Take a yacht, make it a house, add stilts, and you've got the Arkup 75

The Arkup 75 is an aquatic, self-propelled villa created by Waterstudio.NL. With the core bells and whistles, including furniture, the yacht will cost you $5.5 million, but you can also customize one starting at about $2.3 million or even rent one. The self-sustainable home includes stilts that lift it out of the water, stabilizing it even amid hurricanes. Despite its current price tag, the realization of this concept could have far-reaching effects on the future of coastal architecture, at least for the well-heeled and immune to motion sickness.

A "yacht villa" — Though this yacht villa technically starts at $2,267,000, this applies to an extremely basic model. The foundational price excludes prime features like the retractable stilts, solar panels, and self-propulsion, as well as definite necessities like a kitchen. You can add features to custom models, not unlike speccing up a MacBook, and receive a yacht in 18 months with a payment schedule that corresponds to the production process. A completely specced out custom order will run you roughly $10.5 million, but for about half that price, you can most of the features we'd consider essential for a water-bound luxury existence.

The models ready to ship from Miami within a month cost a comparatively paltry $5.5 million for 4,350 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. They include 40-foot stilts that provide complete stability in water 25 feet deep or less, solar panels, silent self-propulsion, backup power, four bedrooms, and a retractable deck. This fully furnished model maxes out at five knots, which is slower than the vast majority of yachts, but a nice cruising speed for what is really more of a floating home than a boat. And for something you should probably keep close to the coastline, rather than for transatlantic jaunts.

How does climate change factor in? — Waterstudio.NL founder Koen Olthuis led the design for the Arkup 75. The Dutch architectural firm is no stranger to floating buildings and has advocated for the adoption of larger-scale floating architecture for decades.

“Not just yachts but especially floating structures will take advantage of the space on water around our cities,” Olthius told Dezeen. “These buildings are portable and can react to known and unknown changes in the demands of near future society."

In addition to solar panels, a rainfall purification and storage system primes the Arkup for sustainable, off-the-grid living. Ethical energy and resource consumption futureproof the eco-conscious buyers out there while Arkup's design protects it from the climate change consequences we face now. Custom models can take advantage of 80-foot stilts, but even the shorter stilts protect the home from the lashings of a hurricane.

At $5.5 million, though it lacks the long-term payment options of a typical home, the Arkup isn’t far off in price from many of Miami’s beachfront homes — and those homeowners can’t just move to a better view, or escape rising waters in years to come.