Flood-resilience specialist Baca Architects has been given the go-ahead for the world’s largest amphibious house: a 385m² riverside home at Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire
The Misty River House, which will replace an existing flood-prone house, will be built within a ‘dock’ and is designed to rise up within its housings when the plot floods. The house itself will be built with an oak timber frame and lime-rendered structurally insulated panels.
The project, which was approved by Wokingham Borough Council, will sit in the local greenbelt in a flood zone 3 area.
According to the practice, the latest amphibious design improves ‘the relationship of the building to the ground plane by providing fewer steps up to the building and eliminating the redundant void below the existing ground floor that would occur if the replacement dwelling were to be stilted’.
It also provides an adaptable response to climate changes as the building will always float above the highest flood levels. The studio says its whole-life carbon assessment demonstrated that the project’s embodied carbon would ‘be less than refurbishing the existing building after every flood event’ throughout the building’s 75-year lifespan.
The scheme includes a tiered garden designed by Chelsea Flower Show 2022 award-winner Richard Miers Garden Design, which will act as a ‘natural flood alert mechanism’.
Baca described it as ‘an intuitive landscape’, adding: ‘Terraces arranged at varying heights are strategically constructed to flood gradually, notifying residents well in advance of any imminent threat from rising floodwaters. The bottom terrace features a lawn and wildflower meadow; the next one includes shrubs and plants; while the seating deck is situated one level above. The highest terrace, positioned just below the living room, acts as the peak point.