WaterNest 100: Giancarlo Zema’s Floating-Home Design

A rounded timber shell, a broad window and a little terrace above the water: WaterNest 100 makes the idea of a floating home look wonderfully inviting. Its appeal begins with a simple visual promise—space to live close to the water without filling the view with a large building.

The concept belongs to Italian designer Giancarlo Zema and was developed for EcoFloLife. The designer’s WaterNest project page dates it to 2015 and lists the project as ongoing. These illustrations show the design proposal; they are not evidence of a holiday home you can currently book.

Inside WaterNest’s circular shell

The published design describes approximately 100 square metres of accommodation within a circular form about 12 metres across. A balcony extends the living space towards the water, while large openings frame the surrounding landscape.

That curved outline is the most useful detail to study. Imagine moving furniture away from a conventional rectangular wall, or deciding where storage belongs without interrupting the main view. The exterior creates an attractive identity, but the interior still has to support ordinary daily routines.

Recycled materials and future recyclability

The project description specifies recycled laminated timber, an aluminium hull and roof-mounted solar panels. It also claims that up to 98 percent of the structure is recyclable.

Recyclable and made from recycled material describe different things. The first concerns what may happen at the end of a product’s life; the second concerns its ingredients. Neither figure alone measures a home’s total environmental impact or proves that its electricity demand will be met throughout the year.

Those distinctions let you appreciate the design without turning a promising proposal into a performance guarantee.

Why calm water belongs in the design brief

The designer describes sheltered, calm-water settings. A floating house intended for such a setting should not be pictured as a vessel that can simply be taken into open seas.

The floating setting introduces questions that a conventional floor plan does not answer. Before considering a real installation, ask how it would connect to the shore and how ordinary household services would reach it:

• How do residents reach the door in different water conditions?
• Where do drinking water and wastewater go?
• How are power, maintenance and waste collection arranged?
• Who is responsible for the mooring and the permitted use of the location?

Answers depend on the actual site and engineered installation. A rendering cannot supply them.

Living with the floating-home idea

WaterNest offers an engaging way to think about compact living, rounded forms and the relationship between a home and its setting. The next step in understanding it is to imagine an ordinary wet Tuesday as clearly as a perfect sunny afternoon.

Compare it with the Casa Brutale cliff-house concept and Ecocapsule’s compact living idea. Each begins with a memorable image. The most interesting discussion starts when you ask how everyday life would fit inside it.

Solar panels, skylights and everyday space

The designer specifies 60 square metres of roof-mounted photovoltaic panels, with a stated peak capacity of 4 kWp. That is a design specification, not a promise of a fixed daily electricity supply. It also gives the roof a second purpose beyond enclosing the rooms. The curved surface has to accommodate energy equipment alongside skylights for the kitchen and bathroom, so the exterior form and the practical requirements of the interior are closely connected. ^[1]

Zema’s project description allows different internal arrangements, including a dwelling, office or hospitality space. A circular room that looks spacious with one arrangement may feel quite different when storage, working space and privacy are added. Study the drawings with a daily routine in mind: where would wet clothing go after arriving from the dock, where would visitors sit, and which space could stay quiet? Those questions make the design more interesting by treating it as a place to live, not just a shape to admire. ^[2]