These Floating Homes Are Zero-Emissions And Hurricane Proof
With housing shortages and rises tides covering more land, one architecture firm is investigating how to build livable homes on water that don't sacrifice either comfort or the environment.
Updated May 22 2019, 10:30 a.m. ET
A Dutch architect named Koen Olthuis has created a vision of how people will live in the future—out on the water. His firm, Waterstudio, has been working on modules that function as zero-emission living quarters and boats, according to Inhabitat.
Waterstudio has paired with Arkup to make luxury living sustainable out on the sea, or as they say on their website, a "unique avant-garde concept of life on the water."
Arkup specializes in building yachts that are fully solar-powered and sustainable, plus luxurious. While living on a houseboat isn't a new concept, pairing that lifestyle with consideration for the environment and comfort, is a new high. Olthuis brings his experience with exploring "living, working and recreational space on water." Combined, they've created a house with 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms and a hydraulic system to power you from marina to marina whenever you get bored.
They're also off the grid and feature their own waste management systems for all those bathrooms, plus mechanics for harvesting rainwater purifying it.
The 4,350-square-foot homes have their own self-elevating systems, which means that when there's a flood or hurricane, they monitor their own level and raise themselves if necessary.
The whole thing is stabilized by 40-foot-long hydraulic legs, which is also what lifts them out of the water, and you can look out onto the terrace through shock-resistant glass panels.
Safe, luxurious, and gorgeous. Now we just need a high rise version.