The Floating House
The Floating House – a project that aims to highlight and explore Refshaleøen’s historical and material connections and qualities in one iconic, unified work. The house is designed and built by students from the Master's program in Art & Architecture as part of a semester project.
The Floating House can function as an exhibition platform and gathering point for the cultural life of the area. The intention behind the house is to expand and explore the material boundaries of the architectural field, where building technique and poetic character are given equal weight. Through the sensory experience of architecture, the relationship between structure, tectonics, and material is examined, revealing the potential in the larger narrative that Refshaleøen is a part of.
Refshaleøen’s history is closely tied to the history of the earth: the soil forms the basis for the area’s very existence, a fact that will become even more apparent with the establishment of the upcoming Lynetteholm. The Floating House is situated within Refshaleøen’s industrial context and both unfolds and challenges the concept of soil as a building element. Rammed earth as a building material is at once both strong and fragile, solid and fluid. It is these paradoxes that The Floating House gives spatial form to. The house is primarily constructed from processed lime-stabilized earth, with a light timber frame and smaller steel components used for structural connections.