| Freedom Ship | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Mixed use (casino, education, hotel, office and residential) |
| Location | Palm Harbor, Florida, United States |
| Height | |
| Roof | 106.7 m (350 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Size | 1,371 meters long |
| Floor count | 25 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Freedom Ship International |
| Other information | |
| Seating capacity | 33,000 units (18,000 living units, 3,000 commercial units, 2,400 time-share units and 10,000 hotel units) |
Freedom Ship was a floating city project initially proposed in the late 1990s.[1] It was so named because of the "free" international lifestyle facilitated by a mobile ocean colony, though the project would not have been a conventional ship, but rather a series of linked barges.
The Freedom Ship project envisioned a 1,317m (0.818 miles)-long integrated city[2] with condominium housing for 50,000 people,[2] an airstrip to accommodate turboprop aircraft, duty-free shopping and other facilities, large enough to require rapid transit. The complex would circumnavigate the globe continuously, stopping regularly at ports of call.[3]
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Despite early press coverage on NPR's Weekend Edition and Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering, the project has seen few recent developments. Although the initially stated in-service date was to be 2001, no construction had begun as of November 2011.
Freedom Ship International initially estimated the net cost for construction to be USD 6 billion in 1999. However, by 2002, estimates had risen to USD 11 billion.[3] The latest update to the corporation's website, in July 2008, was a press release explaining the difficulty of obtaining reliable financial backing, and as of 2008[update] Freedom Ship International has not released the names of any major sponsors.
Other projects, such as the ResidenSea, have similarly attempted to create mobile communities, though they have conservatively limited themselves to the constraints of conventional shipbuilding. In regards to the economic flexibility and "freedom" created by such mobile settlements, these projects could be considered a realization of the avante-garde Walking City concept from 1964, by British architect Ron Herron of the group Archigram.
Seasteading, a concept applying homesteading to the ocean, is a related process.