Innovation by exchange of ideas
A floating house at the Weissensee
Both firms that produce the wood elements for our house, are located near the Weissensee in Carinthia. For me as a Dutch person it was exciting to go there on an excursion. Weissensee has a mythical fame to us, because every year thousands of Dutch go there. The lake has a solid layer of ice in winter. This allows for a yearly skating event which – due to climate change – has not taken place in the Dutch region of Friesland since 1995. This Dutch connection has led to a remarkable example of innovation. Christof Weissenseer, the CEO of Weissenseer Wood constructions, is friends with the organizers of the skating tour. The exchange of ideas with them gave Weissenseer the inspiration to use ancient carpenters‘ know-how in a new way.
The father and grandfather of Weissenseer were the local carpenters who started their business about 90 years ago in a workshop next to the lake. Besides houses they built boats as well. In winter these were kept entirely under water, so the wood could not rot. This know-how came to use in 2002 when the friends made plans to build an autarkic houseboat out of wood on this spot. The Dutch house boats were the inspiration for this remarkable object. It floats in a 4 meter deep round pond. Because of a well, the water there never freezes. The garden around it is shaped such that it looks just as if this object dropped from the sky and caused a wave.
There are two major differences with houseboats in Amsterdam. Unless these are on old ships, they are arches that can’t move. Here in Weissensee though, a smart system allows the house to turn from East to West so that it can profit optimally from the sun in winter. In high summer it is fixed in such a way to be in its own shade. Although it is quite heavy it can be moved easily because it floats in the water. Second difference with the Dutch example is the use of wood. Of course there are wooden ships in the Netherlands that are used as houseboats. The majority of the dwellings on water though are arches, with a rectangular concrete tub under water. Here the synergy between Dutch and Austrian thinking came in. Like his father’s boats, he used wood for the entire construction, including the parts under water and it works well. It was not easy to get a building permit, because it does not qualify as a house. In the end it was categorized as a kind of ‘floating object’.
For those who understand German: more information about the project can be found in the following article:
