Floating Bamboo House

The house is a model for families whose livelihoods depend on rivers, especially in the delta regions most threatened by rising seas. The Vietnamese design team made it as a new kind of three-bay house from solid bamboo poles three to six metres long, joined simply with latches and ties.

It is clad and partitioned with light materials such as woven bamboo sheets, leaves, corrugated iron and bamboo screens, under a large roof that collects rainwater and solar energy. Doors open and close freely, keeping the house sturdy in storms while giving it the look of a flower on the water.

Plastic drums under the floor keep it afloat, with freshwater and septic tanks at its centre. The 6 by 6 metre plan has two levels that can be extended; with the upper floor removed it becomes a hall, classroom or library, recalling communal houses of the past. Linked by floating playgrounds, vegetable rafts and fish ponds, many such houses could form a floating settlement.