Waterpod: sustainable, navigable living for the future

It’s due to launch this May in New York City, but the Waterpod could find some interested customers in London, Amsterdam, Venice and other waterside cities as climate change global sea levels to rise.

Designed by a team of New York artists, the Waterpod is a “floating sculptural living structure designed as a new habitat for the global warming epoch,” according to its designers. Built atop an industrial barge, the “sustainable, navigable living space” will feature three domes for its inhabitants: one for artistic pursuits and performances, one for hydroponic and vertical agriculture, and a third for living and sleeping areas.

Energy to power the Waterpod will come from a hybrid solar/wind system.

Besides offering a way to adapt to a changing world, the Waterpod’s designers also did what they could to limit their creation’s impact on the environment. The structures are built in part with salvaged materials from sunken vessels in the area, along with other recycled and found materials. The Waterpod also features a system for greywater recycling.

“(T)he Waterpod showcases the critical importance of the environment and art, serving as a model for new living, d.i.y. technologies, art, and dialogue,” the designers’ Website states. “With this project, we hope to encourage growth and progress as we visualize the future, or through its dilatory, watery peregrinations, the Waterpod intends to prepare, inform, inspire, provoke, and fortify humanity for tomorrow’s exterior explorations.”