Five floods in 15 years is enough to dampen anyone’s mood. But instead of moving away from the shores of the Thames, Middlesex residents Erica and Peter got in touch with BAT Studio to help find a novel solution.
David Di Duca and Jonty Craig’s architecture studio came up with the Greenhouse that Grows Legs. It’s not a full-fledged house, but a sort of sanctuary for when the water levels start rising and a functional space during drier times. The steel frame was specially made for the building and outfitted with four hydraulic legs that let the house hover about 2.6 feet above the ground in case of floods. The couple can move valuable items they don’t want to get soggy in there, but otherwise they use it as a greenhouse.
“One key objective for the project was to achieve a building with the smallest step up into it as possible,” architect Jonty Craig told Fast.Co. “This was both practical for the ease of quickly loading heavy items into the building but also for aesthetic reasons.”
The Thames is also the site of another home built to withstand floods. The Amphibious House, built by Baca Architects, usually sits on a ground, but if the river starts flooding, the dock below the house starts to fill with water, and the building rises and floats on the water. While the hydraulic house simply does away with pipes and plumbing, the Amphibious House uses flexible, extendable pipes to keep things operational as the water rises. It’s the first of its kind in the U.K. and will sit only 33 feet from the flood-prone river. Considering the number of cities vulnerable to flooding, the more affordable ways to safely and affordably flood-proof homes, the better.
Outdoor security cameras are not always practical if you live in an apartment or rental. Drilling into an exterior wall may be off-limits, while pointing a regular indoor camera through a window can create another problem once reflections start showing up after dark.
Baseus is trying to solve both issues with the new PrimeSentinel W1, a $69.99 security camera designed specifically to monitor the outdoors through glass. It mounts directly to a window without drilling and uses a 4K Starlight sensor with an F1.0 aperture for full-color monitoring during the day and at night.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.
Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.