Yellow Ferry Dock harbor owner Chris Tellis (center) gave the architects a tour of the harbor and two houseboats, his historic yellow ferry the S.S. City of Seattle (behind the group) and the area's first green houseboat, which Tellis built. Photo courtesy Herman Privette/Marin Scope |
Reprinted with permission from Marinscope Community Newspapers where this article first appeared.
A group of architects recently traveled from China to Sausalito to study houseboats and floating homes, hoping to apply what they learned to a wetland project in China.
Alfred Peng, founder, chairman and chief architect at the Chinese firm Great Earth Architects and Engineers International, first saw Sausalito’s houseboats 10 years ago when he was in the area for a lecture. The unique structures came to mind when the firm was presented with a new project on 5,000 acres of wetlands in Shangdong, China.
The Sausalito houseboat community and its new sewage system could serve as a model — along with the unique aesthetic elements that attract people to the floating homes. Peng said he appreciates the vibrancy of the houseboats. “They are not dead buildings. Each one has artistic life.” |
Peng is especially interested in Sausalito’s conservation efforts and how boats were converted into homes.
“In any other country, when you have development it ruins most of the original charm,” Peng said. “They have preserved Sausalito very well and keep renovating.”
Lena Zhang, a principal at Z Studio Architects in San Francisco, said Peng’s environmental consciousness is ahead of its time in China. Zhang, who introduced Peng to the houseboats about 10 years ago, accompanied the architects on their Sausalito tour, often acting as a translator. She said the floating homes were all very new to the visitors. “It is one type of building they have never studied. I think they are taking it all in eagerly.” |
Alfred Peng (at left), founder, chairman and chief architect at the Chinese firm Great Earth Architects and Engineers International, speaks with San Francisco architect Lena Zhang and Chris Tellis. Photo courtesy Herman Privette/Marin Scope |
Architects from China toured Sausalito houseboats as a possible model for developing a 5,000-acre wetlands area in China. The houseboat community’s new sewage system and its population’s unique style of living may serve as a global model. Photo courtesy Herman Privette/Marin Scope |
Peng brought officials from the 12 branches of Great Earth Architects to California for project research. “He wanted them to come up with fresh ideas for the waterfront,” said Sausalito Associates principal Babette McDougal, who set up the visitors’ schedule.
McDougal said Peng has a penchant for sustainability that is unique in the China building culture. “He is leading that movement.” |
| The architects went to the San Francisco Bay Development and Conservation Commission to study shoreline planning, met with Sausalito architect Michael Rex, heard a presentation by Sausalito Associate Planner Heidi Burns, had lunch at the Spinnaker restaurant with city officials and toured the Yellow Ferry Dock Harbor and Galilee Harbor, which recently installed a new sewage system as part of a harbor infrastructure rehabilitation project. |
The architects from China explored a movable dock attached to the back of the yellow ferry. Owner Chris Tellis installed a motor on the dock as well as a sound system and heaters. He hosts dinner parties on the small dock and drives it to the middle of bay. Photo courtesy Herman Privette/Marin Scope |
At the Yellow Ferry Dock, the harbor owner, Chris Tellis, gave the architects a presentation about Sausalito houseboats’ history and design inside his home, the historic yellow ferry named the SS City of Seattle, which was built in 1888 and was the first ferryboat in the Puget Sound.
Tellis talked about the concrete barge he made to prevent mudworms from eating the ferry’s wooden hull. He also showed plans for other houseboats he built, including the area’s first “green” houseboat, as well as plans to remodel the dock |
Most emphasized, though, were guidelines and advice Tellis gave the architects. “If you go back to China and decide to build homes, you have to work with the environment and make them special.” He shared his guidelines for floating home design, which include staying close to the water, being creative, converting old vessels and creating a community.
After Tellis’ presentation, Peng invited Tellis to give a lecture in China. Peng is a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing and said he would also use Tellis as a consultant if the project moves forward.
The group gave calligraphic artwork to the city — a copy of an original that belongs to Peng’s father.
Before coming to Sausalito the group went to Southern California and toured Irvine, which has won urban planning awards, before driving north to the Bay Area. |
Tellis advised the visitors to make use of the natural environment to make the homes special. Photo courtesy Herman Privette/Marin Scope |
| You can contact Jessica Mullins at
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