Remember the ingenious “Amphibious House” that can raise itself to remain afloat on floodwater, much like a ship in a dock? The team at UK-based LarkFleet Group has come up with a similar design: a 72-ton mobile home that is capable of lifting itself against gravity to escape inundation. Despite its massive weight, the structure can lift nearly 5 feet above the ground within a matter of five minutes.
Instead of a conventional foundation, the innovative Elevating House sits atop a special steel ring beam that in turn allows it to move up and down. The structure’s movements, as pointed out by the developers, are controlled by means of eight mechanical jacks. Thanks to its “modular steel-frame design”, the building can easily be “disassembled and re-erected on another site on conventional foundations as a family residence”.
Currently awaiting their planning permission decision, the team hopes to construct a three-bedroom prototype in UK’s Lincolnshire by the year 2017. Following that, the company will be monitoring the performance of the jacking system over the next five years or so. According to the designers, the house will be elevated in response to the UK Environment Agency’s flood warnings; a process that will likely take less than five minutes to complete.
The developers recommend raising the Elevating House before evacuation in case of emergency situations. This is to ensure that the building and the things inside remain unharmed during a flood. What’s more, it is designed to run on power provided by a roof-mounted solar array and a battery, in the absence of conventional electricity. Additionally, a system of flexible hoses will keep the dwelling connected to water as well as sewage. Speaking about the project, the company’s CEO Karl Hick said:
The elevating house effectively eliminates the risk of flood damage to homes so that more land across the country can be approved for future home building. This will help to tackle the ‘housing crisis’ that is being caused by the demand for new housing far exceeding the supply.
To learn more about the Elevating House, head over to LarkFleet Group’s official website.