Fancy waking to the sound of water lapping at four walls? A new generation of prefabricated fl oating homes, designed by Europe’s top architects, are making the future imaginings of the 1960s a reality, fi nds Sally Howard
Prefabricated homes’. To many of us, the phrase is less redolent of glamour than necessity: the squat, concrete-slab homes born of urgency in bombed post-war Britain, for example, or the utilitarian white wooden sheds sold at rural lots in the American Midwest.
Yet a new generation of architects – spurred on by the challenges of shrinking urban space and climate change – are reshaping the much-maligned prefab with a view to a new mode of living: the hi-tech floating home. One part James Bond lair to two parts über-eco, many of these new floating home designs look as if they belong in the imaginations of an era when futuristic meant triangular foil mini-dresses or dinners in a pill. But, with a number of leading European architects involved in their design, there’s plenty of substance beneath their startling angular stylings.
Understandably, the Netherlands – with its stretches of below sea-level land, high population density, ubiquitous houseboat culture and surfeit of waterways – is one of the countries at the forefront of floating prefab design. Indeed, the urgency of a forward-thinking approach to living on water in the Netherlands has been clear for a long time. A Transport, Public Works and Water Management Ministry policy paper warned back in the 90s that a radical shake-up was needed in the way the Netherlands has traditionally fought to keep the sea at bay: “We will have to relinquish space to water and not win space from it,” it said, “in order to curb the growing risk of disaster due to flooding.”
One of the first Dutch construction companies to realise the government’s ambition was Ooms Bouwmaatschappij which, since beginning construction in 2003, has built over 100 of a planned 500 floating homes in Ijburg, on the outskirts of Amsterdam. “We thought the market was desperate for it,” says Ooms Bouwmaatschappij’s marketing director Gijsbert van der Woerdt. “Building land is very scarce in Holland and, as 30% of the country is water, it was very logical to think of what other possibilities there are.”
But Netherlands property developers aren’t alone in making prefab floating homes – many hundreds of which get to design stage and no further – a reality. Hamburg-based Floating Homes claims to be “making the future a reality” with its slick boat/house hybrids, installed in the City Sportboothafen area near Hamburg’s Hafencity river flats redevelopment.
The lauded Näckros Villa, designed by Sweden’s Strindberg Arkitekter, started out as a domestic project for a single client. But it has turned into an industrial project lead by Modern Marine Homes, which is setting up a residential water suburb of Strindberg’s two Näckros models in the Swedish city of Kalmar.
Staffan Strindberg, of Stringberg Arkitekter, sees floating prefabs such as the Näckros as a reflection of the preoccupations of modern times: “My aim is to design architecture that reflects our time in all senses, technically as well as societally. The environmental aspect is, of course, becoming more and more important, for national governments and for individual clients. And the idea of designing to seamlessly incorporate the exterior into the interior is very of the moment, too.
I try to make these houses as close to nature as possible. Water surrounds you but becomes part of the interior.”
Of course, the not immodest technical challenges posed by building for water have proved a stumbling block and stopped many projects from coming to fruition. Floating is no problem: the homes are typically underpinned by mammoth lumps of polystyrene encased in light but tough concrete and reinforced with steel.
“But it’s an aggressive environment,” says Strindberg, “Close to the water, there’s lots of humidity. Gardens are impossible due to the mosquito risk, and entirely floating homes present grave problems with sewage disposal.” He says such considerations will define tomorrow’s designs. “The future will be about houses such as these, built for a changing environment and with zero energy expenditure in mind. Energy from your stove will power your heating, for example. Waste will become the devil.”
Should we all be thinking of investing in floating property? One Dutch academic is even betting on floating homes becoming more than a lifestyle choice but a necessity, as nations begin to colonise first rivers and then their bordering seas. Frits Schoute, a former professor at Delft University, is working on a stabilising platform that would permit communities to live in the middle of oceans, unaffected by waves. “The sea is unconquered territory,” says Schoute, “And, as technology improves, it becomes easier to get energy, to produce drinking water and to find new food sources at sea. I see a human future at sea.”
