Often designed with potential climate-change-induced flooding in mind, these houseboats, floating hotels and other water-based structures prove you don’t need land to live a life of luxury. The projects include a boat acting as a camera obscura, a structure that turns seasonal flooding into an opportunity for fun, an apartment complex on the waters of Amsterdam and an update on Dubai’s seemingly fantastical Seahorse Villa vacation homes.

Guntû Floating Hotel in the Seto Island Sea

With its gabled roof and wooden construction, Guntû by architect Yasushi Horibe could easily be built somewhere on land almost exactly as it is. The luxury floating hotel features gorgeous passenger suites looking out onto the water along with a range of high-end amenities. You won’t find any of the typical ugly plastic cruise ship surfaces here; everything is lined with timber for the feeling of home.

Atelier LAVIT’s Floating Hotel in France

Ten timber structures float on the surface of a lake in southeastern France, near the city of Avignon. The Narcissus project by Atelier LAVIT is an eco-hotel with a structure that aims to “evoke primitive buildings on the shore of the lake; floating on the water like rafts or on pilotis like palafittes [stilt houses].”

2BOATS: Floating Photographic Platforms Travel Europe

One is a charming wooden shack, made of scraps, looking like something a fisherman would build. The other, the Obscurabus, is almost invisible in the water. Together they form ‘2BOATS,’ floating photo studios meandering their way through Europe’s rivers and canals to see the continent from a unique perspective. The wooden one, by Claudius Schulze, hosts workshops and discussions, while Maciej Markowicz’s creation is an oversized camera obscura.

3 Nautilus Hausbootes

A company called Nautilus makes a series of ‘hausbootes’ in various sizes, including the Nautino Mini, the Nautino Maxi, the Nautino Adventure, the Vagabund, the EI-Home and the Nautilus. Pictured here are the latter three. Each one boasts an eye-catching design and multiple terraces; check out the screened roof hatch on top of the Nautilus, which can host up to 8 adults and 2 children. The Vagabund is more compact, suited for smaller families or for use as a floating office, while the EI-Home is a more robust residence.

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It truly is a hulk of a thing to make into a live/work space, but there is an industrial loft-like quality that renders this decommissioned Icelandic car carrier appealingly open yet cozy at the same time.

Its owners, occupants and redesigers Olle Lundberg and Mary Breuer (architects and fabricators by trade of ) looked into everything from tugboats to ships before finding this offbeat beauty and deciding to call it home.

It ‘only’ cost a few hundred thousand to buy, but multiple times that to make fully habitable as an abode and office. Among other expenses, they had to hire the crew to take it on a seven-week trip from Iceland, through the Panama Canal to dock in Mission Bay.

Their secondary residence, much like their primary, is weird and wonderful as well – an oddly-shaped cabin that combines a small original rural structure with their own custom additions and populated with leftover furniture commissioned but then not purchased by clients.

The pool, for instance, is a massive wooden water tank rescued from a farm property, patched up with wood from a local winery, then added to the exterior and filled with liquid (which initially smelt of red wine when swimming). Images via New York Times photographer Peter DaSilva.

When the bustle of urban life becomes too much to bear, wouldn’t it be nice to retreat to your own private floating getaway – without even needing to travel? Modern house boats have all the amenities that come with living on land, and docked in an urban marina or canal, they’re just steps away from the excitement of the city. As urban centers become more populated and land more scarce, house boats could be an attractive option, especially when they’re as beautifully designed as these three.

Watervilla de Omval by +31 Architects

As fluid as the water it sits on and filled with light thanks to a wall of windows, the Watervilla de Omval is a stunning addition to the river Amstel in Amsterdam. Designed by +31 Architects, the Watervilla features a kitchen and living space at the top level with a view of the river, and cabins below the water line.

The roof slopes down in a split-level area which holds the stairway and the bathroom, creating a flat terrace for outdoor living in fair weather. Inside, an open floor plan featuring white plaster contrasting with touches of warm wood provides an open, airy feel.

Dubai House Boat by X-Architects

Built on two catamaran beams, this steel-and-glass house boat floats in the Dubai marina against one of the world’s most dramatic skylines. X-Architects and interior decorator-architect Leen Vandaele gave the two-story home a clean and simple shape and a nearly all-white color palette for a thoroughly modern result.

The upper deck contains a concealed kitchen, a living room and an informal dining area while the lower deck houses the bedrooms, bathroom and steering cabin. The home also features a spiral staircase and a terrace.

