Gigantic floating Manta Ray to purify Seoul’s river naturally
Vincent Callebaut created Manta Ray as an experiment landscape design whose aim is to restore the natural environment in Seoul.
It was developed for an international competition. It is, essentially, a floating ferry terminal proposal that uses marshland plants that purify the Han River and gets all its energy from renewable sources, according to Inhabitat.
The floating terminal is the latest design in Vincent Callebaut Architecture’s portfolio of green utopian designs. The design takes a multilayered approach to the landscape, beginning with the transformation of the already-existing Yeouido Park on the bank of the river into a “genuine cultural hub”. A forest of willow trees is proposed for protecting the banks against flooding. Along the river will be added pedestrian paths, large terraces, bicycle lanes and an amphitheatre.
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The Yeoui-Naru floating three-level terminal will be suspended above a marina and gardens. On the lower docks, a marina designed to charge boats with water, electricity and biofuels can be found. Above the marina, a manta ray-shaped structure houses the reception, leisure areas, food courts, exhibition space and educational spaces. An observation deck watching over Ban Island can be observed at the top-most level.
The Manta Ray will get all of its energy from a mixture of renewable energy sources, like solar energy and wind turbines. Organic and biodegradable waste from Yeouido Park is to be collected to be used at a biomethanation plant that would provide energy for Manta Ray.
“Seoul is finding new ways to invest in this kind of soft infrastructure, helping to foster social cohesion with a greater sense of community among diverse socio-economic groups,” writes Vincent Callebaut Architectures. “With an eye toward increasing equitable access for everyone to these new facilities, this floating vessel is an example of biophilic and resilient architecture, demonstrating that it is possible to build with nature rather than against it, by respecting the life of the river and allowing the local fauna and flora to flourish.
The “Manta Ray” project promotes the permeability and renaturalization of river banks in cities with rivers running through them. The banks become new playgrounds for social innovation, and for urban “consumers-actors” seeking to promote urban farming, agroforestry and permaculture. The goal is to make them less vulnerable to climate change, and to the subsequent dramatic flood and urban heat island events witnessed over the past decades.”
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