Built almost 60 years ago, the 126′ long ferry Bukken-Bruse carried cars and passengers from Bergen, Norway to various coastal ports for close to two decades before being redeployed to operate between Fejø and Kragenæs, Denmark for another 20 years. The popular ferry was also featured on a Danish postage stamp.

The old ferry is now in Copenhagen, where it has undergone a radical transformation into a luxury houseboat, designed and occupied by the Danish “starchitect” Bjarke Ingels.  The renovated ferry was recently featured on the cover of Architectural Digest.

Bukken-Bruse translates to “billy goat gruff” and when Ingels first visited the ferry it was in rough shape. Architectural Digest reports that when the Danish architect bought the 126-foot-long vessel in late 2016, it was quite literally a shell of its present self: a decommissioned ferryboat that had been partly converted into living quarters, with a container plopped on the roof for sleeping.

Moored near Refshaleøen in Copenhagen’s harbor, Ingels said of the views, “It has the past, present, and future of Copenhagen all in one glance. Look east and you can see the sun rising. Look west and you can see the sun setting over the queen’s palace.”

Those vistas may have distracted him from the enormity of the project at hand. “People had warned me that living on a houseboat was simultaneously the best and worst thing,” Ingels recalls. “When it’s great, it’s epically great. When it sucks, it sucks so massively.”

After a major restoration, the billy goat gruff has been rebuilt as a luxury home for Ingels, his wife, architect Rut Otero, and their nearly two-year-old son, Darwin. Now dubbed in the press as SS Ingels, the boat’s layout is split into two levels.

The upper level features a large living area, a suspended fireplace, and an open kitchen. At each end of the main deck are sliding window walls. The rooftop terrace has 360-degree views of Copenhagen and the harbor.

The lower level includes a family playroom with technicolor beanbags and bright carpets. There are also two cabins and an epic bathroom with a cypress soaking tub, along with a sink and shower.

Architectural Digest also notes that in ways big and small, the ship has been a chance for Ingels, who has long been a proponent of floating housing, to practice what he preaches. “It is the most resilient architecture,” he muses. “As sea levels rise, so will houseboats.” In addition to Urban Rigger, a system of standardized containers that helped address Copenhagen’s student-housing shortage, he has envisioned entire communities at sea. His Oceanix City concept proposes sustainable, modular structures for 10,000 people. On land, meanwhile, current projects such as The Big U (a protective coastal system for Lower Manhattan) and The Islais Hyper-Creek (a master plan for the southeast shoreline of San Francisco) address the realities of climate change.

Bjarke Ingels is the founder and creative partner of the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). In 2011, The Wall Street Journal named Ingels Innovator of the Year for architecture, and in 2016 Time Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People.

For photos of the houseboat’s interior click here.

Thanks to Willy for contributing to this post.