Lakeview house
The Lakeview House in New Orleans completed in 2007 as an amphibious house, was built by a developer on speculation. The house was originally supported directly on two hollow steel barge sections resting on a concrete slab-on-grade. Because the developer was unable to obtain FEMA approval for NFIP insurance for this amphibious house in a special flood hazard zone, he was unable to sell the house. Eventually, after the house sat empty for five years, he converted the foundation to a conventional pier-to-beam system so that the new owners would not be barred from eligibility for NFIP insurance and thus from obtaining a mortgage.
FEMA has since (as of June 2014) agreed to allow amphibious retrofit construction for existing homes (although still without eligibility for NFIP), but the restrictions on new amphibious construction in the United States still remain in force.
Related Papers
2016 Thriving with Water
2009 Amphibious Foundations and the Buoyant Foundation Project
