Description

In the middle of Rotterdam harbour, a spindly steel construction stands apart in a quiet section of the docks. 40 cows live here under a translucent roof in the world’s first floating barn. Why? As the Rotterdam architects Goldsmith explain, a floating barn can adapt to rising sea levels, produce milk near to the city and also raise urban awareness of agriculture.
According to the operators, the cows cope well with the swaying of the platform and should one of the animals actually fall through the fence into the basin, they are able to swim. The floating farm also provides an above-average amount of space: the 30 × 30 metre pontoon is anchored to the bottom of the dock via corner posts and has soft surfaces, boxes for the cows to lie down and small trees. The pavilion’s roof provides shelter from sun and rain. A bridge connects the platform with the mainland, where there is a lawn for the animals, and a second walkway leads from the quayside to the lower level.
This level contains rooms for visitors, for offices, for processing the milk and a slurry pit. In the barn itself, a robot collects the cow manure and pushes it into the pit. The milking of the cows is also automated. Several companies have supported the farm’s construction by donating materials, and the floating farm is intended as a prototype, marketing its dairy products to private individuals. Local companies, such as beer producers, provide protein-rich production waste for use as animal feed, along with other waste food products such as potato scraps or bran. The manure from the cows is used in turn to create a natural fertiliser. The farm generates all its own electricity from floating solar panels and provides fresh water through an integrated rainwater collection and purification system.

Originally published in Bauwelt  24.2018, pp. 24-25, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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