Houseboat or house? It’s both. PORT X defies all notions of deeply rooted house or houseboat, as we know it. Its elegant curves represent clean, timeless and functional design as well as unique harmony of modern hi-tech and natural materials.

Port X is composed of individual modules which are easily dismantable and thus always ready for a transport to a different location. For some this can be a fine icing on the cake while for others it can become the main reason why to consider this unique concept. Where the placement of conventional buildings might be problematic, PORT X opens a whole new range of possible locations. This concept also allows the building to grow according to the wishes of the owner – to change its structure and form to suit the needs of your company or family.

Your modern stylish dwelling can be easily moved from one place to another. PORT X will not tie you to one place, one view. On the contrary, it can follow you and your views and preferences. "From the city straight to the slopes of the mountains, from the mountains back to the lowlands, to the picturesque village, on land or water - these will be your options from which you can choose whenever you want," explains Hana Otevřelová, the manager of the project.

Thanks to its unique composition, PORT X can grow with the needs of your family and turn from 4 module into 6 module in no time. Children need more space and/or independence? It’s no problem to separate a room from your PORT X completely and let it become independent from the original dwelling – they can also easily extend their PORT X whenever they need more space. PORT X will always respect your current situation.

PORT X also represents an ideal solution for small and middle sized companies – it can serve as a creative space for everyday work or unique showroom to present unique products. Plus it will always follow them in their growing ambitions.

technical info :

The houseboat is composed of two individual parts. The pontoon, on which all the modules are placed, ensures the stability and mobility of PORT X in case it should be moved by a boat. The houseboat can be towed on water according to its owner’s needs and current anchoring options on the river. In case of a flood risk, it can be towed to the safe port.

The height difference between the houseboat and the bank of the river is solved by the mobile entering footbridge. The whole space is barrier –free, the height of the floor is the same in all the rooms.

PORT X is a single-store object of a rectangular shape with counter roof. It consists of 3 to 6 segments - modules. Even more segments can be linked to form a single object with the use of a footbridge. All segments are made of composite layers of laminate and isolation. The profile of segments are C shaped, thus the floor, walls and ceiling constitute an inseparable unit. Ceiling contains several plastic skylights which serve not only as source of light, but also provide ventilation and artificial light - its inner edging is lined with luminescent LED stripes. The inner space is divided by plasterboard walls. Main walls, ceiling and floor are wainscoted with larch wood.

The living rooms are usually all oriented towards the water. The facade on this side is formed by opening french windows, through which you can enter the terrace. On the opposite side of the building there is only the main entrance. On the right and left side are fixed windows. The object is equipped with electrical, water a waste distribution, ventilators, sensors, lights etc. Warm water is provided by electric water heater (125L). There are floor convectors that are responsible for heating of the rooms.

My relationship with water dates back to my childhood which I had spent near the banks of the river Elbow. When I grew up, I built a sailing boat called Pirate and sailed lakes in Czechia with it.At around 1975 my friends and I were offered to go sailing by the Ruegen cost in the former Eastern Germany.We sailed type Van de Stadt "CARANAN". AS soon as we had returned home, we bought a second hand 9-metre sailing boat and went on to spend holidays at the sea every year. As it usually happens, the boat gradually became too small for us and we decided to build a bigger one. Since polystyrene resins were rationed at that time, we opted to build a boat from ferrocement. Still, some parts of it were made from fiberglass(GFK). At the same time we also made canoes and winsurfing boards.

After 1990 (the fall of communism) they started closing uranium mines where I had been working for 20 years and consequently I received an offer to start a fiberglass workshop to make covers for sewage disposal units. One Tuesday we signed a contract, on Thursday the moulds arrived and on Friday we started production. It was not exceptional at that time to spend 20 hours every day at the workshop as I was the only one who knew how to laminate. However, the company for which we produced the covers had built up a debt of DM 80.000 we ended the cooperation and focused on producing different products. Continually we also started to produce a few types of yachts for the domestic market and laminate yacht frames (GFK) for German customers. Nevertheless, our main revenue came from industrial covers and slides production. We often used sandwich constructions to produce large dimensional parts.

In 2000 I accientally got my hands on a project of an unusual reception counter. After meeting the author, Mr. Koza, who was studyiing architecture and design at that time, I proposed the manufacturing process and we made the reception counter. We started cooperating and subsequently other architects started to approach us. But Mr. Koza, who opened his architectural studio with friends, called SAD, and I still cooperated closely.

In 2009 Mr. Koza came up with the idea of PORT X houseboat .We started building it in 2000. After considering production possibilties, we designed basic dimensions of sandwich construction, a system of connecting segments and the design of floats. Atelier SAD dealt with the overall design and project documentation. We contributed by designing moulds, technology and solidity solution. The construction is sandwich GFK with polyurethane. The sandwich core is 200 mm polyurethan with laminate braces. The solidity of the construction enables particular segments to be hanged up on a crane and carried with fitted windows, toilets and so on. The surface area of a segment is 56 m2. When being built, the houseboat is first assembled at the producer´s site, wiring , pipes and interior components are fitted. Ater having assembled the houseboat, the particular segments are disconnected and transported to their destination by trucks. This enables to reduce the time of assembly at the designated place enormously. The basic assembly was carried out on the river in two days. Completing wiring, water and sewerage piping and panneling took another few days.

I trust the system of sandwich construction so much that the roof of my house is made with the same technology. Particular segments of the roof are also put in place by a crane in 60 m2 parts. The roof of the house designed by SAD atelier symbolises waves, i.e. yachts we were building at the time.