A London based liveaboard has built a small canal boat that can be towed by bicycle. A natural update on horse-powered canal cruising now many canals have bike friendly towpaths? But designer Daniel Durnin describes it as a ‘minimalist, nomadic shelter that allows the user to camp within the urban environment using the inland waterways’.
His ‘Water Bed’ isn’t intended for existing boaters wanting a quieter, slower, greener way of cruising but to provide temporary accommodation in larger cities which can connect the user with nature using urban waterways to provide a calm area in an increasingly busy urban environment. He also mentions the increasing interest in ‘returning to nature and small-scale tourism’.
He notes that like most major cities London has inland waterways running through its heart. People have increasingly been using boats to ‘liveaboard’ in larger cities such as London which has seen a growth of 36% in the last 5 years alone. The city waterways have become seen as a vital place of leisure that the whole community can access, and in recent years large-scale redevelopment of canal side real estate has become increasingly common, such as Paddington and Kings Cross. With urban life becoming more networked and digitalised city dwellers are seeking new ways to reconnect to their city and environment.
He says that through his own first hand experience of living on a narrow boat within the city he knows the beneficial impact of living in such a small nomadic space can have upon life quality. This combined with in-depth conversations with other canal users from boaters to walkers to fishermen, led him to his ‘Water Bed’ which he sees as offering ‘the convenience of a hostel and the mobility of a tent, allowing the user to choose where they stay, by allowing the individual to set the scene in which they want to spend time.’
Daniel says ‘I hope that the work will reawaken our connection with nature using the waterways as a catalyst and restore balance to the more networked living space that we now inhabit, not just in London but across the globe, almost all major cities were built on waterways and I hope that we can now return to the lifeblood of the city in a different light. The project should allow us to re-evaluate our current environment and enhance the experience of living in the city.’
Thanks to Daniel Durnin for information and images.
