If you’ve always wanted to live in a waterfront home, how about taking that dream further with a water top home? Perhaps that isn’t the most melodious of phrases, but you know what we mean, right? Many floating homes have the option of being transported pretty much anywhere they can be docked. Unlike houses on the shore, buoyant residences are much more resilient to rising tides.
Check out our selection of magnificent floating homes below and let us know which one of them floats your boat the most.
01. Christopher Simmonds – Muskoka, Ontario
Christopher Simmonds Architect added a 600 sq. foot second story while renovating this beautiful boathouse in Muskoka, Ontario. (Peter Fritz)
02. Dymitr Malcew – Singapore
This floating home concept was designed by the Singapore-based architect Dymitr Malcew to offer luxury on the water. The home sits on a floating, transportable platform. Dymitr Malcew
03. H&P Architects – Vietnam
Designed by Vietnam-based H&P Architects as an affordable concept home for villagers in some of the country’s most flood-prone regions—it costs just $2,500 to build—the Blooming Bamboo Home’s bottom layer can be filled with reused oil drums that allow it to float in wet conditions, while steel beams keep it anchored. (Doan Thanh Ha)
04. Stephen Turner – Beaulieu River, Southern England
Artist Stephen Turner has spent an entire year living aboard the experimental dwelling he built, which floats along southern England’s Beaulieu River. Its wooden exterior is tethered to the shore like a boat and houses a bed, worktable, kitchen, and bathroom. (Nigel Rigden)
05. Architecture Firm MOS – Lake Huron
This two-story structure, designed by the architecture firm MOS, is connected to a privately owned island—a 20-minute boat ride from the mainland—by a bridge from the top floor. It floats on steel pontoons, which allow it to rise and fall with the water level of Lake Huron. (Florian Holzherr)
06. Marlies Rohmer Architects – IJburg, Amsterdam
Fifty-five homes float in the IJburg district in east Amsterdam. The structures, designed by the Dutch firm Marlies Rohmer Architects, sit on hollow concrete “tubs” that are submerged half a story. (Luuk Kramer)
07. Robert Harvey Oshatz – Willamette River, Portland
The Fennel House, designed by Robert Harvey Oshatz, floats on Portland’s Willamette River. Its curved form, reflecting the ripples of the water, is made with Glulam wood beams and sits on a floating platform. Cameron R. Neilson
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