The Sea Orbiter was designed by Jacques Rougerie, a French architect, to be a floating laboratory to help gain a better understanding of the oceans. The almost 3/4 of the planet is water/ the ocean and we have very little understanding of that vast chunk of this blue ball.
"True mobile oceanographical base, this vertical vessel drifts in the currents hosting 18 oceanautes who will observe the life of the oceans on a permanent basis.
Marine life will naturally agregates under its hull."- Jacques Rougerie
It stands about 170 ft tall with about 2/3 under the water line. It is designed to house a crew of 18 and has acesses to the ocean under the water line and is power solely by the ocean currents.
The design was tested in Norway by Marintek and the design was sound and will stay up right even in bad weather. (See the video on the site.) It reminds me of a bobber sitting on a lake when I go fishing.
The Sea Orbiter is a great example of form meeting function.Check out the project web site.
Jacques Rougerie's designs have a great retro futurism feel, the Sea Orbiter intended to be put to use by 2010.
Check out his work here.
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