How One Woman Pulled Anchor and Set Sail in a Solar-Powered Tiny Home
Marianne loved life on the water, so she had design firm Crossboundaries turn a houseboat into a roaming residence.
Marianne loved life on the water, so she had design firm Crossboundaries turn a houseboat into a roaming residence.
To the say the least, the pandemic shook up our notions of home, and some took the opportunity to float some new ideas. After being approached by a client in Berlin to refurbish a houseboat into a tiny home, Beijing-based architecture studio Crossboundaries set out to explore the limitations of life on the go.
"Envisioning people living in a nomadic fashion is no longer an abstract image—it is achievable," says Binke Lenhardt, one of the firm’s cofounders. "Simultaneously, we are debating our notions of public versus private and temporary versus permanent."
After buying a boat, Marianne, who split her time between Beijing and Berlin, wanted to create a floating home that bridged Eastern and Western concepts of design. So she approached long-time friend Binke Lendhart, an architect and cofounder of design firm Crossboundaries. In keeping with this approach, the boat is named Fàng Sōng—which means "Relax!"—representing a link to Marianne’s life and experiences in China.
Photo by Johanna Link
The firm’s client, Marianne, is German born, but has led a relatively unmoored lifestyle, particularly over the past decade while living and working between Beijing and Berlin. More recently she spent a short period living aboard a boat before joining a rowing club in the latter city. These experiences gave her a strong desire to spend more time near and on the water, culminating with the purchase of the houseboat in 2020.
The boat is moored in Stößensee on the western outskirts of Berlin, some distance from Marianne’s permanent home in the eastern part of the city. It enables her to explore nature at a slow pace. While it’s unable to take on oceans, the houseboat is able to travel through inland waterways, lakes, and rivers, where weather conditions are less extreme.
Photo by Johanna Link
Crossboundaries treated the project as an opportunity to explore historic examples of mobile residences. In particular, they were fascinated by the more experimental work of avant-garde architectural group Archigram, which was known for creating concepts of lightweight, movable structures and modular technology.
Photo by Johanna Link
See the full story on Dwell.com: How One Woman Pulled Anchor and Set Sail in a Solar-Powered Tiny Home
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