An Overview on Floating Structures and the Role of Engineering

Abstract

This article presents a brief history of floating structures, and their links with recent opportunities given by offshore developments. The role of engineering designers is then analysed too, highlighting how these types of structures resemble the idea of design where engineering and architecture meet in a convivium of functionality and beauty. The role of designers is therefore transported to the present day, where the lack of space on land and the environmental requirements of reduction for land use demands finding alternatives such as floating structures. In a complex scenario where the art of engineering meets the challenges of the marine environment, influencing each other, the article discusses which is the new role of engineers. Drawing from the teachings on the philosophy of structures and, in particular, from the essence of Eduardo Torroja Miret’s work, the article analyses the challenges for the design of floating structures in a complex environment and uses the basic theory of conceptual design to outline a new necessary profile of a designer, aware of the complexity and multiculturalism of the new context in which he operates.