jona rak koceli

amphibious houses

school project

Podpeč, 2015

This project began as a research of possibilities how to prevent flooding, with a smart building design, rather than landscaping the nature. 

We were interested in solving the issue of constant flooding in Barje area, near Ljubljana. A lot of houses in Podpeč - Barje have been severely damaged or even destroyed by the river Ljubljanica, and this is why they started to build the housing program near the main road. Consequently, because of the "longitudinal growth" the settlement lost its's sense of centrality. Our goal was to re-create the Podpeč's centre and offer them housing program which cannot be impacted by floods.

The idea was to design individual houses with parking lots , a kayak house and a playground with central common space. The houses are different sizes for different types of families - for young couples, families with children and for the elderly - in order to create a community. 

We developed a technology, which allows the houses to rise above the water, as a amphibious architecture - an alternative flood mitigation strategy that allows an otherwise-ordinary structure to float on the surface of rising floodwater rather than succumb to inundation.

A small building (a house) is placed in a mold, which is hidden in the ground. The mold has four railings sticking outside the concrete, which are connected to the building's structure, and are hidden under the facade. They serve as a vertical guidance system. The house travels up and down the railings, due to buoyancy effect, when the mold if filled with water. 

In order to enable access to the apartments, even when there is a flood, a "flexible net" of communications and connections  was created on a higher level. When there is no water, the paths serve as a meeting point and offer panoramic strolls.  

Resilient homes are the bases for resilient communities.