Tafoni Floating Home
The Tafoni Floating Home is a conceptual project from designer Joanna Borek-Clement. The primary goal is to change the attitude towards living on a houseboat and promote a lifestyle that limits disruption of the environment. Tafoni is spacious, yet compact. Typical houseboats have low ceilings and often feel cramped, which can detract from comfort many residents desire of their homes. In contrast, even though Tafoni has a relatively small floor plate, it is spacious because of the high ceiling and the minimal amount of full-height interior partitions.
The partial-height sculptural walls divide the space visually and increase the interaction between people without limiting views. Tafoni is a multi-purpose living pavilion that serves as a permanent house, a weekend retreat, a relaxing summer destination or a place to entertain friends and hold business parties. In the current era of overpopulation and decreasing greenfields, building houseboats is a solution we should consider. More after the break.
The exemplary location of this project is the houseboat district in Sausalito, California, which features the beautiful views of San Francisco Bay overlooking neighboring Tiburon. This area serves as a permanent residence for many and is an example of peaceful coexistence between humans and nature. Every respectful and creative design, both modern and traditional, is accepted here; the residents pride themselves in the diversity of this floating enclave, which inspires everyone who comes to visit. Living close to unspoiled nature means being surrounded by beauty that enriches life in a way that apartments and on-land houses do not. Floating homes respond to low and high tide and more intimately connect with the environment than suburban houses with manicured backyards. Tafoni helps one discover the possibilities available with realizing that a living space can be very different than the one we grew up in and are used to.
Sustainable Features and Environmental Design Goals
The substantial damage to the environment in traditional on-land construction happens immediately at the start of the project; plants must be removed from greenfields that, in turn, impacts the natural nesting habitat of wildlife. In urban sites the construction debris associated with demolition and remodel of an existing building typically adds to the global refuse problem. Houseboats, as opposed to traditional homes, have no foundations that permanently impact the land. They can be moved from one dock to another to allow the shaded land underneath them to recover. Houseboats can be disassembled and transported to another location in a different city. The environmental goal of this project is to give Tafoni owners the flexibility and options that are invaluable in an environmentally conscious lifestyle.
Sustainable Structure
The house
The framing of the houseboat consists of the modular repetitive ellipsoidal wooden trusses that can be mass-produced to conserve resources and energy. The ellipsoidal shape of these structural elements allows for a large spanning capacity, thus eliminating the need for additional walls and columns that would cram the space inside affecting the quality of the interior space.
Floating pontoon
The floating pontoon for this houseboat can be made out of variety of materials, including fiberglass or concrete, depending on a specific location of the houseboat. In the exemplary location in Sausalito, the preferred option is a prefabricated concrete pontoon that has a high strength, durability and carrying capacity while requiring little maintenance. One of the characteristics of the San Francisco Bay is a constant change in the water level caused by high and low tide. The pontoon needs to have a sturdy structure and an ability to take the ground. Concrete is a durable and inexpensive construction material utilizing aggregate that can be harvested locally additionally contributing to the sustainability of this project.
Just asking: is really the fact you live in a boat something more sustainable? I would think the opposite, sorry.
It is NOT sustainable to follow the status quo of destroying greenfields in order to build new residential developments which may become obsolete and abandoned in the future as regional economic and development patterns fluctuate.
The Tafoni project is a ‘conversation starter’ that shows that disturbing animal nesting areas and the local ecosystem in order to install permanent foundations and fixed construction is not the only option available.
Please visit Sausalito’s houseboat district to learn about this community and you will realize that living on a houseboat can be more sustainable than living on land.
Please also read about the problems plaguing our urban communities when residential neighborhoods are abandoned and there is no option to relocate them (Detroit would be a good example to study).
Thank you, Joannna
There are a lot of animals living in water that are also disturbed and polluted.
RT @archdaily: Tafoni Floating Home Project Narrative http://bit.ly/6Jj5bx <I could live here>
fed up with those students’ projects…
Who’s strong enough to explain the architect how sustainable is an ellipsoidal wooden truss which supposes as much glue as timber?
so now CONCRETE is sustainable??
The grey energy of wood is basically between 330 and 610 kWh/m3 according to swiss association of construction so it’s not necessarily better. Actually it is not so much the concrete the problem (grey energy 430kWh/m3) but the steel inside.
The joke here is not only about the materials, but it is the whole concept…
Sorry but I don’t see any analytical drawings that even suggets this floating concept.
also, what about privacy? privacy is needed for several different reasons. the idea for this house is “temporary structure” right? what about blinds to put up on the inside and along the windows where you can have privacy on the inside and the outside at the same time and therefore allowing you to adjust your privacy level whenever needed.
interesting design and ideas though.
Thank you for your supportive comment about my work.
I actually designed a system of interior shades for Tafoni, but I decided not to include it in my design for clarity and to emphasize the open views from the boat. Please email me directly if you would like to find out more details.
Thank you very much, Joanna
I'd Live Here: Tafoni Floating Home Project Narrative. http://bit.ly/7aMzlu
What an awful design without context and good taste. Looks like a big block, compared to local houses. Interrior without concept – further use of organic form, but so heavy and uncomfortable. Wow.
