Artificial Reef Design Innovation For Tourism

New reef design and innovation

As you know we love artificial reef design.

For too long the concept of an artificial reef has been far too...artificial.

We live on a planet where nature provides us with an organic design library that stretches the imagination.

From sea shells to tiny plankton, our planet is a design wonderland waiting to be explored. And yet in the artificial reef space innovation, or the desire to try something new moves at a glacial pace.

This anti-design is a product of materials, project time length, budgets, and true innovation.

Naturally, when we see a breakout artificial reef design in use we get excited like last years effort in Valencia Spain. Kudos to the entire team for the effort, and if we may say so - more please!

From the article:

Replicas of Olympic rings, Roman jars and the Oceanographic -- the impressive Valencia aquarium building --, have been sunk off the beach to create Valencia's first artificial reef, this week.

Valencia's city council says the three structures are made of "non-invasive" concrete and weigh between 33,000 and 44,000 pounds (15 and 20 tonnes) each. With a length of 295 feet (90 metres) they have been placed on the sand sea floor some 590 feet (180 metres) from the beach at a depth of 13 feet (4 metres).

The council's "Valencia Reefs" project was conceived a couple of years ago and hopes to attract recreational divers. The structures are designed to be colonised by seaweed and other vegetation and attract fish, eventually forming a complete underwater ecosystem.

The project also has scientific and environmental objectives, involving academics from Valencia's Polytechnic University and other biologists and experts. Acting as a 3 year pilot study, it will be used to research how artificial reefs may prevent the loss of sand from the area.