The Rise of Floating Prefab Homes

As the world experiences recurring floods, storms, and rising sea levels, cities situated near the oceans and rivers are starting to accept that new thinking about living with water must emerge. Some forward looking architects are already working to develop floating homes which are easy to build, with the ability to go with the flow rather than battle against it. Floating homes have been around for a while. But there is a distinct difference between the houseboat styling of yesteryear and the contemporary structures being build now.

Older floating homes were built using giant logs. As time passed, the logs started to sag as the buoyancy of the logs became less. The only solution to keeping these older homes floating is to place pressure filled barrels underneath to help raise the home again. Divers are used to complete this task.

But newer types of floating homes evolved, and these use one of the two current building methods. Concrete floats support all floating homes. The difference in the methods is that in one, Styrofoam fills the concrete. In the other, the concrete displaces the water, just like a bowl will float when placed on water. With this second version, its crucial to keep the water out of the bowl, or it will sink. With the Styrofoam method, it can lose buoyancy and may need to have barrels placed underneath the structure.

With all homes floating on water, weight is a crucial component. Adding extra weight to the structure can cause it to sink into the water by half an inch. The more weight, the further it will sink. So builders must use materials which are lighter for building but which will withstand the weather, and the water environment.

While some homes are built on land and transported to their water site, it is much more popular to build in the water. Then, the structure can be floated to its destination. Some manufacturers build up to 90% of the house on the platform, and then send the structure using a tugboat. In some cases, it is possible to have the house completely furnished and walk in ready when it arrives. The owner is simply given the key to the door.

Average sizes for floating houses vary by design. But a typical house with two stories can have a minimum length and width of twenty feet. A three story house can have a minimum length and width of twenty-five feet.

Platforms can be any maximum size because they are made piece by piece. The pieces are usually poured at the manufacturing site and shipped to the home site to be connected. Platforms are usually five feet deep. This depth allows them to float with 3 inches of draft and 2 inches of freeboard higher than the waterline. That extra two inches is simply for a reserve of buoyancy. This configuration will carry one hundred pounds per square foot and also account for the effect that wind has on the structure.

Most floating house owners prefer to have as much interior space as possible. The prices begin at about $60 per square foot for the platform alone, so owners are willing to do without some privacy to get the spaciousness they prefer. Covered porches are one example of design elements that are no longer as popular as they once were. Where earlier designs were very much as if the architects had simply built a traditional house on the platform, newer designs are exploring different shapes or adding one wall of the structure as only glass to maximize views.

Top manufacturing companies number in the elite of construction. Some names with high profile projects and successful designs and floating components include:

• Hansen Marine
• Loftcube
• Topper Industries, Inc.
• MANDL
• RexWall
• MarineTek
• Waterstudio.nl
• Ecoflolife
• K-Kontrol
• eXworks
• Deutsche Composite GmbH
• SemiSubGeneration
• Agaligo Studio

One leader in this elite group is Waterstudio.nl, where architect Koen Olthuis of Holland is focusing on recreating the world’s spaces that currently are either reclaimed land from the sea or close enough to sea level that they are threatened by storms and the rising water levels worldwide. The interest in floating houses and buildings is so universal that Olthuis has had calls from potential clients in Tokyo, Bombay, Ho Chi Min City and Budapest.

He points out that the future of cities near coastlines, which currently may flood regularly, are static. They are at the mercy of the sea, and require constant efforts to drain them. His vision is that these cities could build floating foundations for their at-risk buildings, allowing them to rise up or lower down with the water. He also dreams of creating better floating housing for the poorest people who tend to live in water-threatened shacks at the water’s edges around the world.

Leaders in countries with major financial centers and large populations residing in coastal cities are looking to a future where their residents will either need to move elsewhere or learn to build and live in new ways. Some of these include Miami, London, Jakarta, Guangzhou, New Orleans, and New York, to name just a few of the key cities. Some of these have already struggled with major flooding issues due to storms, and they are bracing for what is coming.

Architect groups, such as Waterstudio.nl are developing floating home designs to help these cities have alternatives to flooded neighborhoods. They also are working to present floating homes as viable ways to embrace the waterways that surround these metropolises by offering additional housing as their populations increase.

Some floating buildings already exist as vacation destinations, where investors have situated groupings of floating buildings to create lodging and recreation facilities on the water rather than on the shoreline. Some have also placed configurations on rivers, such as the Agaligo Studio project on the River Kwai in Thailand. This project features floating vacation houses with glass walls facing the most beautiful river views.

All of these forward looking views have been collected into an architectural view of embracing water which Olthuis coins as “sustainaquality”. The idea is that building on water using floating buildings is one way to circumvent the damages caused by natural disasters such as the recent tsunamis in Japan and the South Pacific. He believes that violent, period storms such as those that inundated New Orleans and New York can be viewed as something to plan for rather than simply endure.

His architect’s vision of an Earth that is partly water world is certainly intriguing. What makes it seem plausible is the practical nature of floating homes. Their construction features are fairly straightforward, and may point to solutions that have yet to be fully accepted, but probably should be strong contenders for consideration and action.