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A Compact and Self-Sufficient Flotilla of LoftFloat Communities

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Here is yet another beautiful houseboat that looks more like a house than a boat.

The LoftFloat  is one of several sustainable houseboats that Magma Design have designed –  more open and airy than a house, more like a loft dwelling. Unlike most architectural firms, their work revolves around industrial design in general, and you can see it in this LoftFloat.

Unlike a boat, there is plenty of space and the walls don’t collapse in on you the claustrophobic way that so many houseboats do. The interior is a relatively spacious (for a houseboat!) 45 sq m, and it is all modern and open-plan inside, creating a real sense of space.

The roof is solar – so electricity can be provided with clean energy. So many boats have generator power using a dirty diesel fossil fuel.

I like the simple floor plan. Every space is spacious, and yet the whole is extremely compact. Because there is a long view from anywhere, no space feels cramped.

I think one change I would make would be to put the toilet/shower in the center, moving the bedroom/office from the middle to the back to allow allow the back wall to become another view wall.

The open front encourages gregariousness with neighbors on the water.

Magma Design hopes that anyone could build their home on water. And at a cost of € 80,000 – $111,000 in US dollars – and presumably little or no water cost equivalent to the cost of land – perhaps they could.