Floating Dining Room / Goodweather Design & Loki Ocean

Architects: Goodweather Design & Loki Ocean
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Project Team: Michael Lis, Matt Kirk-Buss, Larraine Henning
Client: School of Fish Foundation
Project Area: 24 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Courtesy of Goodweather Design & The School of Fish Foundation

This temporary floating dining room was designed for a summer fundraiser by The School of Fish Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to promoting sustainable seafood. The semi-enclosed space floats on over 1700 recycled plastic bottles. The project intends to bring attention to the abundance of plastic litter floating in the oceans, but also suggests a possible use for such waste. Due to budget and time constraints the design of the structure remains a conventional post and beam assembly allowing the framing to serve as finish.

The structure is built from donated lumber and local cedar products, all of which are renewable and will be recycled once the fundraiser is over. The floor is inset with a 4′x8′ plexiglass panel to reveal the plastic bottles directly below the dining table. The dining room was built in the Granville Island boatyard before it was lifted, lowered into the water, towed across False Creek and finally craned into its final position. The structure was built in ten days and will host 12 guests per night for 60 nights.