Water
Institute
member
and
architecture
professor, Elizabeth
English,
is
leading
a
team
of
Waterloo
School
of
Architecture
researchers
who
want
to
build
a
floating
pavilion
in
a
flood
zone
of
the
Grand
River.
This
will
be
the
first
step
in
plans
to
design
amphibious
houses
that
rise
and
fall
with
flood
waters
to
help
protect
First
Nations
and
other
vulnerable
communities
devastated
by
flooding
every
spring.
Rendering
of
a
New
Orleans
house
with
an
amphibious
retrofit.
With help from the National Research Council, English and her team hope Canada can become one of the first countries in the world to allow floating homes in our municipal building codes. Amphibious homes are still not embraced by insurers and disaster management agencies around the world. As an engineer and an architect, English has spent 11 years trying to change that.
In 2006, after watching the devastation from Hurricane Katrina while doing research at Louisiana State University, English became fixated on the idea of amphibious housing. She watched the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) try to relocate entire neighbourhoods, and wanted to do something to help.
The current solution to flooding problems is building homes on stilts or relocating communities altogether. Retrofitting homes to float is a cheap solution to chronic flooding problems, and one that doesn’t include disrupting entire neighbourhoods.
Amphibious
housing
in
Maasbommel,
Netherlands.
English and her team hope to have the Grand River pilot project ready to go in time for the International Conference on Amphibious Architecture happening in Waterloo June 25-28.