I’ve seen floating houses in the Netherlands, but this in today’s Dezeen newsletter seems a step forward
Land on Water system developed by MAST for building floating homes (dezeen.com)
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Rather lovely idea. Perhaps the future if global warming floods all the land.
The point about megacities is cogent but I fear living in such a small floating hamlet may be rather lonely. Along with the added issue of restrictive covenants over what each householder can and cannot do while floating in their neighbour’s pocket.
Think I’d be happier in a desert oasis.
I assume they’d be moored in freshwater locations rather than drifting, as some services would probably needed to be piped in (and others piped out).
The nearest thing I’ve ever experienced to that sort of living was when myself and a Canadian girlfriend spent an idyllic summer in a log cabin on an old friend’s family island on the Muskoka Lakes in Northern Ontario. We used to go shopping for supplies in a gorgeous vintage motor boat and in the evening would canoe to visit neighbours on other nearby islands, which is how I learnt the J stroke .
There’s a strangely soothing demonstration at:
(279) Canoe Steering, J Stroke and Sweep - YouTube
Of course the place is a tad different in mid-winter…
Incidentally, for anyone interested in art history, in the early twentieth century these lakes were also the site of Canadian romanticism, with some fine painters known as ‘the Group of Seven’. Their work was very influenced by early C20th French and German painting, but most of it was bought by local private collectors and museums, so it’s comparatively unknown outside Canada.
Lecture over!
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Been around a while in the UK (don’t know about France as not tied in to architectural network here). Mainly with minimal floating element, just a pontoon or some such, with main body of house on stilts. But some fully floatable, such as this one at Marlow. And others have since been built
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Thanks, it should work in the UK, but English moorings are so expensive whether in the SE or the Lake District. There are many people who instead of having phenomenally expensive lakeside holiday homes on Windermere have grand £100K plus boats permanently moored there even though they can only travel fewer than ten miles in any direction
I think the Dutch are probably the European leaders in modernist floating house. I first came across them in 2006 at an international design confernce at TU Delft (also where I first met my wife!).
Below is an informative but non-specialised link
Floating (tourist) village not too far from me:
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And there’s the key point - Money!
The contrast between the MAST creation and the France ‘Balinese’ idea. 
£££$$$€€€ can make anywhere to live lovely. (Even if stepping outside you are eaten alive by mosquitoes 
)
I like…… “designed to promote biodiversity. Niches within the floats are expected to encourage the growth of molluscs and seaweed and provide habitats for fish and crustaceans”.
And – biophilic design – had to look that one up. A design concept that sounds good to me – wiki says biophilic design goes back to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Presumably designed for still waters, lakes, canals, and reservoirs.
I see canoes and boats (battery powered I hope) to get to dry land and for visiting the neighbours. Pedestrian floating bridges for us oldies on our battery-powered trikes and wheelchairs would be welcome.
Those look great. Here in 33 we have lots of these “carrelets” dotted along the Gironde estuary, but they’re just used for fishing. I like the look of your cabins more than our carrelets.
At the risk of dragging your thread in a slightly different direction (feel free to split this into a separate thread if needed), I recently saw this video of a converted boat on the outskirts of Paris and fell in love with what they’ve done…
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