Called the Tidal House, the floating home is still very much in the conceptual phase. But interestingly enough, the design was inspired by oil rigs, of all things.
"We can take such a crude [thing]... and turn it around to find a more positive way of using that technology," Alex Terry, a leading architect at the firm, told Tech Insider.
Like oil rigs, the homes would be built with retractable feet that can plunge into water and attach to a pier or the bottom of a bay.
"I suspect, to be realistic, it's more designed for bay water or lagoons or estuaries," Terry said. "I think open ocean would be a little more challenging."
The current Tidal House concept comes with three floors that fit a living and dining area, four bedrooms, and two bathrooms. There's even a deck that can fold out for sunbathing.
There would also be room for a garden on the side, Terry said.
Terry envisions the homes coming with an at-home battery system like the Tesla Powerwall that could store energy collected from solar panels on the roof of the house.
There would also be a rain filtration system on the roof so you would always have clean drinking water.
Although the Tidal House could be used to live off a coastline, Terry said he could see building the homes in areas prone to flooding so people could live without constantly worry about recurring damages.
There are other use cases for the Tidal House too. "This could be converted into a little hospital too — it's a decent size and it could be bigger or smaller," Terry explained.