What an awful design without context and good taste. Looks like a big block, compared to local houses. Interrior without concept – further use of organic form, but so heavy and uncomfortable. Wow.
I totally second that!
Tafoni Floating Home… დავუმატოთ ”ზეს” და უკეთესი გამოვა: Zes+Tafoni
it’s so cool & possible
Thank you very much for your positive & supportive comment.
martali xar David :D lolz… zestafooonshii?!?
Do you really believe that living on the water is more environmentally sound?? Obviously you haven’t thought this through. Waste, water, piers, docking, oil slicks, clogging waterways, litter, pipes, anchors secondary boats to access piers,etc. Instead of environmentally friendly I see a waterway slum—this is a horrid idea.
I think this idea and concept are very strong, with great graphics to back it up. This project engages the dialogue of modern housing and its potential for the future, and brings up some very important questions worth further investigation. Well done!!
Yes. I agree. This project promotes a dialogue about whether living on the water is possible or not–history support that it is. There are floating markets and villages here in Thailand. It’s been this way for hundreds of years. Combine what’s been a tradition in many countries with the modern Western amenities, and it could be a nice mix!
I will definitely visit the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market when I’m in Thailand! Thank you, Joanna
seems like you only appreciate complimentary comment, but sometime a serious critique is more valuable, isnt it.
anyway eventhough living on top of the water is possible technically, i really do not like the design. it does not demonstrate the architect’s sensitivity of form and space.
Imitation of these organic forms could be improved… I don’t like it at this stage, but it could be made very beautiful!
Another thing you should look into Ms. Borek-Clement are the Chinampas on lake xochimilco, close to mexico city. They are very interesting.
Also, an architect is quite fond of positive criticism, but clearly your design could also benefit from negative criticism. The sustainable approach is very unclear, another thing I would point out other than the materials employed and the unexplained (at least on this website) way you plan to make it sustainable in water (pipes, docks, oil, waste, etc..), I would also point out that those huge windows will be terrible in Summer, of course, air conditioning could fix it, but then we are right back to an unsustainable design.
I believe you can benefit more from comments like these, than comments like “it’s so cool & possible”.
I do not comment in a negative way, it’s either for you to receive constructive criticism or for you to have an opportunity to justify your design and show us how you plan to deal with these issues.
Of course, I appreciate both positive and negative constructive criticism. It is all part of the process. I am very excited that Tafoni is is making people think about so many aspects of design!
Chinampas are quite amazing; thank you.
Please also check this link – quite fascinating, floating villages in Thailand:
http://www.phangngabaythailand.com/phang-nga-koh-panyi.php
When it comes to pipes, docks, oil and waste all of these aspects are carefully regulated by the specific local laws and code of Sausalito houseboat district. You may find a PDF of the local regulations online if you are interested in learning about the details.
Thanks for the link, interesting.
If you had been in Thailand even once only you could compare how polluted this water is around the floating houses compared to other preserved coastal areas… If they are building on the water there, it is mainly because the coastline is too stiff.
Aesthetically, of course knowing we like it or not isn’t helping you much, but it gives more the feeling of a techno caravan designed by a boat designer than a sustainable house on the water. Also, what is, architecturally in this design, the advantage of living on a floating device for light, views, space? And why is this sustainably (and even architecturally) better than a hut mounted on plastic cans?
It doesn’t have to be fully sustainable, but to be honest I find it really unappealing visually. It’s almost like a child was trying to achieve some organic look.
Okay, here’s a houseboat I can afford.
http://kansasmediocrity.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/home-made-paradise-with-the-moron-brothers/
Houseboats are the future since 71.11% of the earth’s surface is covered by water (3% of that is freshwater) and overpopulation is virtually unchecked. A modular houseboat system is needed that can be incorporated into sustainable ocean communities. They must be easily assembled and repaired, durable and seaworthy, easily transported, non-polluting to the oceanic environment and asthetically prudent, combining form with function on a long-term basis.
The Tafoni floating home, while combining an asymmetrical balance of space within an overall ‘cylindrical’ structure (the mind says ‘bone marrow’), must needs stay close to shore and permanent moorings. I see this design as more suited to ‘day areas’ and ‘floating office environments’ adjacent to houseboat environs rather than as a home environment. Combining them end-to-end and in staggered rows might work well. However, high winds and waves would necessitate that these structures be secured to each other from the top as well as from the bottom for stability.
Seattle’s floating bridges use concrete pontoons quite well…and they are low maintence comparatively, but these are not required to settle onto the ground during low tides.
Cheers.
I think as a conceptual design this is absolutely wonderful. Clearly more personalization would come as an owner would desire – just like any other architectural project. As anyone who has done extensive research into **modern** floating home communities would find, environmental concerns are usually a top priority of those who live in them. You don’t $#@! where you eat. This way of living has a prominent foothold all over the world, including many modern societies; someday the US will catch up. Keep thinking up ideas that are ahead of the times no matter what naysayers have to say!