Last year we made the bold step of purchasing Coffee Island in Belize. The next logical question became: “what should we build on our island”?
Then the world went a bit crazy…
We won’t dwell upon the profound effect that the coronavirus Covid-19 is having, and sadly will have on our lives, present, and future, but from our point of view, it has certainly delayed our plans.
Nation-building, and in turn structure-building, are now at a crawl, but with many of us stuck working (or not working) from home, now is also the perfect chance for us to step our feet firmly into fantasy land and dream about what we would ideally build on our beautiful island in the Caribbean.
It is with this in mind that we write this blog and sincerely ask for you, our partners, citizens, residents, and supporters to give us your humble opinions!
The below ideas represent an afternoon of collective brainstorming of a few dedicated Islandians stuck in quarantine across the world with a cold beer in hand (thank you, Zoom!), but is by no means a firm plan. We would love for you to give us your thoughts, and any others!
Cargo containers
Shipping containers may not be much to look at, but there are some amazing companies out there doing beautiful pre-fabricated constructions with this ubiquitous box. They are plentiful, cheap and relatively easy to carry to the island. They’re nearly storm-proof and last for years! What ideas do you have to take advantage of this option? How do we make a shipping container a home?
Underground Hobbit Type houses
When we visited Mannion Island in Ireland for Islandia (say that ten times fast) we saw that they had half-buried a structure in a hill, turning it into a little hobbit house. It looked, frankly, amazing. But we honestly have no idea how this would work. What do you think?
Glamping
Glamping. The word makes us cringe a bit if we’re being honest. But semi-permanent, ultra-comfortable camping grounds (“Glamping”) are more popular every year. Is it a hopeless dystopian hipster nightmare? Or a glorious glimpse at our glamping future? What’s the trend going to look like? How do we stand out as a glamping-site? Besides it being on your own private island, of course!
Wooden structures
The world is our oyster if we build with wood. Wooden houses are cheap, easy to build, and can look like anything! They would be vulnerable to a big-bad wolf (unlike brick) but would feel like the kind of home most of us grew up in. What do you think?
Treehouses
This might need some planning (like getting a much larger tree for the island), but be honest, a private island with fully decked out treehouse? You could climb up on a little ladder and look out over the water for incoming pirates, pretty cool eh? (but did someone say hurricane?)
House Boats
Not the most economical of options, but you could buy a bunch of boats or rafts, moor them around your island. We could build a huge floating hotel – there’s one currently moored and empty in North Korea that might be for sale, although that seems unlikely…
And lastly…….
Your suggestions! What would YOU do if you had our island and infinite resources?
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