Lab R&D · not a city
Floating habitat as learning path — not Tuvalu, not fielded.
Built claim, not Vision. Design-fiction origin (World 3000 Ocean plate). Desk product only.
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Design-fiction origin · Lab R&D · Not a fielded city · Not a Tuvalu deployment.
Status: desk brief authored 2026-09-06. No spend, shipyard, or partner outreach without separate green-light.
Purpose
Convert “floating cities” aspiration into a labelled engineering learning path: what must be true physically and regulatorily before any subscale experiment.
Prior art (public threads)
| Thread | Use for us |
|---|---|
| Class rules (KR / ABS / DNV families) | Existing rule families; novel configs need risk-based approval |
| Mobile Offshore Base (MOB) S&T | Modular semisub = known research architecture |
| Aquaculture / pontoon platforms | Near-term subscale analogue |
Subscale path
E1: tank/basin model of a single modular pontoon/semisub unit ≪ 1 km (not started).
E2: literature gate before any model spend. Prefer stay on E2 until E1 is chosen.
Cost band: Unknown until quoted. Quotes held.
What this page does not say
- Quotes authorized or spend green-lit.
- Invented performance, TRL, or timeline numbers.
- Any national deployment claim (including Tuvalu).