OfficeBoat: the answer to the global economic/environmental crisis

1/28/2009 Uncategorized

 

There is an article in the New Yorker this week about dystopian theorists, among them James Howard Kunstler (a Duany favorite), and a guy here in Boston named Dmitry Orlov.  Suffice it to say, there are a lot of these dooms-dayers/-sayers coming out of the woodwork in these grim economic times.  But, there was one aspect of the Orlov story that seemed particularly relevant to the Utile story.  For those of you who don’t remember or weren’t here yet: the OfficeBoat.

Waterliving2Waterliving1Seattle-houseboat

Back in the day, when Utile consisted of 6-8 of us crammed into a 4-person cubicle in large-firm-to-remain-unnamed, the romance of the nearby water was a draw, and the spatial efficiency as would be required under nautical conditions didn’t feel so different from the existing conditions.  While the idea was more happy-hour fodder and less actionable, maybe now’s the time to revisit it.

Orlov claims that, given the dire state of affairs, “we don’t have long to wait before sail-based transportation is the only option”.  Why not start now?  There are some interesting off-the-shelf contemporary options from a Danish firm called Waterliving.  Me, I’d advocate for the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina for our docking spot (yes, it’s in East Boston).  Not only because we’d have the best view of downtown Boston from our computer stations, but because we could have lunch at Scup’s everyday, hipster Eastie’s new favorite spot.

And, Billy: now’s the time to move to owning, right?

-Christina