Napalm Boat

Developed in 2015, Napalm Boat is a radical exercise in survivalist engineering and material investigation. The project is part of the "Shell of the Ghost" collection, created during the studio’s period in the Netherlands. It stems from a deep reflection on the Dutch relationship with the sea and the omnipresent threat of rising water levels—a context where being prepared for the water is not just a skill, but a cultural necessity.

The design team approached this project as a high-stakes challenge: to build a functional vessel capable of carrying two people and survival basics in less than an hour of active work. The conceptual trigger was the intersection of three pillars of global logistics: polystyrene, gasoline, and boats. By experimenting with the chemical reaction between these materials, the studio discovered that gasoline dissolves the air bubbles in expanded polystyrene, reducing it to 1/10th of its size and creating a "napalm-like" sticky dough that dries into a rock-hard, solid plastic shell.

Technically, the Napalm Boat was constructed following a strict set of constraints:

Minimalist Toolset: Only a wood saw and a hammer were used; no electricity was involved in the process.

Dual-Material Structure: The boat features a soft white core of shaped polystyrene protected by a hard, waterproof shell made from the melted polystyrene-gasoline dough.

Efficiency: The shaping took less than an hour, and the protective coating another, making the boat ready for water after only three hours of work.

Hybrid Tools: The paddle itself was a creative byproduct, made by combining the saw and hammer used during construction.

As part of the studio’s broader research into material limits, Napalm Boat stands as a provocative statement on resourcefulness. By transforming a common packaging waste and a fossil fuel into a survival tool, the team highlights the potential of "bastardized" materials to provide urgent solutions, proving that design can function as a medium for both engineering mastery and existential preparedness. https://vimeo.com/179887599?fl=pl&fe=sh https://vimeo.com/155405968?fl=pl&fe=sh