Land-based living is so last millennium—at least according to the creators of the Waterpod, a barge that for four artists will serve as a self-sustainable floating home for five months, beginning this Saturday, June 13. The 30- by 100-foot barge will be towed from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to a pier in South Street Seaport, on the lower east edge of Manhattan. The project, led by a sculptor-photographer from Queens, is a step towards eco-friendly housing that can adapt to a changing climate.
The pod is constructed out of repurposed wood, metal and other materials on top of the barge, and a garden and flock of chickens will provide food for everyone on board. Inhabitants will power their own appliances, such as laptops, with a wind turbine and an electricity-producing bicycle. And there are four main areas on the Waterpod, including one for community building, one containing the bedrooms, another for producing power and food, and the last for cooking and showering.
We love the idea of a self-sufficient, floating shelter but have to wonder: What happens if you’re prone to sea sickness?
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Image: Courtesy of Waterpod Project
Forget your Jetsons-like vision of an automated high-rise city with flying cars and robot maids: The future city will need to be sustainable and, consequently, a little dull. Last night at the World Science Fair, panelists took turns talking about their visions for future cities—where, it is projected, fifty percent of the population will live in just a few decades—as pastoral areas of towering efficiency and greenness. If you thought green was not sexy, and sustainable living meant little more than energy conservation (installing lots of insulation) and sacrifice (using fans instead of air conditioning), you wouldn’t be wrong. But sustainable solutions through radical design (taken from the title of this lecture) are not all short showers and insulated attics.
