Floating Gardens: contemporary solutions.

The founders of Studio Noach, Kizito Musampa and Michel Kreuger together with the architect Anne Holtrop have designed this wealth centre and Spa in Amsterdam, a floating building made in PFC. Walls and ceilings are covered with flowers and plants designed by the French designer Patrick Blanc.

The Floating Gardens/ SpaWellness Amsterdam has been designed to be located in the lake next to the city, an area rich with high quality fresh waters: the building-garden will be a susteinable floating biotope, made by recycled materials and covered by planting, that will literally take oxygen from the "holes" of the building itself.
The material is called GreenRexwall and it was developed together with the German Aquahouse GmbH: it is so strong that concrete, wood or bricks are not necessary. Moreover, the nnovative building techniques allow to decrease the amount of energy necessary for the building: the water all around works as a "inter-changer" of heat, a sort of refrigerator, and the building results to be 70% more efficient than a conventional system.
http://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/2010/03/20/jardines-flotantes-spawellness-studio-noach-anne-holtrop/