Copenhagen, Denmark
Marshall Blecher and Magnus Maarbjerg of the Danish maritime architecture studio MAST with the support of construction industry magnate Hubert Rhomberg and venture studio Fragile have recently debuted an innovative flat-pack system for building floating homes for individuals who live in high-risk areas with rising sea levels and urban flooding.
Titled “Land on Water,” the flat-pack floating home system aims to improve the flexibility, accessibility, and sustainability of constructing these homes.
The flat-pack format makes the system easily configurable and transportable where current solutions, including polystyrene-filled concrete foundations and plastic pontoons, are inflexible, difficult to transport, and highly unsustainable.
Mast’s new system of simple modules made from recycled reinforced plastic can be easily transported around the globe and assembled into countless configurations, providing a secure floating foundation.
The system offers a sustainable and highly flexible solution for building almost anything on the water; from floating houses in Seattle to floating campsites on Oslo fjord, to saunas on Hobart’s riverfront.
The system is based on simple flat pack modules made from recycled reinforced polymer that are extremely strong and resilient and can be easily transported and assembled on location.
The system was inspired by gabion construction, an ancient technology that utilizes mesh cages filled with rubble to create extremely sturdy, low-cost foundations.
In this case, the concept is inverted; and the modular “cages” are filled with locally sourced, up-cycled floatation supporting the weight of any structure built on top.
These are also much more adaptable than existing solutions since floatation can be added or adjusted at any time if weight is added or shifted around above.
Land on Water promises a far better underwater environment than existing solutions.
While steel and concrete foundations are commonly treated with toxic anti-fouling paints, Land on Water provides an ideal habitat for fish and crustaceans and an anchor point for mollusks and seaweeds.
Land on Water will provide a climate-resilient and adaptable solution for the construction of new floating buildings worldwide but could also lead to an entirely new type of dynamic and organic off-grid floating community and an alternative to the large master-planned floating cities currently under development which repeat many of the mistakes made by urban planners in the middle of the 20th-Century.
Project: Land on Water
Architects: MAST
Lead Architects: Marshall Blecher and Magnus Maarbjerg
General Contractors: Fragile and Hubert Rhomberg