The jetty set
Ahoy landlubbers! Check out the best of Europe’s waterborne home designs
■ Floating Homes, City Sportboothafen, Hamburg Floating Homes set themselves apart from other companies doing what it says on their tin in their compelling design – something between a houseboat and a floating house that’s neither house nor ship, but the best of both. The hybrid comes in four sizes, with linked jetties serving as floating pavements. Their B Type combines pale green glass with intersecting curved white trapeze shapes; and the D type’s severe angular lines stand stark and white on steely waters. €130,000–€363,000, www.floatinghomes.de
■ Villa Näckros, Strindberg Arkiteken, Kalmar, Sweden Constructed with material recycling potential as a starting point, Näckros Villa is the last word in eco – with a hand-glued fascia (using eco-friendly glue) and heating provided by a pump drawing heat from the surrounding water. Its red wood and white, tiered design is reminiscent of an ocean-going ship. The pilot development in Kalmar, Sweden offers the opportunity to leasehold or freehold, from 4,700,000 SEK (€503,000), www.strindberg.se, www.mmh.se
FR » Maisons flottantes
Les maisons préfabriquées entrent dans un nouvel âge, aujourd’hui elles prennent l’eau. Malgré les défis techniques considérables que représentent les constructions sur l’eau (humidité, évacuation, etc), des architectes innovants conçoivent des maisons – pas des bateaux aménagés – qui flottent. Aux Pays-Bas, où le terrain est précieux et les eaux omniprésentes, la société de construction Ooms Bouwmaatschappij est en train de bâtir 500 maisons flottantes à Ijburg, en dehors d’Amsterdam. Il existe déjà une liste d’attente pour ces maisons, prévues pour résister aux tempêtes et transportables par remorqueur. Sur le fleuve Maas à Arnhem, un domaine de 37 maisons amphibies construit par Dura Vermeer, s’élèvera sur des piliers à 4,50m en cas d’inondation et reviendra se poser sur la rive lorsque les eaux se seront retirées.
Floating Homes basé à Hamburg déclare “faire du futur une réalité” avec ses ingénieuses maisons-bateaux hybrides. Leur design futuriste, avec des divisions de niveaux, des pièces ouvertes sur un seul plan, est apprécié dans la zone de Hafen City.
Le bureau suédois Strindberg Arkitekter a mené le concept d’éco-home un pas plus loin, dans un projet pilote à Kalmar, en incorporant dans ses Villas Näckros une pompe à chaleur, des matériaux recyclables et d’autres structures respectueuses de l’environnement. Staffan Strindberg explique : “Dans le futur, nous aurons des maisons telles que celles-ci, construites pour un environnement en évolution, avec un coût énergétique égal à zéro.”
Le chercheur hollandais Frits Schoute, ancien professeur à l’Université de Delft, travaille à l’heure actuelle sur la stabilisation d’une plateforme qui permettrait à des communautés de vivre au milieu de l’océan, sans être affectées par le mouvement des vagues.
NL » Drijvende huizen
Prefabwoningen staan niet langer in de kinderschoenen en worden nu ook te water gelaten. Ondanks de grote technische uitdagingen van waterbestand bouwen (vochtigheid, riolering, plaatsing enz.), ontwerpen vernieuwende architecten nu ook huizen (geen woonboten!) die drijven. In Nederland, waar grond duur en water alomtegenwoordig is, bouwt Ooms Bouwmaatschappij 500 drijvende huizen in IJburg, buiten Amsterdam. Er bestaat al een wachtlijst voor deze woningen, die stormen kunnen doorstaan en met een sleepboot kunnen worden verplaatst. Op de Maas in Arnhem zal een ‘wijk’ van 37 amfibiewoningen van de hand van Dura Vermeer bij een overstroming op palen van 4,5 meter uit het water rijzen en terug op de oever zakken wanneer het water zich terugtrekt.
Floating Homes in Hamburg beweert ‘de toekomst te realiseren’ met zijn slimme boot/huis-hybriden. De futuristische designs met verschillende niveaus en open ruimtes winnen steeds meer aan populariteit in het Hafen City-gebied van de stad.
In Zweden gingen ze bij Strindberg Arkitekter in een proefproject in Kalmar nog een stapje verder met het ecohuisconcept. De architecten voorzagen hun Näckros Villas van een warmtepomp, recyclebare materialen en andere milieuvriendelijke snufjes. ‘Dit zijn de huizen van de toekomst, gebouwd voor een veranderende omgeving en zonder energiekosten’, vertelt Staffan Strindberg.
De Nederlandse academicus Frits Schoute, voormalig professor aan de universiteit van Delft, werkt zelfs aan een stabiliserend platform waarop hele gemeenschappen in het midden van de oceaan zouden kunnen wonen, zonder last te hebben van de golven.
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