Elizabeth began her work on amphibious architecture in 2006 while conducting research at the LSU Hurricane Center after witnessing the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. In 2007, Elizabeth founded the Buoyant Foundation Project (BFP), a not-for-profit organization that has become a leader in the development of amphibious architecture solutions, with particular emphasis on retrofitting existing homes. The BFP promotes flood mitigation and climate change adaptation strategies that work in synchrony with water to enhance community resilience. Since its inception, the BFP has developed amphibious strategies for vulnerable populations in Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Jamaica, northern Canada, and southern Louisiana.
In 2015, Elizabeth co-founded the First International Conference on Amphibious Architecture, Design and Engineering (ICAADE) and has since co-chaired ICAADE 2017 and 2019. In 2016, the BFP received funds from the Global Resilience Partnership’s Water Window Challenge to develop amphibious retrofit construction for houses in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, as a means of reducing the flood vulnerability experienced by rural rice farmers. The BFP is currently working on a project to build flood resilient housing for Canada through funding received from the National Research Council of Canada.
Elizabeth has a background in both Architecture and engineering. She teaches courses in Building Technology & Environment, and in Cultural History, where her elective course focuses on the influence of mid-19th c. Russian mystical religious philosophy on the Russian avant-garde architectural theories of the early 20th c., the topic of her Ph.D. research.
Elizabeth’s work on amphibious retrofit construction is featured here:
Visit the Buoyant Foundation Project to learn more about Elizabeth's innovative research.
A chair for Ip Man, designed and constructed by Alyssa Tang in 2019 for ARCH 570, Chair Project Design-Build elective
A chair for Sol LeWitt, designed and constructed by Elizabeth Lenny in 2019 for ARCH 570, Chair Project Design-Build elective
Exploded axonometric of a Louisiana shotgun-style house retrofitted to become amphibious
Amphibious retrofit system as applied to the Farnsworth House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (frame from animation)
House of a rice farmer in An Giang Province, Vietnam, after amphibious retrofit to protect it from increased flooding due to cli
house of a rice farmer floating during the 2018 monsoon flood
The second amphibious retrofit house in An Giang Province floating during the monsoon flood in 2018
Amphibious retrofit house in Long An Province, Vietnam. Note the flooded pathway is replaced with a monkey bridge to enable pedestrian travel during the flood.
Experimental prototype of an amphibious pavilion located at the University of Waterloo’s North Campus, part of a project to develop flood resilient housing for Canada
Testing the freeze-thaw response of the pavilion’s buoyancy materials in winter
