Somewhat related to the concept of global climate change that will potentially innudate significant portions of urban areas (or maybe just a way to deal with growing land prices) the idea of inhabiting floating barges or houseboats is both new and old. I first heard the term amphibious architecture in reference to Dutch developments that float from shorelines to extend living areas beyond terra firma.

:: Dutch Amphibious Architecture – image via Speigel Online

A range of ideas around this has been covered before (such as the Garden Barges of London), as well as some inventive ways of looking at amphibious solutions. One covered here before is Das Schwimmhausboot, a mod- looking houseboat featured again recently on Treehugger.

:: image via Treehugger

Another interesting example via Treehugger is Waterpod “…a floating eco-habitat that recalls the work of Buckminster Fuller, Andrea Zittel, and Constant Nieuwenhuis.” It is designed to be a completely self-sustaining community” Read more at this NY Times article on the project as well.

:: image via Treehugger

:: image via City Farmer News

Another method for this idea is the more artistic, such as this post from Inhabitat that features ‘Junk Rafts’. “Brooklyn-based street artist, SWOON is in the midst of launching her third fleet of “junk rafts” — crafted from construction site cast-offs and recycled scraps, these eclectic floats are a cross between a stage-ship and art-raft. These ships are envisioned, by SWOON, as a manifestation of “bits of land broken off and headed to sea.”

:: images via Inhabitat

Finally, to ground the idea, there is a long historical precedent for this, as shown in a post from Strange Harvest about the Floating Church of the Redeemer, Philadelphia, 1847. I all comes full circle.

:: image via Strange Harvest