It’s the Trilobis 65 Floating Home.  It easily surpasses being cool.  In fact, it warps right by the concept.  Check this out:

It’s four levels high with one level (the observation “bubble” at the bottom) completely submerged.  Yes, it’s a boat, albeit not a fast one (top speed is 7 knots).  It’s really designed to remain moored and away from the direct ocean.  It can house up to six people (more for entertaining, but six beds is max), is powered by solar, wind, Ballard fuel cells, and diesel, and looks like it sprang from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea with a healthy dose of seasoning from Fantastic Voyage.

How awesome is that!  I want one, and I’m quite serious.  I’ll admit, however, the cost of $4 or $5 million does present a wee problem.  But let’s not get bogged down in ugly details.

Rick and I discussed several years ago our shared fascination with and fantasy of living aboard Freedom Ship, a city on the sea that will always be on the move.  The idea of having your own airport, sea craft dock and bay, and to roam the world constantly by sea in your own “house” appeals to me greatly.  Water appeals to me greatly, in fact, so a roving city on the sea where I could live and work is dream.

But the Trilobis kicked that idea to the curb with very little effort.

Enjoying my own home as it moves around the globe via the world’s oceans is appealing, mind you.  Seeing exotic ports of call spring up automatically as I go about my daily business is incredibly enticing.  Nevertheless, having a Trilobis offers a world hitherto unconsidered and somehow less mundane.

I’m breathlessly drawn in by this futuristic, water-based vessel that is a home, stands four stories high, sports its own underwater observation bulb surrounded with glass, and relies heavily on green energy.  I could live near the city (any city, in fact, with a nearby lake, river, or other body of water capable of supporting it) and/or near the ocean while enjoying the above- and below-water existence it offers.  It’s generously spacious, offers advanced 21st-century design, has amenities the likes of which I never considered, offers plenty of room and excitement for The Kids, and presents wide-open views at all levels.  And did I already mention the overwhelming coolness factor?

Freedom Ship is history.  I have a new fantasy home.  Now, if they want to equip Freedom Ship with facilities to support (and protect) the Trilobis, I’d likely have a stroke from the unbearable excitement of seeing these two concepts married.

By the way, visit the Trilobis link at the top of this post for more illustrations and a profuse amount of additional information about it.

[via Craig at Deep-Sea News]