Floating architecture for future waterfront cities. A performance-based design-support framework

This dissertation investigates the role of floating architecture as an adaptation measure to flooding and rising sea levels in waterfront cities and settlements. It establishes a multidisciplinary comprehensive performance-based design-support framework for floating buildings meant to assist practitioners in the design process and policymakers in providing reference guidelines and evaluating the quality of design proposals. The research identifies the performance requirements for floating buildings and investigates their interactions and mutual influences. There are three main research questions. How does floating architecture fit into the wide range of urban adaptation strategies implemented in waterfront cities across different times, regions, and climate zones? Which performance requirements, deriving from different disciplinary fields, should be included in the design guidelines for floating buildings? How can we effectively organize, visualize, and share a design support framework (PDSF) for floating architecture with professionals and policymakers? The research findings are proposed as a contribution to the evolution of Environmental Design regarding performance-based design and the reflection on urban adaptation in waterfronts. The first result is a theoretical and methodological overview of the vulnerability of waterfront settlements, and current urban adaptation approaches to rising sea levels and flooding. A specific focus on Italy provides a comprehensive mapping of the vulnerability of waterfront settlements aimed at identifying opportunities for floating urban development. The second result consists of the conceptualization of floating urban development, conceived as the urban extension on water of existing waterfront settlements. A third result is an extensive collection of best practices derived from the analysis, evaluation, and comparison of case studies. A fourth result concerns the development of a methodology and protocol for carrying out the case study analysis. In conclusion, the research has allowed the development of a series of performance-based guidelines for floating architecture and the Proof of Concept of a digital computational design tool to advance the decision-making process underlying the design of floating buildings.