Two years ago, a group of artists, engineers, and architects conceived the idea of building the world’s first floating self-sustainable office. Last week, their dream became a reality in the form of the Exbury Egg, a self-sustainable pod which was launched in an estuary of the River Beaulieu in the UK.
Stephen Turner is the artist who plans to occupy the floating office for the next 12 months — time he plans to spend studying the life in a tidal creek as well as the different ways in which humans interact with nature.
Turner himself, boat builder Paul Baker, and naval architect Stephen Payne were responsible for building the egg. Made of cold molded plywood and local timber, it’s about 20 feet long and nine feet wide. The world’s first floating self-sustainable office is capable of enduring 730 tidal changes, floating at high-tide, and resting on the riverbed at low-tide.
Apart from being built to endure the outside world, the office has also been created with Turner’s work in mind. It’s interior features a collecting and collating centre with integral storage & display area – designed to make his work that much easier.
This is not a romantic anti-modern back to nature project, where technology is rejected or spurned. Rather, it is about demanding the best and most efficient of the new to combine with the tried and tested.
The world’s first floating self-sustainable office will also play host to an extensive education program covering primary age students through to university. Schools will be able to engage with the Egg project, learning about science, art, ecology, and engineering topics. Community participation will also be encouraged through a series of events, seminars and workshops.
Do you think we can learn to more empathic with nature? Would you be willing to work and live in the world’s first floating self-sustainable office?
