Keeping afloat: First floating home moored on Chichester Canal

London-based design studio Baca Architects takes novel approach to the capital's housing crisis

chichester_main.jpg
(Image credit: Floating Homes)

The architecture studio behind the UK's first amphibious house has completed a floating home on Chichester Canal.

Baca Architects developed the house as a prototype with British company Floating Homes after the design won an ideas competition seeking solutions to London's housing crisis earlier this year, reports Dezeen.

The living area of "The Chichester".

The living area of "The Chichester".
(Image credit: Photo©Mark Junak)

The London-based studio said its "boxy" design was inspired by canal boats, but it had increased the scale and included plenty of windows to create a more spacious and luxurious home on the water.

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"Internally, the proportions are very different to a canal boat, but with the same ethos of space efficiency," it said.

"These homes are not only practical and affordable but create a sense of sanctuary by living on water, which is a unique experience in most cities."

The living area of "The Chichester" taken from the roof terrace stairs.

The living area of "The Chichester" taken from the roof terrace stairs.
(Image credit: Photo©Mark Junak)

Floating Homes insists it is "not a houseboat, but a house that floats", affording much larger proportions than the traditional houseboat.

The home features an open-plan living, kitchen and dining area with a large window offering beautiful views of the surrounding countryside.

The Chichester prototype follows a surge of interest in floating buildings, which respond to rising sea levels and a shortage of development sites, says Dezeen.

The bedroom in the "Chichester" floating home.

The bedroom in the "Chichester" floating home.
(Image credit: Photo©Mark Junak)

Baca Architects was behind the UK's first "amphibious house", which was built in 2014 for a couple who had been looking for seven years for a site to build a home on a flood-prone river island near Marlow in Buckinghamshire. The house is designed to float and rise with the water levels.

"Rather than building flood defences, we considered a different approach - to acknowledge man cannot beat nature and to actually make space for water," said Baca co-founder Richard Coutts. "Our work, until recently, was better known in Holland than here in the UK."

The roof terrace of the "Chichester" situated on the Chichester Canal.

The roof terrace of the "Chichester" situated on the Chichester Canal.
(Image credit: Photo©Mark Junak)

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