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Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), Committee on Agronomic Sciences JOURNAL OF WATER AND LAND DEVELOPMENT
Section of Land Reclamation and Environmental Engineering in Agriculture 2020, No. 45 (IV–VI): 207–211
Institute of Technology and Life Sciences (ITP) https://DOI.org/10.24425/jwld.2020.133496
Available (PDF): http://www.itp.edu. pl/wydawnictwo/journal ; http://journals.pan.pl/jwld
Received 28.09.2019
Reviewed 01.04.2020
Accepted 14.04.2020
The form of the floating house
in the Czerniakowski Port in Warsaw
Rafał MAZUR
Rzeszow University of Technology, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, Department of Town Planning
and Architecture, al. Powstańców Warszawy 12, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland
For citation: Mazur R. 2020. The form of the floating house in the Czerniakowski Port in Warsaw. Journal of Water and Land Devel-
opment. No. 45 (IV–VI) p. 207–211. DOI: 10.24425/jwld.2020.133496.
Abstract
The article discusses the architectural expression of houses built on water, based on the design process of the floating
house in the Czerniakowski Port in Warsaw, designed by Mai Bui Ngoc and Rafał Mazur. The question of the form of the
floating house was the starting point of the work on this project. Usually buildings are designed in a specific location,
which gives architects an inspiration for the design of the new form. In the case of the floating houses the goal was to make
a universal artefact as a car or a phone. This artefact should be more connected to the owner than to the landscape. This
artefact should be also neutral to the landscape and it should not be destructive for the surroundings. The answer lays be-
tween two archetypes; a typical house and a boat. Analysis of the existing floating houses gave the conclusion that authors
of these houses were usually very close to one of these two archetypes. It is a need to put a lot of effort to design an object
which does not remind a real house and a yacht design.
Key words: amphibious architecture, architecture in Warsaw, architecture of climate change, floating house
INTRODUCTION
The design and realization of the floating house in the
Czerniakowski Port in Warsaw was a pioneering task. It
was the first two-storey floating residential building in Po-
land. On the most part, the design process required the use
of new technical, functional and aesthetic solutions. The
largest challenge was to design an architectural form,
which would fulfil the unique function of a floating house
in comparison to a house built on dry land. Its specific
practical solutions also had to distinguish it from ships,
barges and yachts.
Floating houses may become a necessary alternative to
building on dry land [FLESCHE, BURCHARD 2005]. Climate
change, a decreasing availability of space for construction
in Polish cities due to the mass acquisition of land by de-
velopers, as well as the need to live near nature, make this
form of living increasingly attractive [GRONOSTAJSKA,
CZAJKA 2013]. Despite the fact that many floating houses
have already been built, their architectural form has not yet
been fully defined and is often treated as a land-based
building or an object with solutions typical for a yacht. The
floating house in the Czerniakowski Port in Warsaw seems
to be a good example to analyse in terms of defining the
assumptions required in the architectural form for this type
of dwelling.
The first important work concerning floating houses in
Poland was a research paper written by PIĄTEK [2018].
The author proposed the definition of a floating house as
“a floating structure with permanently enclosed interior
and arrangement designated solely for stationary use,
without propulsion, equipment or other characteristics used
for navigation.” [PIĄTEK 2018]. He also looked at what had
already been achieved in Poland in this relatively new area
in architecture. A description of the titular project of this
article was also included in his work. The floating house in
Czerniakowski Port has also been featured in various ar-
chitectural journals, including the magazine Architektura&
Biznes, which featured an interview with its authors [KA-
POŁKA 2017].
There are many publications about floating houses in
English language literature. They mostly deal with popular
achievements in this area as seen in the United Kingdom
and the Netherlands [NILLESEN, SINGELENBERG 2011].
JOURNAL OF WATER AND LAND DEVELOPMENT
ISSN 1429–7426, e-ISSN 2083-4535
208 R. MAZUR
METHODS
The basic research method should, in this case, be an
analysis of the most important issues, which influence the
architectural form of the floating house. An important
problem seems to be the need to create objects of this type
in the context of humanity’s relationship with nature. An
analysis of historical floating objects will allow to better
understand this relation on a wider scale. Functional and
technical aspects, which directly influence the form of the
object, are also important.
The question of aesthetics is connected to function and
structure, however, it is also necessary to analyse elements
which distinguish floating houses from other floating ob-
jects, as well as buildings constructed on dry land. The
identification of these elements will help answer the ques-
tion about what a floating house is and what it should look
like.
