$1.5 million floating home prototype sinks into the water at unveiling

Hopes for the seamless unveiling of an impressive floating home in Panama quickly sank when the structure ended up becoming partially submerged.

If there's one quality you're looking for in a floating home, it's that it floats. Without that, the only home it's really going to provide is one for fish.

You could argue that millions of floating homes already exist in the form of canal boats and fancy yachts designed for living on the water, but this new prototype built by technology company Ocean Builders takes the floating home to a whole new level.

Unfortunately, that level was much closer to the water than intended:

Dubbed the SeaPod, the home is designed to be a self-sustaining, eco-restorative home which can provide some of the best sea views available.

On its site, Ocean Builders explains the SeaPod features 'three half floors' and more than 300 square feet of living space, all housed 7.5 feet above the waves. Prices starts at around $295,000 (£263,000), but can reach up to $1.5 million (£1.3m).

Explaining how the house stays above water, the site explains: "Just like an iceberg, the hidden magic of a SeaPod lays beneath the surface. You have to look deeper. We use over 1,688 cubic feet of air-filled steel tubes which results in so much buoyancy that it is able to push the entire SeaPod up 3 meters above the water. This results in superior comfort and stability because you are floating above the waves."

Unfortunately, the 'floating' part of the house didn't quite go to plan when it was unveiled in a ceremony which included Panama’s president, Laurentino Cortizo, last month.

Footage from the event shows the structure leaning at a dramatic angle, with some people actually on the home slowly trying to make their way back to safety as part of it became submerged.

Following the events, Ocean Builders released a statement to explain the incident took place just as the second day of its unveiling was coming to an end.

The company said: "At roughly 4:35pm on Thursday Sept 22nd, our SeaPod experienced a ballast tank and pumping system malfunction which caused flooding in the jacuzzi spar. This flooding quickly passed through to the other spars causing what we’re referring to as 'The Tilt'."

Ocean Builders went on to stress that 'not a single person was injured' in the incident, and that no one 'even got their feet wet'.

"The SeaPod itself has some minor cosmetic touchups that need to be done, there was absolutely zero contamination to the marine environment since our homes are eco-friendly. We are extremely grateful for this because safety is our top priority," the company added.

After footage of the event went viral, Ocean Builders made sure to deny claims that the prototype home entirely sank into the ocean following the initial slip.

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Topics: World News, Viral

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.