Bang Bang House is a speculative dwelling located on the coast of Canvey Island in the Thames Estuary. The floating structure is moored within a metal enclosure and floats on a series of pontoons when the tide is up. When the tide is down, it rests on the Canvey Mud Flats.
Within the house are a series of micro dwellings that allow inhabitants the chance to escape the harsh weather conditions of the Estuary, as well as the sound of the structure as it bangs against its ‘cage’ during high tide. The undulating floors of the structures in the house encourage those occupying them to move as if being carried on a wave, or as if navigating across the delicate mud flats in the area.
In Bang Bang House, celestial movements of the tide as well as events of flooding would be experienced through the architectural design’s intended movement with the rise and fall of the estuary waters, which is controlled by the gravitational pull of the moon on the Earth and rising seas levels caused by climate change. The presence of these forces and effects would be primarily experienced when the tide allows the architectural design to float and as the wake from passing ships in the Estuary washes under and around it. As Bang Bang House is pushed and pulled from side to side within its metal pen by the movements of water and wind, the continuous metal clanging of the architectural design against the metal pen in which it is stationed would be a constant reminder of its siting within a complex system of weather and tides. The architectural design would only become silent again at low tide or when the flooding has receded, and it rests again on the mudflats.
Project by: Matthew Butcher
Assisted by: Sam Coulton, Emma De Haan and Elin Soderburgh
