Affordable Amphibious Housing for Flash-Flood Regions

In recent years, the Southwestern U.S. has been hit with unprecedented flooding. Flash floods have consistently swept through US neighborhoods, severely damaging their infrastructure and displacing families in Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada especially. These floods aren’t random occurrences anymore; they’re clear signs of climate change's effects on our oceans. Thus, I decided to make a sustainable, modular amphibious home to provide future homeowners the peace of mind in knowing that their home will be safe and secure in the event of an emergency.

1. A laptop or desktop computer
2. Revit (I personally use 2025, but feel free to upgrade or downgrade the version!)
3. Internet access
4. *Optional* Enscape Renderer License

My design was heavily inspired by the floating villages of Southeastern Asia, particularly Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. The small, colorful homes here are built atop flat-bottomed rafts called pontoons, allowing small buildings to float on the water. I looked into some cheap materials I could use to re-create the signature tubes of a pontoon and found that 55-gallon plastic drums were cheap, plentiful, and sturdy enough for a house to float on. I created a Revit family of these drums, using approximately 50 drums to ensure the house would float. Because I wanted this home to work on land as well, I added thick concrete posts to act as a foundation for the house while still allowing it to rise upwards in the event of a flood. One of the key features of this design is the garage, which I placed in the middle of the home such that the risk of the home tipping over is minimized. I included a space for a septic tank and water filtration system, and I included all basic amenities like full kitchen and bathroom. I powered the house with 200-watt solar panels hooked up to a small generator in the garage. Because power could very well be scarce, I made sure to

1. Making a Buoyant Foundation
2. Create a flat, raft-like platform built using pressure-treated regional timber or sturdy aluminum forming a 30x30 ft square
3. Mount sealed, 55-gallon plastic drums underneath the platform at 3-foot intervals across the width. Each drum is bolted or strapped securely into pre-measured slots using marine-grade strapping
4. The floating base rests on short concrete piers or cribbing when dry, allowing the structure to sit normally on the ground but rise during floods
5. Optional telescopic vertical guideposts can be installed at each corner and connected to the raft platform, ensuring the structure can move vertically but remain laterally stable during flooding. Best used in densely populated neighborhoods
6. Placing Waterproof Flooring
7. Secure a flooring of fiber cement board to the frame and then cover with interlocking PVC floor tiles
8. Make sure to leave some gaps to accommodate some shifting, as the house will be less stable when afloat
9. Framing with Rot-Resistant Timber
10. Create wall framing with bamboo, white oak, or white cedar pine (choose whichever is most cost-effective for the region)
11. Use traditional stud framing, spaced 16-24 inches apart depending on the chosen material
12. Use diagonal bracing to improve structural integrity of the structure
13. Wall Paneling with EPS insulation
14. Cut and fit expanded polystyrene insulation between the wall studs, making sure there's as little space between the two as possible
15. Clad the insulated core with any wood of choice. Reclaimed wood, although inconsistent in strength and color, is the most cost-effective choice
16. Seal off seams using silicon caulk to prevent humidity from piercing the home's walls
17. Roofing and furnishing
18. Make a gable-style roof framed with lightweight aluminum trusses and shingles
19. Optionally, install south-facing solar panels on the roof or attach a gutter system to rainwater collection barrels to ensure you have access to clean water at all times

Overall, a single amphibious home would cost approximately $35,000 to construct, not including the price of the land it's built on or payment for construction workers.

Foundation

55-gallon drums, 100 total - $2000

Pressure-treated frame, 30'x30' - $2700

Marine-grade straps - $300

Concrete reinforcement - $360

Subtotal: $5360

Flooring

Marine plywood subfloor, 30 4'x8' sheets - $1,350

Interlocking PVC floor tiles, 900 square feet - $2,250

Silicon Caulk - $225

Subtotal: $3825

Walls

Regional framing wood, 1000 ft - $2000-$4000

EPS panels, 30 total - $800

Reclaimed wood, 30 total - $300-$800

Fasteners and brackets - $250

Subtotal: $3350 - $5850

Roofing

Metal panels, 1,000 sq ft (30'x30') - $2,500

Lumber/metal framing - $700

Gutters - $300

Fasteners - $200

Subtotal: $3700

Furnishings

Doors, windows - $1500

Electrical & plumbing- $3500

Solar panels - $1500

Paint and sealers - $400

Tools - $500

Subtotal: $6900

The above renderings show an example/reference of how the amphibious home could look like after construction is completed. The primary advantage of this design is its flexibility. It can work with a variety of lightweight materials, and cost-wise benefits from using region-specific materials without sacrificing functionality. Hopefully, homes such as these will see more use in the United States' Southwest region, as the rising sea levels could necessitate such a change.