PURPOSE

This page will contain different ideas about how I think the Freedom Ship can be improved.

SECTIONS

The current floorplans on display at the Freedom Ship site show a lack of thought and basic design considerations. On a ship where the occupants are going to live full time, there must be little or no wasted space in the living quarters. The current draft of the 80x15 condo contains a ton of wasted space in the long hallway used to reach the main living area.

The Freedom Ship designers should leverage off of the existing knowledge that has been gained by mobile home designers. These designers have been creating living spaces for years that fit into the 80x15 form factor and minimized wasted space. I have taken one of these floor plans and modified it to fit the requirements of the Freedom Ship.

Most mobile homes have the front door in the center of house. This enables them to have bedrooms at both ends without requiring a long hallway to reach them. With the Freedom Ship, the entrance to the home must be on one end. However, instead of having a long hallway in every condo to span from the front door to the main living area, we should have an outside hallway shared by two units that leads to the center of the condo. This way only half the space that a hallway requires is removed from each condo.

In the floorplans below, you can see that the improved floorplan contains 3 bedrooms (or 2 bedrooms and a deck if the unit is on the outside) and 2 baths instead of just a single bedroom and bath.

The floorplans for the smaller condo are not quite as bad as the larger ones. The one thing that is difficult to understand is the inclusion of a second 1/2 bath right next the full bath. I guess this might be useful if the condo is owned by an older couple who both have weak bladders, but in any other situation it's totally unnecessary.

Once again, I've taken a floorplan from a manufactured home and adapted it for the requirements of the Freedom Ship. This floorplan includes a full kitchen and utilizes a shared hallway to save space. The example below is based on an inside condo. If the condo had ocean views, then the living room and/or kitchen could be narrowed a bit to make room for a small deck on the other side of the bedroom. The bedroom and the living room could also be flip-flopped to allow people in the living room full view of the ocean.

NOTE: I am assuming the efficiency units will be 20x15 because the total square footage is 300 and most other plans are 15 feet wide (hence 20x15). If I were single and not interested in starting a family, I would most likely buy this type of unit.

This floorplan poses many difficulties for designers because of its extremely small space. First, I would create a floor to ceiling shelving and cabinet system on the bottom and right side wall of the bedroom/living room. These shelves/cabinets would keeps things in their place and eliminate clutter. This would be critical in a condo this size. You would definitely need a flat panel TV to avoid losing too much space.

One closet would hide a small refrigerator and a microwave oven. I know that the efficiency units are not supposed to have kitchens, but I can't imagine not having some minor cooking abilities. The other closet would hold clothes. Owners of these units would have to use a common laundry facility.

The sleeping arrangements are one of the trickiest details in the efficiency unit. Many people would propose a Murphy bed, but I think a sleeper sofa would work best. During the day you would have a nice large sofa and at night it would pull out into a full size queen bed. Both sofa and bed would be right next to the bookcase where you would have your alarm clock, a place to put your glasses or a book, etc... Both sofa and bed would also have a good view of the TV. A Murphy bed is not a bad idea, but it would take a whole wall. You couldn't have anything in front of it unless you wanted to move it everyday.

The bathroom would be regular size. You could have a nice large roman tub and a double vanity. Some people might want to make the bathroom smaller, but I think that it would give a welcome sense of spaciousness whenever it was used. You don't want to feel that everything in your life is always cramped (plus this way I didn't have to modify the original floor plan that much :).

All in all, I think you could create a pleasant space that seemed larger than it actually was. You just have to be sure to keep it clean and avoid buying too many things that might make it feel cluttered.

One of the things that I would like to see in the Freedom Ship is more mixed-use space than is currently proposed. I love the idea of being able to wake up, walk around the corner, buy a bagel and O.J., and then sit and talk with my neighbors for a while. I think that levels upon levels of just condos would be a sterile, corridor-filled existence.

