This amphibious house is created as a solution for the long-term protection of houses from flooding. This building rests on the ground in dry conditions and floats on its dock when flooding. Isn’t that amazing?

However, it just seems like an ordinary house and its dock part is undergrounded. This is created by Baca Architects who has completed a buoyant house on the River Thames. Let’s begin to talk what is the importance of this creation.

The structure

This house has the same appearance as a normal building. However, its ground floor is built above the ground by less than one meter instead of lifting two meters as a non-amphibious house. Additionally, using this structure, a normal three-storey building can be built as a one-storey home, without raising the ridge height significantly.

How does it work?

The team used Elephant cables to connect the utilities of the house. These are a type of flexible service pipes that can extend up to three metres. Also, this makes the house stable, flexible, and clean in any flood condition. Also, it allows the residents to come back to continuous life immediately after the flood.

The team has tested the house for a float during the construction. After that, They filled the dock with water. Then, the house was elevated half a meter under its buoyancy. 

Newly build house

The UK’s first “amphibious house” was completed by Baca Architects. The founders of Baca Architects, Richard Coutts and Robert Barker designed this building in the River Thames in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.