High & Dry

I was really struck by a piece I heard on the radio this week. Award winning architectural practice, BACA, have been given the go-ahead to develop the UK’s first amphibious house. It’s currently in construction on the banks of the Thames, one of the worst hit areas in the recent floods.

BACA are renowned for their highly innovative approach to designing flood proof and flood resistant buildings. Using the model which they’ve developed the house is built on a pontoon which rises with the water levels. The main utilities are connected via a system of flexible pipes and ducts so that they continue to function as the house floats upwards. 

Intrigued, I took a closer look at BACA and spent a fascinating half hour browsing their website. Not surprisingly, they've been in high demand over the past few weeks and were recently called to Downing St to meet with an advisory panel convened in response to the flooding crisis. 

Perhaps one of the most prescient projects was the work which BACA did 6 years ago in 2008, when they won a prestigious €20m competition to design a flood resistant housing development in the Netherlands. The project incorporated floating houses, amphibious residences, such as that currently being built on the Thames and flood resilient units.

Even more interesting, in the light of recent events, were comments made at the time by BACA partner, Robert Barker, who wrote in the Architects Journal. 

“Modern flood management is about working with and understanding natural systems rather than seeking to control them. Our planning and architecture needs to do the same if it is to co-exist with changing waterways”

Six years on, we can only hope that the UK authorities wake up and show the same foresight as the Dutch, by exploring new and possibly radical solutions to the devastation wrought by flooding.

As a final aside, I was delighted to see that the practice will be picking up the MIPIM AR Future Projects Award for Regeneration and Master-planning in Cannes next week. Given for their work on the Dutch Eiland Veur Lent project, the award is yet another example of the work which BACA have been doing in developing flood-resilient developments in challenging environments.

Sarah Chapman