ecoboat

Thanks to the use of standard materials – which are composed in a nonstandard way by Waterarchitect Van Bueren – you can have an affordable houseboat. Twelve repeating wooden joists, placed on a 5 x 20 meter concrete hull, make up the construction. The roof and façade are created by 80 bulged windows, each one in its standard 2 x 1 meter rectangular frame. The elongated rectangular form – characteristic for a house boat – is emphasized by the repeating forms. The rounding adds a sense of spaciousness to the interior. The windows create comfortable diffuse lighting on both floors. Some windows are opaque or translucent to prevent too much heating. While most houseboats lack a garden, this one compensates well with two balconies, plus a large terrace, and wide stairs towards the water. The inside area totals to 180 square meters, encompassing 3 bedrooms and a generous kitchen. read more »

Thanks to an innovative airlift and water ducting system, the TU Delft team came up with a design that may finally mean a kick-off in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). The research of Berend Jan Kleute (MSc Offshore Engineering), George Dodoros (MSc Management of Technology), Jody Verpoort (MSc System Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management) and Yosef Safi Harb (MSc Aircraft Design) shows that OTEC is more attractive than the two main competing sustainable energy sources (wind and solar) for Curacao, one of the Islands of the Netherlands Antilles. Further on you can read which inovations may let their dOmeTEC design overcome the challenges of high technical riscs, substantial capital investments and significant environmental impact which have until now withheld commercial applications of OTEC. read more »

Nomads of the 21st. Century

Floating Communities / Aquatecture of The Netherlands commissioned a design for the same Lusatian Lakelands competition which is mentioned in the article below. The commissioned architect Dennis Marsch designed a floating house for the nomads of the 21st century, the young professionals who can live of their laptop-work wherever their whims will take them. They are the designers, ICTspecialists, consultants and many others who don’t need a fixed place as a residence, and are eager to work under the circumstances of a permanent vacation. For them Aquatecture has created a housing solution which gives them shelter with modern comfort thanks to the application of state-of-the-art
ecological technologies. read more »

IBA’s Mobile Floating Architecture Competition for the Lusatian Lakelands in Brandenburg (Germany) had also an entry from our Ecoboot friend and architect Anthony Lau. Anthony now works at an architectural practice in London called Tasou Associates and he designed the house with his colleagues Simon Graham and James Murray. Although not one of the winners of the competition, the design reached the final rounds of judging and we are proud to present their design as it shows a floating house that refers directly to the post industrial mining landscape. Their concept for the competition was to design an object that had both man made and natural qualities. They wanted the Mobile Floating Architecture (MFA) to be comfortable in a variety of environments and geographies, read more »