Mass construction of floating homes — the organization of a permanent business process for manufacturing and selling Floating House) whose energy characteristics suit them for year-round living on the rivers and reservoirs of Northern Eurasia.
State of the market
At present, the real estate market — apart from road construction — is one of the main "feeding troughs" of local authorities (while the central authorities work the flows around raw-material rents). As a result, given the number of interested parties, the share of "administrative costs," booked in various guises, in delivered urban and suburban real-estate projects is very large and shows a tendency to grow that is not justified by the actual state of affairs. Together with the need to equip a building with a reliable heating system and insulation, this factor "freezes" the market in price terms, creating a mismatch between even the hypothetically possible income level and the cost of housing — including low-quality, small-area serial housing.
In addition, a cultural factor is at work: unlike the "New World" mentality, which orients people toward dispersing across territory, settling the "open spaces," and constant migration — including within a single society — the North Eurasian behavioral model is to find the "center" and settle as close to it as possible (insuring one's material well-being through collective proximity to the sources of power), and then "put down firm roots."
What mass construction of floating homes can change
Mass construction of floating homes (MCFH) economically frees the housing market from the pressure of excessive administrative rent, while at the same time making the consumer model of dispersing across territory (in this case, water territory) "fashionable" and "promising." In addition, siting homes near sources of fish and forest resources, combined with off-grid energy technologies, creates an economic basis for people's independent worldview.
Economic rationale
In the Nizhny Novgorod Region there are several small and medium shipbuilding and ship-repair enterprises capable of quickly launching serial construction of pontoon-hull-type floating homes at whichever site offers the lowest costs (for example, the once-successful, now-closed pontoon-manufacturing plant in Rabotki). Using durable hydraulic-engineering concrete for the floating base of serial homes, and equipping them with autonomous heating and energy systems, would open a market for "unit-by-unit" sales of floating housing across the entire hydrographic network of rivers and lakes in the European part of the Russian Federation, where housing on pontoon hulls attracts interest from people connected with the river economy (in every major city there are dozens of such mobile structures).
Attracting investment on the scale of a developer project (comparable to the scale of building several multi-story city apartment blocks) would make it possible to create a Floating Cities with primary infrastructure and integration into local social services (education, healthcare), which — through price, interest in modern technology, and the ability to escape dependence on the ongoing costs tied to land — would generate demand for further serial purchases of serial floating homes.
Types of floating homes based on a pontoon hull
Every floating home is equipped with autonomous heating and energy systems and allows for pontoon walkways for water transport and the creation of floating gardens.
With a shared energy system
- A residential block of 4-7 townhouses, depending on the superstructure design (two-story apartments of about 100 square meters with a separate entrance).
- An apartment building — a block of apartments of 50-60 square meters each.
- A "studio block" — a block of compact housing (18-30 square meters), for young people who want to try finding their place in river life at the start of their career.
- A commercial building — designed to house several shops and offices, libraries, and educational and medical facilities.
Energy system of the customer's choice
- Duplex pontoon home — the home has two two-story apartments of enhanced comfort and large area (about 250 square meters each). Modifications with either a shared or individual heating and energy systems are possible.
With a separate energy system
- A mansion — a single-family home of about 500 square meters, allowing every condition for luxurious living to be created.
- A public building — a floating center laid out so it can be used for public gatherings, as a concert hall, or as a dance club.
Classification of floating-home living superstructures
While for a home meant for year-round use on a flowing body of water or in a backwater, the floating base is best made of hydraulic-engineering concrete (of the pontoon-hull type), the residential superstructure built above that base can use any modern or classic building material chosen for its relative lightness:
| Material | Advantages |
|---|---|
| Classic log construction | Durability, traditional style |
| Wooden boards, insulation | Low price, light weight. |
| Wooden boards and insulation with a "smart home" system providing the most efficient convective exchange of incoming and outgoing air heat | Significant heating savings, very healthy indoor air, light weight |
| Glued laminated timber | Thanks to the small humidity swings in close proximity to the water, this building material — which performs well in Finland — also suits floating homes (unlike land estates, where sharp swings in both humidity and temperature over several years cause the timber to split at its ends). |
| High-quality aerated concrete (looks white, e.g. the Ytong brand) | Ease of construction, versatility, thin walls with good thermal-insulation performance |