UW architecture professor at forefront of floating homes
Amphibious structures built with buoyancy blocks can help save houses in floods
WATERLOO — Elizabeth English had her epiphany moment while seeing the evacuated streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The University of Waterloo architecture professor, then with Louisiana State University, realized that rebuilding homes with stilts to withstand future floods would fundamentally change the culture and landscape of the city.
Instead, retrofits that would allow the homes to float would keep the integrity of the closeknit communities intact while also keeping the homeowners safe in times of flooding.
Thus began the origins of the Buoyant Foundation Project, or BFP, and a multi-decade pursuit of bringing amphibious homes to the people that need them most.
“People have been building amphibious houses for millennia,” said English from her home in Breaux Bridge, La. “But they’ve been doing it without the benefit of modern science and engineering and the safety features that contemporary engineering is committed to.”
Ever wonder what that floating gazebo is in the stormwater pond at the David Johnston Research and Technology Park?
It’s a second prototype designed by the BFP, originally built at the university’s architecture campus, dismantled, and moved and installed in the pond.
And while the dock and roof may look like a relaxing spot for a lunch break, the buoyancy blocks underneath the
structure are what’s working below the surface.
English’s vision all revolves around retrofits — new buildings take time and money that much of the developing world can never afford.
Instead, her prototypes work by putting frames underneath houses that already exist, carrying the house on the buoyancy blocks. The blocks displace water during floods to allow the houses to float.
But this isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.
“Look, there are plenty of buildings where this isn’t the right solution, but there are plenty of buildings where this is a very good solution,” she said.
English — who has now developed prototypes for regions in Canada, the United States, Nicaragua, Jamaica, and the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam — takes the time to understand the unique challenges that exist for each community before finalizing her prototypes.
In Nicaragua, that included wraparound decks, so the people didn’t have to live inside the house with their livestock when the house was floating.
For a Canadian project funded by the National Research Project, English’s team designed prototypes for First Nations communities that experience frequent spring flooding. This time, factoring in Canadian winters and the extreme freeze-thaw cycle.
The prototypes source inexpensive, locally available materials. The goal is that once a house is retrofitted, the homeowners are then able to manage and repair as needed.
Affordability and sustainability are both important factors in English’s work, but it’s still early days for an industry that should become much more commonplace with continued sea level rises.
Not to mention, a recent 4,000-page report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that predicts increases in extreme weather events like floods and wildfires in the coming decades.
English is currently working on a draft for safety guidelines for amphibious homes in Canada — the first of its kind in the world. It’s a critical step for its eventual integration into Canadian society.
Currently, she said, building inspectors have nothing to work off to ensure the safety of the structures.
Similarly, her course on amphibious architecture offered at the university is, according to her students, the “only one of its kind in the universe,” English said with a sheepish laugh.
But the work isn’t necessarily being accepted with open arms everywhere around the world.
In the U.S., for example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency still actively opposes amphibious construction, arguing it would encourage new construction in flood zones.
It has made getting funding difficult at times, she said, and she now focuses her efforts on Canadian and international opportunities.
She’s currently in the process of applying for more grants to continue her work, using each project as a teachable opportunity for her students at Waterloo.
English is upfront, she’s not the entrepreneurial type and has no intentions of turning this into a multimillion-dollar business.
But in raising awareness on the issue, her hope is that governments, communities and private industry will eventually come together to find new ways to ensure stability for people that have lived in areas for generations.
“It’s not as simple as just asking these people to leave, there are communities and cultures built into these landscapes,” she said.
“What we need to find is ways for these people to continue to live safely. It might not be a profitable business, but it’s something we’re going to have to face.”