The floating future of the Maldives: Complete with 320m golf course and luxury 'workers island'
Floating islands will be moored to the seabed using cables to minimise environmental impact
Golf course will be accessed by a tunnel on the seabed, and have an underwater clubhouse for golfers to relax in after their game
43 private islands complete with their own beaches and yacht moorings
Islands will be be built in India or the Middle east and towed to the Maldives
By Mark Prigg
PUBLISHED: 04:25 EST, 13 August 2012 | UPDATED: 06:46 EST, 13 August 2012
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For golfers who struggle to avoid the water hazards, it could be a challenging course.
The Maldives has revealed plans for a radical ?320m floating course, which players access by an undersea tunnel.
The course is part of a massive plan to replace the sinking islands with a network of man made, floating islands.
With an average elevation of just five feet above sea level the Maldives, with its 1,192 islands in the Indian Ocean, is the lowest country in the world.
The floating golf course that could soon form the centerpiece of the Maldives, replacing its islands as they sink below the surface of the sea
Amid fears many of the islands will soon sink into the sea, the Maldivian government has started a joint venture with the architectural firm Dutch Docklands International to build the world’s largest series of artificial floating-islands.
The Dutch firm has already built floating islands for prisons and housing from slabs of concrete and polystyrene foam.
The hotel and conference centre, which resemble a starfish from above, will be built within circular reefs to allow visitors to dive right from the beach
In the Maldives, the floating islands will be anchored to the seabed using cables or telescopic mooring piles, making landforms that are stable even in storms.
The architects chose this approach to minimise damage to the seabed, and also chose to build lots of small islands to reduce the shadow on the seabed, which could affect wildlife.
The islands will be constructed in India or the Middle east to reduce costs, then simply towed to their final destination in the Maldives.
The real thing: The Huvafen Fushi resort in Maldives, which researchers say could soon be under water, along with the rest of the Maldives.
The islands will also be designed for swimmers, divers and even private submarines to enter them from below, and the Dutch firm designing the scheme has said visitors will be able to rent private submarines that can surface right in the middle of their living rooms.
Watch out for the water hazards: The plans include an 18 hole golf course designed by Troon, complete with clubhouse
The idea is the brainchild of Dutch firm Waterstudio who designed the project.
It is being engineered by floating architecture specialists Dutch Docklands.
CEO Paul van de Camp said: 'We told the president of the Maldives we can transform you from climate refugees to climate innovators.
'And we have a way of building and sustaining this project that is environmentally friendly too.
'This is going to be an exclusively green development in a marine-protected area.'
The first part of the project to be built will be the golf course.
'This will be the first and only floating golf course in the world - and it comes complete with spectacular ocean views on every hole,' said van de Camp.
'And then there's the clubhouse.
'You get in an elevator and go underwater to get to it.
'It's like being Captain Nemo down there.'
Players will access the floating course via a series of underwater tunnels so wide they can even accommodate a golf buggy
Designer Koen Olthuis said: 'We'll be building the islands somewhere else, probably in the Middle East or in India - that way there's no environmental cost to the Maldives.
'When it comes to the golf course, the islands will be floated into position first and then the grass will be seeded and the trees planted afterwards.'
Development on the course is expected to begin later this year, and it should be ready for play by the end of 2013 ahead of the full launch in 2015.
The course will be split over different floating islands, while private cabins will also be located on some of the islands
The proposed site is just a five-minute speedboat ride from the capital of Male, giving golfers the chance to make quick journeys to the mainland.
Amazingly, the course will even be powered by solar energy which is a resource the Maldives has plenty of - as it's located just north of the equator.
The designers claim the entire resort will be carbon neutral.
43 private floating islands will be built, complete with a jetty to moor your yacht and a pool.
The ambitious plans will also feature 43 private islands.
Called Amillarah (the Maldivian word for Private Island).
This unique project exists of 43 floating private Islands in a archipelago configuration.
Each has its own jetty for yachts, along with a pool. Palm trees give each mini island its own secluded area.
Even the low cost 'affordable' housing has a luxury feel, complete with waterside jettys.
The 'workers islands' will be in their own area of the Maldives, allowing workers to commute by boat to other areas
The sea views of the Maldives most popular resorts are set to be kept - but on a floating island instead of a real one
Coral Atoll near Maldives Island. Researchers say it could soon be under water, so plans for a series of floating islands are being drawn up.
