Restored 100 yr. old houseboat is one alternative to London's housing crisis

There's something indelibly romantic about houseboats. It's the idea of being able to float wherever you want, and the fact that they can be solar-powered, or built to a modern aesthetic, or to Passivhaus standards.
With the aim of restoring a century-old, ice-breaking barge and to find an alternative to the city's overheated housing market, London-based artist and designer Marco Monterzino created this stunning space for a local client.




All the furniture has been laid out in a way that opens up the central space from the front to the rear of the vessel. The boat's systems have been restored and updated, on top of adding insulation and solar photovoltaics so that the water-bound home can be run off-grid for a short period of time (two weeks).





We love how the bathroom mirror overlaps that of the porthole window, creating a unique view.


The United Kingdom has some favourable regulations for houseboat owners; for example, in this case, due to a historic license, this boat can move around London's waterways and dock at designated spots for up to two weeks at a time. There are a lot of beautiful details in the interior here that make this modernized houseboat an attractive alternative to traditional housing. More over at Domus and Marco Monterzino.