MetroShip: “The Original Modern House Boat”

If you’ve got a quarter of a million dollars to spare, you can have a MetroShip of your very own – a modern luxury houseboat hand-made in the USA by Ballinger & Co. Measuring 12 feet wide and 48 feet long, the MetroShip was inspired by the open plan of New York City loft spaces.

At night, the MetroShip lights up like a lantern, with translucent walls reminiscent of Japanese shoji screens. It’s filled with top-of-the-line appliances and furnishings including a Viking and Gaggenau kitchen, an Italian marble bathroom with Kohler shower, Sony LCD HD televisions and a W Hotel bed. Twin 60-horsepower Honda outboard engines make it easy to steer it into your harbor of choice.

House boats used to be glorified barges with a bathroom and a place to sleep. More recently, house boats have turned into residences of the wealthy. With as many comforts as a modern home, and a much more interesting address, house boat design has become something beautiful and breathtaking. It makes one wish their house could float.

(Images via samsantravels, allempires, desicolours, armchairtravelogue)

Even the most rustic looking house boats can come fully air conditioned, no matter how rural ones backwater travels might take them. India has a surprisingly robust house boat tourist industry, so it’s a definite must see destination for anyone who has dreamed of boating in total comfort.

(Images via designsquish, jetsongreen)

Some house boats try to maintain a lawn… by covering their roof with plant life. Grass is actually a great insulator, and adds a natural touch to an otherwise entirely artificial residence.

(Images via buttsclermonthouseboat, thrusterman, newhouseofart, 101boatdock, sumerset)

Luxurious, land based, accommodations are now available on the water. House boat technology has increased by leaps and bounds (and so has cost), with many boats costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

(Images via reevn, likepage, reevn)

If houses can be built on water, it makes sense that a boat can be built on land. This gorgeous home looks like it could sail off during a heavy rain, but it’s doubtful it would make it very far. Perfect for the landlubber with dreams of being the captain of a ship, or the retired pirate, this house has an awesome aesthetic.

(Images via franksquirejr, willc, laceandtea, orion1230, designshoot)

Fully sized houses are now available on the water. They may not be as mobile as one hopes, but the land is cheap (though nonexistent). If someone is into boating and wants to keep their boats in the backyard, this is the perfect solution.

(Check out our complete collection of Underwater and Oceanic Oddities.)

Whether a luxury habitat or humble floating home, do you ever dream of sailing off into the sunset in your very own houseboat? Some of these are dreamy but completely out of reach while others you may be able to afford but wouldn’t want for the world. This collection spans the extremes of design and brute-force ingenuity: from the obscenely luxurious to the absurdly simple (and click here for more underwater and oceanic oddities).

The Trilobis 65 is a semi-submerged masterpiece of cutting-edge design and ecological engineering. These modular living spaces are designed to be plugged into a network of docks, free to roam or to aggregate as desired. Residents enter into a common space on a main floor before moving into a lower observation deck with 365-degree views of the surrounding underwater environment or private cabin spaces above.

For some a floating home is a luxury or a hobby, but for others it may soon be (or already is) an absolute necessity. Take residents of Amsterdam for example: 20% of the country is already underwater and concerns about life on land have prompted some creative designs for future living. Necessity is the mother of invention and this case is no exception with Dutch designers stepping up to the challenge of creating modern floating homes suitable to more permanent living.

The German firm of Floating Homes GMBH has developed a number of sleek models, designs and real-life prototypes that take cutting edge German architectural design out onto the water. Some of their designs look like normal residences floating on flat modernist planes in oceanic space while others seem adapted to their dual purpose of resting and as well as gliding along the surface of the water.

The Jelly-Fish 45 is arguably the most ambitious approach to marine living yet devised. At 33 feet high and 45 feet wide, this structure blows most houseboats out of the water. Like the Trilobis the Jelly-Fish submerged lower deck for dining, drinking and viewing ocean life. Of course, at $2.5 million per unit one would expect only the best. A spiral staircase joins the five stories of the floating habitat and ample windows accommodate views in all directions from all levels.

At the entire opposite end of the spectrum, these represent the ultimate in budget floating accommodations. What does one really need to live on the water after all? Just a platform and a shelter, right? Well, one simple way is to combine the two necessary elements using the cheapest and easiest objects available: a simple floating surface and a ready-made trailer or mobile home. Prefer something upscale but can’t afford to buy it? Try one of these amazing underwater and ocean-going hotels instead!

Next: 15 More Extreme Houseboats