AYUTTHAYA, Thailand, March 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - N
estled among hundreds of identical white and brown two-storey homes
crammed in this neighbourhood for factory workers is a house with a
trick - one not immediately apparent from its green-painted drywall and
grey shade panels.
Hidden under the house and its wraparound porch are steel pontoons
filled with Styrofoam. These can lift the structure three metres off the
ground if this area, two hours north of Bangkok, floods as it did in
2011 when two-thirds of the country was inundated, affecting a fifth of
its 67 million people.
The 2.8 million baht ($86,000) amphibious house in Ban Sang village is
one way architects, developers and governments around the world are
brainstorming solutions as climate change brews storms, floods and
rising sea levels that threaten communities in low-lying coastal cities.
"We can try to build walls to keep the water out, but that might not be a
sustainable permanent solution," said architect Chuta Sinthuphan of
Site-Specific Co. Ltd, the firm that designed and built the house for
Thailand's National Housing Authority.
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