Inachus floating mansion launches in London

London based Sanitov Studio launched its stylish and sustainable floating home during the London Design Festival, which opened earlier this month. Named after the Greek mythical river god, “Inachus” is a two story house boat that more appropriately resembles a hi-tech floating mansion. Spread over two levels, the home comes complete with designer furnishings, botanical garden wall, wooden floorboards, floor to ceiling windows, a rooftop deck, intelligent lighting system and photovoltaic panels for off-the-grid energy supply.

“The whole house has been made from a dedicated relationship with, and inherited sense of, the Scandinavian design approach,” Sanitov Studio’s lead designer, Alexander Hamilton Hose, told Gizmag. “The home is inspired by what the possibilities of the mobility of a boat and the solidity of a house can bring in one vision, including playing on the natural surroundings of the river.”

The Inachus prototype took nine months to complete as it was Sanitov’s first floating build and by its nature a few design features had to be adjusted. The home incorporates the use of sustainable and recyclable materials, such as fast-growing bamboo, reused industrial wood and recyclable concrete. The multifunctional entrance area and staircase features an impressive green wall, a large skylight and an electric hatch that brings you up to the rooftop BBQ area and hot tub.

At the heart of the home’s hi-tech features is a Lutron light control system, which allows the home’s inhabitants to control all lighting aspects remotely using a smart phone or tablet. By using an internet connection, this function can be accessed from anywhere in the world, giving users the option to check if all the lights have been turned off or if on vacation, to remotely turn on the lights in the bedroom or living room to give the impression that someone is home.
The system has also been programmed to turn on the lights at an 80 percent capacity to save energy. Furthermore, the lights can be synced with the alarm system, causing them to flash on and off when triggered. This feature would obviously attract more attention to the home, while also making it more difficult for the intruder to see.

To further maintain a low carbon footprint, the Inachus home comes highly insulated and features an airtight envelope structure, triple glazed windows and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. According to Sanitov, it is one of only 40 homes in the U.K. to boast an Energy Level 5 status, which equates to 100 percent energy efficiency. In addition, the home catches and utilizes grey water for the cleaning of the boat and for watering the internal botanical wall.

Sanitov Studio has a range of floating home builds in the pipeline and it is currently working on getting permission for a floating community in London. “It's lately gotten very popular and trendy to live in the water areas – and that's just the start,” said Hose. “Floating homes in floating communities have so many things to offer our urbanized cities and it’s only a matter of time before we will see them scaling up from niche to a phenomenon [and] help solve sustainable and socioeconomic problems to our growing cities all over the world.”

Prices for a Sanitov floating home like Inachus start from £750,000 (US$1.2 million) to build without a mooring. However, the Inachus prototype launched in London is currently for sale with its 60 year residential mooring license for £2.3 million (US$3.65 million).

Form follows function for Barcelona's Solar House 2.0

It's rare to see a building's form so adapted to maximizing renewable energy potential as is the case with the Endesa Pavilion, Solar House 2.0. Not content with a roof completely covered in photovoltaic panels, the designers at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) led by Rodrigo Rubio have covered the building's south facade with protrusions supporting additional solar panels, which are angled optimally for harvesting energy from the sun.

In a neat twist the same protrusions act as solar barriers during summer when the sun tracks a higher course across the sky, but let sunlight directly in during winter. In this way solar heat gain is limited to the times of year when it's desirable. It's this interplay between maximizing PV gain, blocking solar penetration in summer but allowing it in winter that accounts for the south facade's diverse features: features which were generated by specialized software having been fed all of the geographic parameters.

Software was also intimately involved in the building's fabrication. A computer numerical control (CNC) wood router was used to fabricated pieces from the buildings CAD design data in a process similar to 3D printing, as seen in the WikiHouse we looked at recently.

The 154 sq m (1,658 sq ft) building was commissioned by energy company Endesa, and forms a public information center and "control center" for the Smart City Expo.

As for the productivity of the solar cells, we tracked down a clue on Endesa's website, which refers to "an average daily consumption of 20 kWh and an estimated output of 100 kWh." One interpretation for this is that on average the building generates 100 kWh of electricity but only uses 20 kWh, and consider that there is in the order of 150 sq m of photovoltaics on the roof alone, this doesn't seem beyond the realms of the possible.

The building itself is made almost entirely from wood, which the IAAC suggests is fitting for a building nicknamed Solar House 2.0. "We built a solar house with solar material," the IAAC writes on its blog. "Wood is a living material that grows in the sun. It is an inexhaustible material produced in culture. Is a soft, accessible, easy to work, adapt and join. It’s a warm material, which provides high thermal insulation."

