Architectural Tutorial: Boathouses

On this Labor Day, we have water on the brain.  Waterfront living, boating, the beach, sandcastles, sunsets - all those summer experiences most of us are trying to squeeze in to this final weekend of the season.  Why not turn that thought into an opportunity for learning!  Okay, I know school doesn't officially start until tomorrow, but I promise, there won't be a quiz at the end.

I'm sure you are all familiar with the variety of residences Visbeen Architects has designed over the years and if you've been following this blog, you have seen that we have customized many of those homes to fit a plethora of homeowner needs - pets, work, pools, wine and other hobbies galore.  One type of architecture specialized around a particular homeowner hobby centered around waterfront living is the boathouse.  For hundreds of years, water lovers from coast to coast dream of cover, quiet and calm for their families and their watercrafts, and the boathouse can be a perfect marriage of the two.  Three general categories of boathouse designs include canopies, sheds and residential boathouses (our personal favorite).  Canopies are a more open home for watercrafts, often consisting of just a peaked roof with columns.  Sheds can be built on shorelines, but often don't include living quarters within.  They are more of a "garage" for boats and water toys.  Residential boathouses are exactly as they sound - structures that have living space as well as slips for watercrafts.

Here are a few fun boathouses designs by Visbeen Architects....

 This is a conceptual design for a boathouse we did for Indian Trail Club in New Jersey

I'm sure you recognize this one - this is our Tupper Camp design complete with a lower level boat house.  For more details check out our posts on Michigan Blue Magazine and Cabin Life's publication of this design.

As part of the master planning we did for Ravenswood Resort on White Lake, we designed a boathouse for the residents.

Here is a fun conceptual design we did of a boathouse with watercraft storage access from both the water and the street.



Sources:
http://realestate.msn.com/10-bodacious-boathouses
http://www.home-plans-advisor.com/boat-house-plans.html