Explore Saudi Arabia's Turtle-shaped Floating City Project

Time has changed, for real! There was a period when we thought that the ground under our feet is nothing but a turtle's back. Well, that philosophy took a deep dive into the ocean after the earth's actual shape was discovered. However, Pierpaolo Lazzarini's brilliant proposal resurfaced the idea and made it one of the biggest projects of the sea world. 

Presenting Pangea – the world’s largest turtle-shaped floating city. The project is under construction, but the designer released images and details will flabbergast you from head to toe.  

Ideology Behind the Floating City

Source: Youtube

Before we can go into the technical details, let’s explore the creative ones! Of course, we’ll start with the name: ‘Pangea,’ was named after the supercontinent present on the planet between 200 to 355 million years ago. For those unaware of the concept'the supercontinent is a piece of land that consists of almost all the land present on Earth. But why turtle? As we all know, our ancestors made a dream of living on the back of a turtle. That dream is clearly keeping some of us awake, thus a sea turtle yacht was designed. 

Also Read: World’s Longest Cantilever Bridge One Za’abeel

Moving forward with the world’s biggest turtle, the technical category of the design falls under Terayacht. Until now the megayacht was the biggest known floating structure, but since the size of the Pangea was much bigger than the megayacht, experts have made a new category of ‘Terayacht’ and made this floating city its new king. 

Design of the Floating City

Source: Pinterest

Apart from being a giant representation of a sea turtle, the biggest boat in the world comes with many fancy features. With 19 poolside villas, 64 apartments and multiple individual homes, the core of the yacht can accommodate up to 60,000 people. The bottom of the ship has spacious and comfortable cluster compartments that can hold up to 30,000 staff members. By composing cluster compartments and connected corridors, the makers of the project made the space into an unsinkable floating solution. 

Now, let’s cut to the chase and see what other amenities you can get while staying in the floating city. The yacht features shopping centres, fitness centres, parks and clean water pools. For transport within or outside, caddy cars, 25ft boats, a marina and an airport are built. So, you can even come and go without any inconvenience.  

If you are thinking about how much space the biggest boat in the world takes, then buckle up! Designers of Pangeos spread it all in the space of 650m*600m. 

Floating City Engine & Speed

Source: Pinterest

While the length and width of the yacht are compact, the volume is quite bulky. If you can see in the sea turtle pics, you can see multiple layers on the top as well as at the bottom. Such a bulky floating turtle cruise ship needs an engine that can sustain the load and move the floating city around the world. 

Also Read: Construction and Design of the Sydney Harbour Bridge

The designers suggested 9HTS engines with 16,800 HP that can give the Pangeos a sweet speed of 9.25Kmph. Furthermore, the installed engines in the caddy and other vehicles associated with the floating city are designed to be low maintenance and highly efficient.  

Floating City: Major Concerns & Solutions

Source: Pinterest

A few concerns baffled everyone during the whole process. First, the construction, even though the yacht takes around 1 sq km of space, the construction of the Terashipyard needs to be bigger. The assumed infrastructure of the Terashipyard is about 650 metres wide and 600 metres long. Moreover, the ship testing needs a circular dam and 1 sq km of shallow-dug sea. So, the team of Pangeos suggested constructing the ship in King Abdullah district, Saudi Arabia, UAE which is 2km away from King Abdullah port where the Terashipyard will be created. The best part? The team wants to hold hands with all the top yacht companies to make the floating city the biggest project of the century. 

The list of concerns doesn’t end here. In order to move such a heavy mechanism, the engine needs tremendous energy. The consumption of this yacht will be more than the available resources. And if the world’s biggest turtle runs on petrol, then the level of pollution in the sea will be enormous. To tackle this, self-sustainable solutions will be added. The core of the ship will be covered with solar panels and the fins will be laced with a hydroelectric mechanism to run the fully electric motors of the megastructure and will be able to cruise at 5 knots. In short, the turtle can swim in the water as much as we want without being a contributor to global warming. 

Third, manpower! To realise this dream, companies need to hire people on contracts, in bulk. People around the world may become a part of this amazing floating city. Not only the construction part but the Pangeos needs at least 30,000 people to cater for the needs of the ship and its guests. 

Timeline & Investment

Source: Pinterest

The dream of a floating city is still in blueprints and models. Italy-based designer Pierpaolo Lazzarini started brewing the idea back in 2009. He designed a website and 3D images to promote the concept and turn this into something that the world warrants. As per the estimate, the making of the world’s biggest turtle will cost investors around USD 8 billion dollars. On the other hand, the selling price of the ship, estimated as per the market, is somewhere around 5 billion dollars. 

So long as the timeline is concerned, the construction of the ship alone will take around 8 years. The time of other required constructions like the Terayacht project is not mentioned yet in the timeline. 

Bon Voyage 

That’s all for now! Since the biggest boat in the world is still under process there is a lot for us to discover and share with you. The Pangea project'envisioned as the world’s largest turtle-shaped floating city'represents a remarkable fusion of creativity and engineering. With its expansive design and innovative features, Pangea aims to redefine luxury living on the seas. To know more about this amazing project and other interesting news visit our website and take a dip in the mesmerising World of architecture.