00. Design basis (shared assumptions)¶
Several of these assumptions were overturned
This page is kept as the original brief. The research changed a number of assumptions (energy demand, staffing, the cyclone rule, the offshore archetypes, and calling it a "country"). The revised list is in the synthesis.
Every chapter of this study works from these assumptions. If a chapter finds that an assumption is wrong or infeasible, it says so explicitly and proposes a revision rather than silently using different numbers.
The brief¶
A group of libertarian-minded people want to found their own floating polity: a permanent, self-governing community at sea. Not a raft, not a cruise ship, but acres of floating town with houses, gardens and public space, powered entirely by solar.
Population¶
| Item | Launch (Phase 1) | Design growth (Phase 2) |
|---|---|---|
| Families | 25 (range 20 to 30) | 75 |
| Residents | ~100 (avg 4 per family, includes ~35 children) | ~300 |
| Resident staff / crew (marine ops, engineering, medical) | ~10 to 15 | ~30 |
| Visitors / short-stay at any time | up to 20 | up to 60 |
Utilities are sized for 150 people in Phase 1, with modular expansion to 400.
Platform size and land use (Phase 1)¶
Target usable deck area: ~20,000 m² (≈ 2 ha, ≈ 5 acres).
| Use | Area (m²) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 25 houses, footprint | 3,750 | 150 m² footprint, 2 storeys, ~250 m² floor area each |
| Private gardens | 2,500 | ~100 m² per house |
| Communal buildings | 1,500 | school, clinic, town hall, café/store, workshop, guest rooms |
| Utilities and plant | 800 | power room, batteries, desalination, wastewater, stores |
| Food production | 2,000 | greenhouse, hydroponics, orchard beds |
| Public open space | 5,000 | park, plaza, playground, sports court, pool |
| Circulation | 2,500 | paths, service lanes, emergency access |
| Marina / perimeter edge | 2,000 | boat moorings, fuel-free charging, ferry landing |
| Total | ~20,000 |
Height and density are deliberately low: this is a village, not a tower block.
Location archetype (to be tested, not assumed)¶
Three candidate legal/physical settings are evaluated across the study:
- Host-nation sheltered waters: inside a lagoon, bay or behind a reef, within a cooperating state's territorial sea, under a negotiated special zone agreement. Calm water, easy logistics, limited sovereignty.
- Host-nation EEZ, exposed: 12 to 200 nm offshore, within a cooperating state's EEZ. More autonomy, much harsher ocean.
- High seas: beyond any EEZ (>200 nm). Maximum legal autonomy, open-ocean engineering, extreme logistics.
Physical preference: tropical, outside tropical cyclone belts (roughly within ±5 to 8° of the equator, or other basins with negligible cyclone risk), modest wave climate, water depth suitable for mooring, within reach of a port and an airport.
Energy brief (to be validated in the systems chapter)¶
- "Fully solar powered" is the aspiration. Indicative demand ~1 MWh/day for Phase 1 (efficient homes with air-conditioning, desalination, wastewater treatment, communal loads, electric boats).
- The systems chapter must say honestly whether a backup source is needed for safety (e.g. emergency generation for life-safety loads) and how to keep that consistent with the solar brief.
Design life and standards¶
- Design life: 50 years for the hull/platform, with maintenance plan.
- Survivability: design for the 100-year return period storm at the chosen site; evacuation plan for anything beyond.
- Reference standards: classification-society rules (DNV, ABS, Bureau Veritas) for floating structures; Eurocodes/ACI for concrete; national building codes for superstructure where a host state applies.
Money¶
- All costs in 2026 US dollars, with the source year and any escalation stated.
- Ranges (low / central / high) are preferred over point estimates.
Conventions for all chapters¶
- British spelling.
- Every non-obvious factual claim carries a footnote reference (
[^n]) to a source with a working URL. No invented sources. If something is an estimate or judgement, say so. - Each chapter ends with a Verdict box: Green (feasible), Amber (feasible with significant caveats), Red (showstopper), with the top risks listed.