While this is the first floating house the studio has designed, floating houses and houseboats are a common sight in the Netherlands.
A collage of the bathroom and a ledge that goes around the exterior of the house.
Riccardo De Vecchi
Almost a third of the country lies below sea level, with the lowest point approximately 22 feet below sea level. In addition, 17% of the total land surface is made up of water, according to data from the official tourism website for the Netherlands.
There are about 10,000 floating houses and houseboats in the Netherlands, Sander Rutten, the president of Amsterdam’s main houseboat association Woonbootvereniging Amsterdam, told Insider.
“Depending on where the houseboat is located, the size and age of the houseboat, prices can vary from €200,000 to €2 million,” Rutten said. “Normally you buy a permit or plot of water with the ‘old’ boat and replace it with something new.”
There are currently five houseboats and floating homes listed for sale in Leiden, on Funda, a popular real-estate platform in the country. Prices range from €495,000 to €775,000, or roughly $540,000 to $846,000.