Exterior House Boathouse Design Photos and Ideas

SHED converted the side door into the front door, adding a new entry sequence with a patio, landscaping, stairs, and a metal awning to protect the porch. Wide stairs and a patio lead down to new sliding glass door in the basement, which now has utility spaces and a media room/office. Many of the original window openings were kept on this façade and given new Andersen E-Series units. Two smaller openings were bricked in.
"For most of us, this is the first home we’ve owned and the first house we built ourselves. These are all floating homes, with specific requirements for materials. It wasn’t easy,” explains resident Wouter Valkenier.
“For me, sustainability is a social aspect of the neighborhood. It was a huge investment of time, but together we helped each other through all the technical innovations. None of us could have done this on our own,
Of the 30 houses, 15 are inhabited by more than one household. One home has three floors, the lowest of which is underwater, with daylight entering through the small rectangular windows above the waterline.
The Buiksloterham area in northern Amsterdam is designated for sustainable building, which made it an appealing location for Schoonschip’s founders. The houses are oriented toward the water and each other, creating a neighborly feel.
The residents decided to build with a limited set of sustainable materials; for the facades, that meant wood, bamboo, or cork.
Residents of Schoonschip, a floating neighborhood in Amsterdam, designed their own houses, working with various architects and contractors. The water in the formerly industrial canal is now clean enough to swim in, but the opposite shore is still a landscape of warehouses.
The large windows let in fresh breezes and provide an opportunity for the owners to jump out of the house and into the water.
A Haiku L Series ceiling fan and Stuv 30 Rotating Fireplace are ready for warm or cold weather.
The view of Fairy Lake from the cottage.
The boathouse has a green roof and corrugated metal siding.
The 1,020-square-foot home features decks off the living room and both bedrooms.
A look at the boat's charming cottage-like exterior.
Currently moored in the heart of Lake Union, the Pied-A-Mer is conveniently located near downtown Seattle.
While the Andante has a nautical-inspired exterior, the interior is another story.
Named the Tatami House, the houseboat resembles the size and layout of traditional Japanese tatami rooms. "We used the tatami as a grid for the house," explains Julius Taminiau, referring to how tatami—a rectangular straw mat typically measuring 35 by 70 inches—dictates the size and proportion of traditional Japanese spaces.
The curved roof, a play off the hull of a ship, was inspired by a previous Atelier SAD home project in the Czech town of Liberec. Jerry Koza, along with engineer Tomas Kalhous and architect Adam Jirkal, spent years finding the right location and obtaining permissions. After the rigid approval process, they’re finally able to showcase the flexibility of the concept, which can range from a one-person dwelling to a family-sized float with a 1,076-square-foot floor plan and a 538-square-foot terrace.
Amid the motley of architectural styles, from nautically inspired to shingled country cabin, Herbie Schlaepfer and Barbara Haeusermann's newly built, 2,894-square-foot home is like a palate cleanser for the eyes. One zinc cube cantilevers off the other, with great walls of glass that slide open and disappear.
Made of black anodized aluminum with stainless steel hinges, the home’s warehouse-style windows are designed to withstand corrosion. No wood was used on the exterior except for the dock, called a finger pier, which allows access to the front door and the couple’s boat. The home looks out onto downtown San Francisco, with AT&T Park visible from the main deck.
The relatively simple construction incorporates clever sustainable design: a two-level wood roof structure keeps the sun’s heat away from the interior, and small windows at either end facilitate powerful cross-ventilation. It’s natural air-conditioning, and it works beautifully.
The ship-like floating home comprises a two-story cuboid sitting atop a V-shaped platform that resembles the hull of a boat. Its gangway-style external staircases add to the nautical look, as does the chimney of the wood-burning stove, which pops out of the roof terrace to recall the funnel of a ship.
Exterior with cedar slat screen wall and additional storage
Wrap around ipe deck with doors to every room and storage
Wrap around ipe deck
Architect Guillermo Acuña’s sprawling getaway lines the coast of Isla Lebe in the Chiloé Archipelago in Chile. He developed it in stages, first building a boathouse with a modest living space, then adding two cabins and later remodeling the boathouse. An avid sailor, he often sets out to explore the nearby fjords. The archipelago is midway between Santiago and Tierra del Fuego and comprises more than 30 islands and islets.
Cedar slats help this Ontario lake house float soundly atop still waters. Photo by: Raimund Koch
“The house’s narrow footprint works for us in terms of maximum exposure to the lake,” says Gibbs (shown here with son Blake and dog Max on the shore of Lake Iosco). Glass walls and doors by Andersen also mean that Gibbs can keep a close eye on Blake when he’s playing in the yard. A plinth of reused bedrock found on the property has become an unintended place for active play.
A bothouse in Georgian Bay, Ontario, by Weiss Architecture & Urbanism Ltd. is clad in black-stained resawn cedar.