RESULTS
THE FORM OF THE FLOATING HOUSE
Relation with nature. In the publication entitled
“Amplifying Nature”, which accompanied an exhibition in
the Polish pavilion at the Architectural Biennale in Venice,
Anna Ptak wrote, “that architecture is interconnected with
the forces of nature is a fact, as demonstrated by local ver-
nacular architecture.” [PTAK 2018]. The move away from
traditional solutions and a divergence from the rhythm of
the planet seems to be the most important problem of the
habitation process in the Anthropocene epoch. The change
in Poland’s natural habitat is connected to a change in its
water environment, which was at one time a fixed element
that influenced architectural space [TWARDOWSKI, ŻABIC-
KA 2018]. The architecture of rural households, the so
called ‘Olender’ homes (Photo 1), typically built on wet-
land along the northern part of the Vistula River between
the 16th and 20th centuries [SZAŁYGIN 2011], shows that
Photo 1. Traditional ‘Olender’ home with a lower level utility
room that is periodically flooded and a boat used for travel
and evacuation purposes; Antique building museum
in Wiączemin Polski (Pol. Skansen Osadnictwa
Nadwiślańskiego) (photo R. Mazur)
people were able to adapt to natural phenomena even if it
was as difficult to deal with architecturally as wetlands
tend to be [KUCIEWICZ, DE IACOBIS 2019]. A harmonious
coexistence with the natural world will be the only rational
form of habitation in the future. For many reasons life in
the vicinity of water sources has always been a traditional
element of habitation [JAGIEŁŁO-KOWALCZYK 2012]. Wa-
ter is necessary to the survival of humankind. It also influ-
ences people’s aesthetic preferences [DUTTON 2009].
A floating house may become a form of habitation that
will help people to strengthen their ties with nature. It also
serves as an alternative form of living in the context of
climate change and its aftermath. A decreasing volume of
land suitable for construction, rising water levels and in-
creasing number of natural disasters are currently being
seen as a challenge by many architects. Projects such as the
floating city concept designed by Bjarge Ingels Group,
man-made islands off the southern coast of Copenhagen
designed by Urban Power and Palm Jumeirah in Dubai
designed by Helman Hurley Charvat Peacock, are some
examples.
The tradition of building on water. Living on water
or in its vicinity is a traditional and even typical phenome-
non historically occurring in Poland. The island settlement
in Biskupin dating from the 8th century BC, built on wood-
en beams, is an excellent example (Fig. 1). Slavic settle-
ments were also commonly erected near bodies of water
with a proto-city pre-located in Pułtusk in the 12th century
[STABROWSKA 2015]. Palace architecture is also common-
ly associated with construction near or on water. A magnif-
icent example of this is the Palace on the Water designed
by Dominik Merlini in the Royal Łazienki Park in Warsaw
[TATARKIEWICZ 1955].
Fig. 1. Visualization of the proto-city in Pułtusk prepared
by ASK, Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University
of Technology; source: KOWAL [2015]
There are a lot of examples of floating houses in War-
saw’s history. Canaletto’s painting, which depicts an 18th
century panorama of the city seen from the eastern
riverbank (Photo 2), shows floating objects which were
hybrids of boats and houses [RYBKA, MAZUR 2018]. Build-
ings that are reminiscent of traditional houses with gabled
roofs positioned on their shell, generally seem to be a very
The form of the floating house in the Czerniakowski Port in Warsaw 209
Photo 2. A fragment of Warsaw’s panorama from 1770
– Bernardo Bellotto Canaletto; source: JUSZCZAK
and MAŁACHOWICZ [2007]
Photo 3. A fragment of Aleksander Gierymski’s painting “The
Feast of Trumpets” (1884); source: wolnelektury.pl [undated]
Photo 4. A floating police station on the Vistula River in Warsaw
– from the 1930s (phot. National Digital Archive,
signature: 1-G-4640-5)
characteristic element of the Vistula’s landscape. Similar
objects, built where land meets water, can be found in 19th
century art by Aleksander Gierymski (Photo 3).
Many floating houses can also be seen in photographs
from the 1930s. They usually had roles associated with the
functioning of the Vistula River as it flowed through War-
saw [MISTEWICZ, TUCHOLSKI 2017]. They varied in form.
On the most part they were reminiscent of barges or typical
land-based dwellings such as arbours or smallish houses
with gabled roofs. An interesting example was a floating
police station whose form was perfect for its specific loca-
tion, as well as its floating foundation (Photo 4). This ob-
ject did not look like a barge while at the same time differ-
ing from land-based buildings.
LIVING ON THE WATER
Living solutions in floating houses are the direct result
of everyday human needs as in land-based buildings, but
the specific nature of living on water requires some differ-
ent ideas to those usually seen on land. The floating house
in the Czerniakowski Port was designed to have two sto-
reys (Fig. 2), but in a reverse manner to traditional residen-
tial houses. The bedroom is located at ground level, which
is often the case when designing yachts. The living room
and an open kitchen can be found on the first floor. Its lo-
cation allows a better view of the surroundings and better
access to the terraces. One of these is on the first floor and
the other on the flat roof. It is very important to design
a large area of glazing in such a way as to open the house
to the water. The facade, which contains the entry way
from the port side, has few openings in order to guarantee
privacy.