The building stands at Barcelona's Moll de la Marina and will open to the public for Smart City Barcelona, taking place this coming November.

Australian Hill House rides a wave of grass

                            Australian architect Andrew Maynard has come up with an unorthodox approach to capturing the sun in winter and excluding it in the summer. One of his latest creations, Hill House, is an urban family home in Melbourne that appears as if it is riding a wave of grass. The family home extension has been built upon the footprint of what once had been the back yard, without obstructing or losing the original building. Seemingly perched above a rolling hill, the new building faces the sun and the box-shaped structure above acts as a passive solar eave, cutting out summer sun, while letting the winter sun flood in.

The unusual design for a family home was Maynard’s answer to building on a small and narrow urban block of land. The result transforms the roof into a garden and the garden into an insulated living space. The ground level features a large open living area with modern kitchen, lowered eating area, wood furnishings, polished concrete flooring and large glass windows that open out into the internal garden space.

A spiral staircase in the center of the ground floor leads to the new master bedroom, bathroom and rooftop retreat, while the original home has been transformed into the children’s bedroom and bathroom quarters. In addition, a long side passage wraps around the internal courtyard and links the new living quarters with the old family home. The passage seamlessly joins the old with the new, while creating a private internal garden space and direct access to the back entrance and new living zones.
Overall, Hill House is a great example of an unusual makeover that successfully transforms the entire appearance and functionality of a traditional town house.

 

Free-floating catamaran suite provides a unique escape in nature

               This tiny cabin is a free-floating catamaran suite designed by Dutch architect, Marijn Beije. The design was conceived with the hope of luring a younger and more city-focused group of people back into nature, and offers a unique new way to sleep under the stars. Guests can enhance their experience of nature by relaxing in this fully furnished floating eco-lodge, complete with bedroom, bathroom and rooftop deck.

               The sustainable retreat was built using FSC-certificated wood, and features four places to sleep, plus a kitchen area, toilet, shower, two terraces for relaxing, rooftop hammock and a crow’s nest for bird watching. The retreat also features solar panels and LED lighting throughout. The sleeping quarters are furnished with two beds that face out onto the river, where the large curved floor-to-ceiling windows allow guests to star gaze while being gently rocked to sleep. The floating eco-logde has been built with durability in mind and is weather resistant so it can withstand the elements. Compact in size, the lodge can easily be transported and immersed into a diverse range of landscapes without disrupting the surrounding environment. While it's probably not a great idea to let the house free-float along a river, the lodge would be best suited to being connected to a pontoon or fixed jetty. If you’re not so fond of floating on the riverbank, perhaps you’d prefer to perch the lodge high amid the treetops – as suggested by Beije, the retreat can easily be transformed into a fully self-contained treehouse or the perfect bird watching hut.

                             The floating suite has recently found a permanent home in the Biesbosch National Park in The Netherlands, where it will be available for hire. The builder, APEcolodges, also has plans to sell the eco-lodge on the market.

Redwoods Treehouse offers a unique treetop dining experience

                                     Auckland based firm Pacific Environment Architects is the creator of this impressive treehouse located near Warkworth in New Zealand. The Redwoods Treehouse is a striking pod-shaped structure built ten meters (33 feet) high in the tree tops. Originally commissioned as part of a marketing campaign for the Yellow Pages phone directory, the treehouse is now a permanent attraction for treetop diners.

                                                   The pod itself accommodates 30 guests, and access is provided by a 60-meter (197-ft) elevated tree-top walkway, built using redwood that was milled on site. The architectural component embodies a simple pod-like form that appears to be “organically” wrapped around the tree trunk. Anchor points at the top and the bottom structurally tie the pod in position, and the circular plan opens on the axis to accommodate the entrance and playful tree-top walkway. The treehouse structure features an impressive height of over 40 meters (131 ft), split-level flooring and a 1.7 meter (5.6 ft) diameter at the base. The curved fins are made from glue-laminated pine, while plantation poplar has been used for the slats. Open space left between the fins and slats allows for natural sunlight to filter through the structure during the day, and by night it transforms into a glowing tree-top lantern. To loosen the regularity of the elements, steel has been wrapped arbitrarily around the pod, while acrylic sheeting fixed to the roof and roll-down café-style blinds render the structure weather resistant.

                                        Secluded among the peaceful New Zealand landscape, the Redwoods Treehouse offers a unique location for dinner parties and private functions. The treetop restaurant is available for daily hire, with a range of catering options to choose from.

