Want to live on a giant parkade surrounded by water? Come aboard the mile-long floating city proposal.
Designed by Florida-based firm Freedom Ship International, the 25-story floating city would be large enough to house 50,000 people and include schools, a hospital, art galleries, recreational facilities, shops, parks, an aquarium and casino. Its aircraft carrier-like rooftop, meanwhile, would serve as a private airport.
The monstrous cost of the proposed monstrosity? Around $10 billion US.
“With a design length of 4,500 feet, a width of 750 feet, and a height of 350 feet, Freedom Ship would be more than four times longer than the [Queen Mary II cruise ship which measures 1,132 feet],” the project website boasts.
Okay, but just how close is the vessel to becoming a reality? According to The Daily Mail:
[Freedom Ship International] is trying to raise the estimated £6billion [$9.8 billion US] needed to turn the dream, which has been several years in the planning, into an ocean-going reality.
“This will be a very heavily capitalised project and the global economy in the last few years hasn’t been too inviting for unproven progressive projects like ours,” [Roger M Gooch, director and vice-president of Freedom Ship International] said.
“[But] in the last six months we’ve been getting more interest in the project and we are hopeful we will raise the $1billion (£600million) to begin construction.”
While too big to ever sail into any port, the floating city would spend 70 per cent of its time anchored off major cities and the rest sailing between countries. It would take about two years to complete a full circuit of the globe.
Other mind-blowing stats:
- Would weigh 2.7 million tons
- Besides the 50,000 permanent residents, the ship could accommodate an additional 30,000 visitors, 20,000 crew members and 10,000 overnight guests
- To be powered by solar panels and wave energy