The floating house has a usable space of 120 m2,
which allows the inclusion of fundamental functions typi-
cal for a land-based house in Poland. These include two
bedrooms, an office/guest room, two bathrooms, two utili-
ty rooms, as well as a large living room with a kitchen and
two terraces. This means that a family with children can
live there in comfort. Thus, it is a realistic prototype for the
development of residential projects inland, as well as at sea.
Living on water can mean that residents have to en-
dure hardships such as increased moisture levels, especial-
ly in the autumn and winter. A highly air-tight structure
can eliminate this problem. Advanced technology and
good quality construction allows to counter nature’s effects
and guarantees conditions in which the resident can have
a high standard of living. The floating house in Czer-
niakowski Port (Photo 5 top) was designed to be low-
energy. It uses electrical energy as the only available ener-
gy source. Thanks to this one can minimise the costs in-
volved in both heating and cooling the property. This is
a very important aspect, as the floating house should not
present an extravagant living option. It should become an
ecological alternative to traditional living.
WHAT FORM SHOULD THE FLOATING HOUSE TAKE?
The floating house design assumes a changeable loca-
tion. The only continuous element is water. This means
that the house should be universal enough to be assimilated
into various surroundings. It should also be treated as
a neutral form that can be moved from place to place. It
can also be replicated [BERGDOLL, CHRISTENSEN 2008].
Such forms will be unique due to refined details used in
their automated production.
210 R. MAZUR
Photo 5. Floating house in the Czerniakowski Port, Warsaw –
designed by Mai Bui Ngoc and Rafał Mazur:
top – landscape context, bottom – zoom (phot. M. Czerski)
Many modern floating houses are similar to yachts or
barges. Even more unnatural looking are houses built in
a traditional form, which are then moved onto water. The
most important issue when designing this type of dwelling
is the creation of an object whose appearance answers to
its unique function. This is akin to the Japanese way of
perceiving buildings; they are characterized by their light-
ness (Photo 5 bottom). I am not solely referring to their
weight but also their visual character. In the case of the
floating house in Czerniakowski Port this task was difficult
as it had to have two stories due to the size (area) limita-
tions of the port gate. Floating houses are often one storey
high, which limits them functionally. In order to create
a visually light two-storey building one has to use all the
available design tools and change the way the architectural
form is viewed. Japanese architect Kengo Kuma noted that
Western architects view buildings as individual and dis-
tinct entities. But buildings affect their surroundings and
can change them due to their heavy form KUMA [2008]
writes that in traditional Japanese architecture the relation
between the building and its surroundings is completely
different. Buildings are “written” into the existing land-
scape and strive not to encroach on its composition. The
Japanese method of viewing space seems to be the better
option in the case of floating houses (Photo 5 bottom).
In order to achieve lightness and neutrality sheet metal
was used as elevation material in the titular floating house.
It was painted in matt white, which visually gave the build-
ing the lightness of paper. The sheet metal panels were
divided into equal lengths thus creating a modular order. In
the initial concept phase equal blocks were cut out to hold
up relatively thin ceilings (Fig. 3). This was displayed as
a cardboard model and gave a similar effect to what the
architects later achieved.
Fig. 3. Wooden and paper models – searching for the form
of the floating house; source: own elaboration
Fig. 2. Projections of the floating house in Czer-
niakowski Port
–
designed by Mai Bui Ngoc and Rafał
Mazur; source: own elaboration
The form of the floating house in the Czerniakowski Port in Warsaw 211
CONCLUSIONS
The legitimacy of building or producing floating hous-
es seems to be confirmed by many such projects, which
already exist around the world. The discovery of many
proto-cities throughout different historical periods also
shows that the search for forms of dwelling on water is
rooted in the development of mankind. The progress of
urbanization, as well as climate change, show this form of
dwelling in a new light. In terms of functionality, floating
houses are able to fulfil similar requirements to land-based
buildings. Their location additionally means that residents
are able to further develop their relationship with nature,
which is especially rich in places where land meets water.
The architectural form of the floating house is a fun-
damental design question due to its uniqueness and distinc-
tiveness from other floating objects and land-based build-
ings. An attempt to define it was made when designing the
floating house in Czerniakowski Port. Many design fea-
tures added to the project can be viewed as the optimal
solutions for a floating house. The creation of a structure,
which cuts itself off from land-based construction ideals
and whose form is neutral, answers better to the require-
ments of such a house. An important aspect seems to be
the divergence from the treatment of a house as an archi-
tectural form that is apart from its surroundings. This gives
direction to the design processes whose effects translate
into universal buildings in terms of their location context,
as well as not being dominant features in public space.
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