Faced with worsening floods and a housing shortage, the Netherlands is turning to floating homes. These waterborne communities are inspiring ambitious Dutch-led projects in flood-prone regions, from French Polynesia to the Maldives.
Riding Out the Storm
When a heavy storm struck in October 2022, residents of Schoonschip, a floating community in Amsterdam, remained calm. They secured bikes and outdoor benches, checked neighbors for supplies, and stayed put as their neighborhood rose and fell on steel pillars. The homes floated with the water and returned to their original position once the storm passed.
“We feel safer in a storm because we are floating,” says Siti Boelen, a television producer who moved to Schoonschip two years ago. “It seems strange that building on water is not a global priority.”
Floating neighborhoods offer a real-world test in flood defense. They allow coastal communities to withstand rising seas and stronger storms. In the Netherlands, demand grows as land becomes scarce and population density rises. Officials are updating zoning laws to simplify the construction of these waterborne homes.
“The municipality wants to expand floating housing because it uses space efficiently and promotes sustainability,” says Nienke van Renssen, an Amsterdam city councillor.
From Concept to Global Influence
Dutch floating communities, established over the past decade, serve as proof of concept for larger projects led by Dutch engineers. These initiatives extend beyond Europe to French Polynesia and the Maldives, where sea level rise threatens entire nations. Plans even exist for floating islands in the Baltic Sea to host small cities.
A floating house can sit on any shoreline and withstand rising seas or floodwaters while staying anchored. Unlike houseboats, these homes remain fixed, often on steel poles, and connect to local utilities. Structurally, they resemble land-based homes, but a concrete hull replaces a basement and stabilizes the house. In the Netherlands, prefabricated three-story townhouses use timber, steel, and glass. Floating homes could provide a blueprint for urban expansion in flood-prone cities.
Koen Olthuis, founder of Waterstudio, a Dutch firm specializing in floating architecture, calls their simplicity a key advantage. Poles dug 65 meters into the ground stabilize the homes, while shock-absorbent materials reduce wave motion. The houses rise and fall with water levels. Olthuis compares their potential impact to the elevator, which reshaped skylines.
“We now have the technology to build on water,” says Olthuis, who designed 300 floating buildings, including homes, schools, and offices. “We act as city doctors and see water as medicine.”
Living on Water in the Netherlands
In a country built largely on reclaimed land, floating homes are practical. Amsterdam hosts nearly 3,000 traditional houseboats, and hundreds now live in modern floating homes. Schoonschip, designed by Space&Matter, has 30 houses on a former industrial canal. Residents share bikes, cars, and locally sourced food. Each building runs a heat pump and dedicates a third of its roof to greenery and solar panels, selling surplus power locally and to the grid.
“Living on water is normal for us,” says Marjan de Blok, the TV director who launched the project in 2009, organizing architects, engineers, and residents to bring it to life.
Rotterdam, 90% below sea level, hosts the world’s largest floating office and a floating farm where robots milk cows for local stores. Since 2010, the city has integrated floating buildings into its Climate Proof and Adaptation Strategy.
“Over the last 15 years, we reinvented ourselves as a delta city,” says Arnoud Molenaar, chief resilience officer in Rotterdam. “We now see water as an opportunity, not an enemy.”
A National Strategy for Water
The Dutch government launched the “Room for the River” program in 2006, deliberately allowing certain areas to flood during heavy rain. Olthuis believes the housing shortage could increase floating home demand in these areas, where water will periodically cover land. Experts estimate the Netherlands needs one million new homes in the next decade, and floating homes could relieve pressure on limited land.
Dutch companies also receive requests from abroad. Blue21, a floating-building tech firm, proposes a series of islands in the Baltic Sea to house 50,000 people, linking Helsinki and Tallinn via a €15bn underwater rail tunnel. Waterstudio plans a winter project near Male, Maldives, with 20,000 affordable homes on floating platforms supported by artificial reefs. Cold seawater will cool the buildings.
“People no longer see floating homes as the work of a crazy magician,” Olthuis says. “We are creating blue cities and using water as a tool.”
Challenges and Rewards
Floating homes face challenges. Strong wind, rain, or passing ships can rock buildings. Boelen recalls initial discomfort on her third-floor kitchen, where movement felt strongest. “You feel it in your stomach,” she says, though she has adapted.
Connecting to electricity and sewer systems requires extra infrastructure. Schoonschip and Rotterdam’s floating office needed microgrids built from scratch.
Still, benefits may outweigh costs. Rutger de Graaf, cofounder of Blue21, notes that rising global storms push planners and residents to seek water-based solutions. Floating homes could have saved lives and billions during deadly floods in Germany and Belgium.
“If floods occur, people can move to higher ground, or expand into water,” De Graaf says. “By mid-century, hundreds of millions could be displaced by rising seas. We must scale floating developments now.”
