norway's Statoil commissioned the liquefaction plant from a Spanish engineering firm and floated it via heavy-lift to the Melkøya Island off Hammerfest... Perhaps the most (in)famous example of this is American billionaire Daniel Ludwig's Project Jari, shifting a Japanese-made paper pulp mill around the world and up the Amazon to a Brazilian wood plantation! Here'a a more recent example on a personal scale in this BBC Horizons show on Innovations on water featuring Dutch architect Marlies Rohmer and her waterfront development. Each of the dozens of apartments "floats" are made in a shipyard.

Uplifting Innovations ~ On Elevators & Escalators

Several interesting lift & shift innovations have caught my attention recently. First, my MIT Media Lab colleague Kent Larson pointed me to the very inventive Finnish firm NEAPO which makes Tubetowers, modular & retrofitable elevators & shafts... And another colleague Ryan Chin spotted the Helixator, a hybrid escalator x elevator creating a continuous vertical transit system... As I first wrote about a few years ago, MagneMotion employs Linear Synchronous Motors (LSM) for a variety of very compelling movers, including ultra-heavy Navy ammo lifting and this ultra-conveyor... And their most recent Lite lightweight packet automotion offering... On the showy but cool end of things we have this Parisian stairs plus open elevator centerpiece at the Louvre... Finally, an oldie but goodie, the Paternoster...

Mobile Harbor ~ Container (Un)Loading @ Sea

Rob Muir at Reuters reports on Mobile harbor delivers the goods for container ships at sea...

"South Korea has unveiled a mobile harbor designed to allow the loading and unloading of container ships at sea. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) says the harbor combines two technologies that could revolutionize port systems around the world. [...] If the ship can't come into the harbor, the harbor can now come out to the ship."

Hybrid Air Vehicles ~ Flexible, Heavy-Lift, plus...

The BBC spots The new vehicle set to revolutionise the skies...

"Imagine a flying machine that can cruise in the air for three weeks without landing -- and does not need a runway when it finally comes back to earth. It may sound like science fiction, but the Hybrid Air Vehicle -- which looks like a traditional airship -- can land anywhere and on any surface."

Here's footage of the HAV Ltd SkyCat scale-model flying...

Tempohousing ~ Shipping Container Apartments

Many thanks to gCaptain for spotting Tempohousing, a Dutch venture distributing a modular housing system made of ISO standard 40' shipping container elements! The photo above is a huge 1,000 unit dormitory in Amsterdam (very popular, it turns out) but there are also labor hotels, temp worker accommodations, a surprisingly luxurious hotel, and more demo projects. This is a really great example of containerized infrastructure! Check out all the example projects on their website, plus view here a demo build video...

Containerized Infrastructure ~ Urgent Solutions...

Writing about Mercy Ships got me thinking again about floating power plants and that in turn got me thinking about other urgent solutions which can be deployed relatively rapidly -- and moved easily. Last summer at MIT's IDDS, Jock Brandis proposed a containerized Jatropha-to-biodiesel plantoleum processing facility. It turns out a quickie search shows several players making such turnkey systems. But the idea of containerized infrastructure extends to many things:

• Power Plants -- such as the Wartsila system pictured above;
  
• Desalination Units -- e.g. this APT unit;
• Bottling Plants
• Food Processors
  
• Pico Breweries
• Coffee Shops -- e.g. like this Illy outpost;
  
• Fab Labs -- e.g. this MIT Mobile prototype;

And more. This is a theme I'm paying close attention to and will revisit here time to time. Please drop a line if you find examples of interest or have something compelling to add.

Floating Urban Accomodations ~ NYC Housing!-)

I showed my MIT MOT alumnus classmate Dave Perko the Floating Power Plant link and he got very excited, writing me...

It has me wondering about other potential offshore development opportunities. One thought in the article particularly struck me: it was the comment about augmenting land-scarce cities like NY with services they need. Why not build condos -- even communities -- near-shore? Or office buildings? People love the water, the view and proximity to the city. This is a viable solution to a real estate crunch. Think South East Asia. Plus, there is already ferry service in the Boston Harbor, in NYC, and SF. People vaction on house boats, take cruises, and travel to islands ... why not live there!

Indeed, said I, pointing out that the powers that be -- brighter minds than ours -- are already on it! Check out these multi-million dollar accomodations moored off New York City. Hundreds of people already live there... Seriously, though, this is a damn great idea. Floatable stuff is fast: fast to install, fast to change, fast to improve, fast to remove. All excellent qualities, worldwide.