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Article from issue 12/2009 »Experimental Building«

Floating House on Lake Huron, Canada

documentation p. 1343 - 1347
Architect MOS | Structural Engineer Blackwell Engineering | David Bowick |

Drafts
1:20 Vertical sections
1:200 Floor plans
1:200 Sections

In view of changing water levels and the remoteness of this beautiful location, erecting a building here is a constructional and logistic challenge. The architects designed a house that floats on the water and can be entered by boat. The structure stands on a steel platform with integrated pontoons. The materials were delivered to the shore of the lake and assembled there. Together with the platform, the prefabricated timber elements and the steel moment frame were then taken to the lake and put together while the water was frozen. In spring, the house was drawn roughly 10 km to the site where finishings were completed, including the weather-resistant cedar facade that forms an insulated outer skin and light filter.