‘Ocean Builders’ Creates a Floating Development From the Ground Up
The floating space is full of breathtaking designs and imaginative plans. The next step, however, is a major undertaking: construction. It takes a significant amount of resources (financial, human, and material) and good coordination to deal with the ups and downs of the day-to-day at warehouses, as well as the challenges of remaining faithful to the amazing ideas on paper while bringing them to life. This is true for Ocean Builders’ CEO, Grant Romundt, and his team at their Panama development site. Every week, they literally and metaphorically break molds, demonstrating to the world and Aquatecture enthusiasts that a powerful cocktail of passion, smart alliances, and determination can make anything happen, including homes that float and have only curves!
At the warehouse, over 30 builders are wearing the Ocean Builders shirt. Many others work remotely as their dream of floating neighborhoods on the ocean comes true. The result: The Seapods, a one-of-a-kind shell-shaped floating house inspired by the fluid and infinite nature of water, with no rigid angles and designed to be ultramodern and futuristic from the outside to the inside. At Seaphia, we are astounded by the process and progress Ocean Builders has put in place, which will allow them to launch the houses on the water as soon as possible.
Grant was born in Canada and developed an early interest in technology. How many people can claim to have written software and competed in a science fair when they were eight years old? Grant did, after all. Today, he owns six-figure businesses in sales, education, and technology. They have made magic and innovation their mantra, along with Rüdiger Koch, a former German navy officer. Koch has developed aerial and naval military defense systems as well as patented floating prototypes. As stated on their about page.
In a seashell (pun intended), Ocean Builders designed the Seapod, a home that highlights and maximizes the characteristics of some of the oldest forms of housing used by living creatures: a curved seashell is strong but adaptable to its environment, it’s beautiful and functional. Most importantly, it is created by the ocean and returns to it without disrupting the life that surrounds it. The Seapods are worthy of an exhibition in an art gallery: all walls are free of 90o corners and constructed with materials that can interact with water without causing harm:
”By using a small electric current we stimulate the accumulation of calcium carbonate on our steel spar which helps form a protective layer over the steel structure to keep it from rusting and at the same time it supports ocean life, like coral”.(Ocean Builders website).
Living in a Seapod will make you feel as safe and valuable as a pearl.
Let’s take a look at what its creator told us in the most recent episode of our Floating Cities Show.
A spar keeps seapods stable. The spar aids floatability, and a tripod structure surrounding it aids in stabilization. These spars have a variety of applications. One is a one-person and delivery drone landing pad. Ocean Builders is in talks with eHang, a Chinese commercial aerospace manufacturer known for its environmentally friendly and intelligent low-altitude passenger autonomous aerial vehicle. A partnership between the floating house builder and the urban mobility aviator is being discussed. Getting to a Seapod is thus analogous to flying in a car in The Jetsons.
Other tripod surface options include a Wazebo, a water-roofed gazebo with solar panels, or an Infinity Jacuzzi with endless views. Remember that Ocean Builders prides itself on being innovative, one-of-a-kind, and astute. To stay ahead of the competition, they are developing stand-alone products such as cutting-edge waste, energy, and water technologies that separate gray and black liquid residue, recycle 90%+ of natural resources, and direct them for reuse only where a mother would.
For those of us who crave updates, the Facebook page has videos and pictures, and the blog has live feeds from the ground and right on the blue frontier. Some homes will have projectors installed for owners who want to display their NFT art in the living room.
Grant told us the story when he first met the Seapod designer, Water Studio’s Koen Olthuis. Waterstudio, as usual, delivered and brought what makes them the world’s most successful floating company: fearless Developments.
You can watch the entire interview right here!