Since the Freedom Ship is naturally divided into 3 level blocks, I propose that two hallways of each bottom level (of the three level block) be converted to mallways. (See diagram below) These two mallways would each be three-stories tall since we don't need those hallways on the second and third level, anyway. (Does anyone really need a hallway on the front and back side of their condo?) I imagine that the condos on the second and third levels that overlook the mallway would have small bump-out balconies with full-length french doors to give the occupants the opportunity to step out with a cup of coffee and watch the people go by. I would especially like to see the walls and floor of the mallway decorated as if it were a small Parisian steet. (Walk around the shops of the new Paris hotel/casino in Las Vegas for a good idea.)

All residents would still have the full ability to get around since all cross hallways would exist as bridges over the mallway. Also, the number of interior condos with no views would be greatly reduced and the total number of condos could remain the same.

The one problem with this plan is security. There is a big advantage to having all guests sequestered on a given number of floors. My idea would require guest to be able to freely circulate around most of the ship. I have seen other posts on the Ship-World web site about this problem and I believe that with more thought it could be resolved.

I believe that people who purchase oceanview condos are going to end up being very disappointed with their ocean views. Based on the idea of having a public 70 ft balcony every third floor and only having 30 ft between them (10 ft per floor?), I'm convinced that the view angle for people on their balcony will be too narrow for much enjoyment.

The people on the third floor (yellow lines denote field of view) will get a nice view of the ocean, but will see almost nothing of the sky. Instead they will see 70 ft of concrete directly over their head. The people on the second floor (aqua lines denote field of view) will have the best view, though it will be mainly of people below and the ceiling above. I haven't even drawn view lines for people who own condos on the same level as the public balcony because I don't believe that they have oceanview condos. The fact that everyone who enjoys the public balcony will also be able to enjoy front-row views into their living rooms will surely cause them to keep their curtains closed most of the time. This doesn't apply to just the first level condos, those balconies on the second and third floors will also be fully visible to all of the pedestrians on the public balcony (just not as much so).

I have four solutions that I think would remove most of these concerns:

1) Remove some of the public balconies. Every other set of three stories could have a public balcony, but the rest of the oceanview condos would open directly to the beautiful sky and ocean.

2) Make the public balconies more narrow. This would greatly expand the field of view for those with oceanview condos.

3) Have the public balconies every six floors instead of every three floors.

4) Even better would be to combine #2 and #3 and have narrow public balconies spaced six floors apart.

I do realize that all of these suggestions would cut the amount of public balcony space by at least half. However, the public space could (and should) be recouped by removing the airport and replacing it with a mile-long park. There can still be numerous helipads at both ends of the ship to accommodate helicopters and VTOL aircraft.

I've previously stated on the Ship World forum that I don't believe the airport on top of the Freedom Ship is the best possible use of space. I believe that with a robust helicopter/VTOL aircraft fleet and utilizing local ferry and freight services to the utmost, the Freedom Ship does not need it's own runways for standard aircraft.

By freeing up the space that the airport used to take, we gain a huge amount of free space in the best possible location... under the sun!!! The drawing below is just a generalized conception of what could be done in this space. There would be a main trail that could be used by bikes and joggers that would travers the length of the ship. We would have numerous other trails designed for walking. We could have a little lake (swimming pool) in the center of the ship. One end would be for swimming and the other for sailing miniature boats. The designers could even form hills and plant trees to make the surroundings more varied.

I imagine there would be a boardwalk going around the edge of boat that would offer the best views in the world. There would also be a number of restaurants and shops (not pictured) along the boardwalk and within the park itself. Can you imagine being in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on a beautiful sunny day (with the sun shining down on your head), buying an chocolate sundae in a lush, green park, while you watch your little kid sail her boat in crystal clear pond?

I don't know about you, but I like that idea a lot better than a noisy, stinky airport with planes taking off at all hours of the day.

Click on the image for a larger picture

These pictures come from a CG animation created for the "Cities on the Sea: A Technological Revolution" television program set to debut on The Learning Channel on December 14, 1999 at 9pm EST. Thanks go out to Mike Doty, who sent them to me. The pictures below are thumbnails, but you can click on any of them to go to the full scale picture.

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