Korea plans hashtag-inspired skyscraper

                     The hashtag or "#" symbol has taken on a lot more use in recent years, especially with the rise of social media tools like Twitter, where it's used to highlight popular topics. So in a way, it's a fitting model for an apartment building designed to act as a self-contained neighborhood, which is exactly the idea behind the Cross # Towers planned for South Korea. Danish architectural firm, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), is modeling the look of the proposed building after the familiar symbol, by placing two interlocking bridges between two skyscrapers, which will also support outdoor park areas to mimic the sort of spaces you'd normally find on the ground.

                                 The Cross # Towers were proposed for the Yongsan International Business District in Seoul as part of a master plan for New York-based Studio Liebeskind for Korean development group, Dreamhub. The finished structure will fill a 21,000 meter-squared (226,042 sq. ft.) space on the southeast edge of the area, with the towers holding 600 apartments and reaching heights of 214 and 204 meters (702 and 669 ft). Originally the designers wanted to build just two incredibly tall towers, but height restrictions forced them to get creative. They essentially lopped several floors off of their original specs and reused them as bridges, giving the whole structure a unique look that will stand out among the Seoul skyline.

                            This design choice doesn't just give the building a familiar shape though, since the sheer size of the two connecting bridges allows for outdoor communal areas to be built right on top of them. Along with a courtyard slightly below ground level spanning the two buildings, the tops of the bridges will be converted into roof gardens, complete with grass, trees, and areas for outdoor activities. The idea was to provide spaces for recreational activities that are more often reserved to the ground (though the odds are pretty high that a kid's going to lose a ball over the edge right after it opens). A library, kindergarten, and gallery will also add to the neighborhood-like feel of the whole complex.

                                       BIG hopes the completed towers will represent a shift away from the usual disconnected towers of most cities, which don't foster socializing quite as much. Partner in charge with BIG, Thomas Christoffersen, told Dezeen, “the typical tower inherently removes life from the city it occupies. Circulation is linear and social interactions occur only in lobbies or awkward elevator rides. We propose a building that triples the amount of ground floor – triples the amount of social interaction and reintroduces the idea of neighborhood within the tower complex.” No word yet on when or if the Cross # Towers will begin construction.

Dubai Water Discus hotel will allow guests to sleep underwater

It seems the construction boom in bustling Dubai is far from over – already home to several world record-holding projects, including the tallest building (for just a little while longer), the largest shopping mall and biggest man-made island, plans are now afoot to construct what will likely be the world's largest underwater luxury hotel, the Water Discus. Several years ago, we reported on another such ambitious project, Hydropolis, which sadly never got past the blueprint stage. If Polish company Deep Ocean Technology's (DOT) plans come to fruition, however, guests could one day find themselves asleep beneath the waters of the Persian Gulf.

To bring this fantasy complex into being, DOT, with the help of Swiss firm BIG InvestConsult AG, turned to local shipyard Drydocks World, which will be tasked with constructing the futuristic disc-shaped hotel. The underwater portion, with about 11,000 square feet (1,000 square meters) of usable area, will house 21 two-guest rooms, and sit about 33 feet (10 m) below the waves. Plans also call for a diving center complete with decompression chamber and air locks, a spa, a spacious garden, open terraces above the waterline, and even a helipad atop one of the surface discs for guests who wish to arrive by air. To address the unpredictability that often comes with projects involving the sea, the entire structure can be moved should environmental (or economic) conditions change. For added safety, surface discs will be buoyant and detachable from the main structure to act as lifeboats should disaster strike. A large central shaft connects the submerged and surface discs and contains both an elevator and stairs for easy access between levels. Three adjustable columns add further support to the above-surface portion of the structure, the various discs of which are themselves interchangeable. Bogdan Gutkowski, President of BIG, imagines the project will have an impact on numerous areas besides the region's tourism. “Water Discus Hotel project opens many new fields of development for the hotel and tourism sector, housing and city sector in the coastal off-shore areas, as well as new opportunities for ecology support by creation of new underwater ecosystems and activities on underwater world protection," he told World Architecture News. "Additionally we would like to create here in the UAE the International Environmental Program and Center of the Underwater World Protection – with Water Discus Hotel as a laboratory tool for oceans and seas environment protection and research.” Grand plans, indeed. While the idea of staying underwater is far from new, technology has greatly improved to meet the formidable challenges of sub-marine construction, so the likelihood of this and similar projects actually getting built is sure to increase. Famed explorer Jacques Cousteau once envisioned numerous manned underwater colonies to facilitate exploration and though that didn't come to pass, for fans of underwater living, projects like the Water Discus may prove to be the next best thing.