New Age, Self-Sufficient Floating Office in Rotterdam Claims to be the World’s Largest

The creator of the unusual project is Powerhouse Company, an architecture company based in Rotterdam, Holland. The FOR serves as the headquarters of the Global Center on Adaptation, an organization focused on climate issues. It is a 3,700 sq meters (almost 40,000 sq ft) self-sufficient, carbon-neutral building that Powerhouse describes as the world’s largest floating office.

Measuring 90 x 24 meters (295 X 79 ft), the FOR started to take shape in 2018, but it had to be towed from Zaandam (a city in North Holland) all the way to Rotterdam/Rijnhaven, which is located 80 km (almost 50 miles) away. It only arrived at its destination at the end of August and has been recently inaugurated by Willem-Alexander, the King of the Netherlands.

The FOR is powered by an 800 sq m (over 8.600 sq ft) solar panel array and has a water-based heat-exchange system that uses the harbor water for cooling and heating.

Powerhouse Company designed the floating office to have three floors, and there's a boardwalk that gives you access to the building. There’s a restaurant with a large outdoor terrace, a swimming pool, overhanging balconies around each floor, and a pitched roof.

The timber-made FOR can be disassembled and recycled, but Powerhouse Company says the building should stay put for the next 10 years and maybe relocated after this period.

While the structure is made completely of timber to minimize its carbon footprint, the underwater foundation is made of concrete pontoons that are anchored together.

Powerhouse Company boasts of its off-grid building being both fun and functional, capable of carelessly floating in case water levels rise.