One was simply moving the house to a drier site. But that “would change the entire dynamic,” said Ben Rosenberg, Silman’s principal in charge of the project. Visitors should experience the house, he added, “in terms of its site and topographical relation to the river.”

The team also considered putting some kind of balloon device under the house, or constructing an inflatable barrier around it. But those devices would not necessarily defend the structure against rushing water or debris, Mr. Rosenberg said.

“The option we landed on, which we are now in the process of designing, is to install a pit underneath the house in its present location, and place the house on a platform that is hydraulically lifted up and down” by machinery installed in the pit, Mr. Rosenberg said. “The flood happens under the house.”

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The house will have to be moved off site while the apparatus is built, but once it is back in place, “no one knows the difference,” he said. The hydraulic mechanism would be hidden underground, except when it operates to lift the house above water.

Mr. Rosenberg said work on the project design is nearing completion. “Nothing like this has ever been done before,” he said, adding that the National Trust must give final approval for the work. But, he said, “the buy-in is already there for the concept.”