The Waterpod is a floating sculptural Living Structure designed as a new habitat for the global warming epoch. It will launch in New York in May, 2009, from the Newtown Creek between Brooklyn and Queens, navigate down the East River, explore the waters of New York Harbor, and stopping at each of the five boroughs it will dock at several Manhattan piers on the Hudson River.

As a completely sustainable, navigable living space, the Waterpod showcases the critical importance of the environment and serves as a model for new living technologies. It illustrates positive interactions between communities: private and corporate; artistic and social; aquatic and terrestrial. Built from recycled materials and eco-friendly products, the Waterpod is structured as a triple-domed island for: (i) community and artistic activity; (ii) eco-initiatives including food grown with purified water from the Hudson River; and (iii) living space.
Built of wood, metal, plastic, fabric, and other materials on top of and adjacent to an industrial barge, the Waterpod is structured as a triple-domed island, measuring approximately 65 feet by 45 feet. The first dome (30 feet by 30 feet) is dedicated to community and artistic activity including fine arts, performing arts, lectures, and workshops. Passengers will engage in navigation, mapping, recording, performing, art making, researching, and learning. The second dome (10 feet by 10 feet) includes space for hydroponic agriculture, greywater recycling, and alternative power sources. The third dome (20 feet x 20 feet) contains quarters for sleeping and study. The primary power sources for the Waterpod will be the hybrid solar/wind system set up to run all equipment on board including rotating art installations and a permanent projector illuminating the Waterpod’s dome each night with curatorially selected images.

The Waterpod will showcase artworks, performances, tutorials, discussions, and other creative projects. Screens with live feeds about the earth’s climate will be on continuous display in the first dome. The first dome will also contain an animated sixty-year actualization of the Waterpod’s fate as an island in New York, compressed into six months, rendered through environmental data, progressive changes in its flora and fauna, and a steady evolution in the above-water portion of the Waterpod. In the animation, the Waterpod island will slowly sink in accordance with actual data on projected climate changes over the six-decade period. Open to the public for guided tours, the Waterpod’s course will be logged, blogged, charted, and reported online. Through its dilatory watery peregrinations, the Waterpod intends to prepare, inform, inspire, provoke, and fortify humanity for tomorrow’s exterior explorations.