In an attempt to combat commuter and residential pollution, architect and product designer Wyatt Little came up with a very interesting concept called the U-Boat which tries to capitalize on urban body waters (rivers, lakes etc.) and utilize them as ‘off the grid’ marina style living spaces.
It’s basically a boat-house-thingy, but with tremendous green potential, since it’s all built to be sustained by nature. Although it is very compact, designed to house a living, kitchen, bath and bedroom, the U-boat will definitely compensate in back-yard spacing, especially in cities crossed by large bodies of water.
Being completely isolated from the city grid, the U-boat utilizes a number of different advanced technologies to compensate. Electricity for the U-boat is provided courtesy of 3 Schüco 180 Watt, 16 Volt solar panels, mounted to a green roof (which we assume can also grow herbs and veggies for human consumption). Regarding sewage, the boat is equipped with an incinolet toilet which burns waste instead of creating more sewage.
And as for cooling and heating inside the living space, the inner temperature of the boat is regulated by a geothermal pond loop which runs from the bottom of the water source through a piling supporting the dock and into the floor of the boat. Potable water is drawn from filtered rain water – the water is collected inside a tank which when full is enough to suffice a person for a whole year.
Photos (c) Wyatt Little.