In the Face of Disaster, Architects Are Redesigning Their Role
An energized focus on disaster recovery and resilience is driving new approaches to home design
When a flood or wildfire sweeps through a community, firefighters, emergency management workers and local politicians are typically among the first on the scene. But Julia Donoho says architects, too, have a responsibility to follow close behind.
A rendering of the Hurricane Strong Demo House in New York City. Photo from +LAB Architect
Getting Ahead of What’s Next
Beyond offering their expertise and helping to inform new policies in the aftermath of destruction, some architects are dedicating their time to rebuilding communities to be more disaster-resilient. Azaroff and his firm, +LAB Architect, for instance, teamed up with the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, along with several other industry partners, to create the Hurricane Strong Demo House in the Breezy Point neighborhood of New York City. Built for a resident named Diane who had been forced from her home by Superstorm Sandy, the new two-bedroom house is decked out in the latest weather- and element-resistant features while still blending into its neighborhood.
Getting Ahead of What’s Next
Beyond offering their expertise and helping to inform new policies in the aftermath of destruction, some architects are dedicating their time to rebuilding communities to be more disaster-resilient. Azaroff and his firm, +LAB Architect, for instance, teamed up with the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, along with several other industry partners, to create the Hurricane Strong Demo House in the Breezy Point neighborhood of New York City. Built for a resident named Diane who had been forced from her home by Superstorm Sandy, the new two-bedroom house is decked out in the latest weather- and element-resistant features while still blending into its neighborhood.
The almost complete Hurricane Strong Demo House in New York City. Photo from Erik Jester of +LAB Architect
“We wanted to give her a house that was almost absolute protection as a demonstration that, hey, we can do this,” Azaroff says. “We can do it in New York City, and we want this as a demonstration to the federal government and all government bodies that you can build back truly better and it’s not going to cost much more and it’s not going to look different.”
To build the demo house, team members installed impact-resistant windows for better thermal value and insulation, and added lighting protections and a backup generator in case of power failure, among other details. They framed the house using insulated concrete formwork, which is able to withstand intense distresses like high winds, water, fire and earthquakes, and keep the internal temperature inside the house regulated.
“We wanted to give her a house that was almost absolute protection as a demonstration that, hey, we can do this,” Azaroff says. “We can do it in New York City, and we want this as a demonstration to the federal government and all government bodies that you can build back truly better and it’s not going to cost much more and it’s not going to look different.”
To build the demo house, team members installed impact-resistant windows for better thermal value and insulation, and added lighting protections and a backup generator in case of power failure, among other details. They framed the house using insulated concrete formwork, which is able to withstand intense distresses like high winds, water, fire and earthquakes, and keep the internal temperature inside the house regulated.
A drawing of the Hurricane Strong Demo House. Photo from +LAB Architect
Working Together
A project like the Hurricane Strong House, Azaroff says, will ideally be just the beginning of this kind of thinking and construction. Making the drawings and construction plans for the house, like the diagram shown here, widely available is all part of the building and design teams’ vision. While it will require additional training for some laborers and contractors to learn the new building methods, Azaroff says it will be worth the time and investment.
“We need to win” against these disasters,” he says. “We have to be able to do this kind of work and just collectively share it and make it open source. I know someone could improve this house, and that’s going to be to my benefit and that’s going to be to everyone’s benefit,” he says.
Elsewhere, similar cooperative projects are gaining traction. In Puerto Rico, ravaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria, architects are some of the major players involved in a redevelopment plan to create a resilient rebuilt infrastructure in Caño Martín Peña, a tidal channel within the San Juan Bay Estuary. Farther south, on the Caribbean island of Dominica, Azaroff is working with a team and the native Kalinago population to design a community storm shelter that fits into their distinct architectural style. Back in New York City’s Greenwich Village, he also recently retrofitted an 1865 townhouse with resilient features similar to those of the Breezy Point home.
The Dominica shelter “will be a demonstration of how we take what we did on Diane’s little house and how we have upsized it for a community with their own vernacular, their own language of building,” Azaroff says. “Resilience can look like anywhere in the world.”
Working Together
A project like the Hurricane Strong House, Azaroff says, will ideally be just the beginning of this kind of thinking and construction. Making the drawings and construction plans for the house, like the diagram shown here, widely available is all part of the building and design teams’ vision. While it will require additional training for some laborers and contractors to learn the new building methods, Azaroff says it will be worth the time and investment.
“We need to win” against these disasters,” he says. “We have to be able to do this kind of work and just collectively share it and make it open source. I know someone could improve this house, and that’s going to be to my benefit and that’s going to be to everyone’s benefit,” he says.
Elsewhere, similar cooperative projects are gaining traction. In Puerto Rico, ravaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria, architects are some of the major players involved in a redevelopment plan to create a resilient rebuilt infrastructure in Caño Martín Peña, a tidal channel within the San Juan Bay Estuary. Farther south, on the Caribbean island of Dominica, Azaroff is working with a team and the native Kalinago population to design a community storm shelter that fits into their distinct architectural style. Back in New York City’s Greenwich Village, he also recently retrofitted an 1865 townhouse with resilient features similar to those of the Breezy Point home.
The Dominica shelter “will be a demonstration of how we take what we did on Diane’s little house and how we have upsized it for a community with their own vernacular, their own language of building,” Azaroff says. “Resilience can look like anywhere in the world.”
The Hurricane Strong Demo House under construction in New York City. Photo from Illya Azaroff of +LAB Architect
Expanding Their Reach
In smaller communities, and coastal communities especially, architects are facing a unique opportunity to help lead resiliency efforts, Azaroff says. Programs like the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Community Rating System (which awards communities exceeding National Flood Insurance Program standards by reducing insurance rates) or variations on New York’s Climate Smart Communities (in which communities take actions to reduce their collective energy use and increase local energy production) can help create greener, more sustainable communities and communities that are less reliant on the larger grid system and therefore more resilient when catastrophe strikes. Architects and other design professionals, Azaroff says, may be in a position to step up to help usher in those infrastructure changes.
Navigating the rebuilding process itself can be daunting for homeowners, and there, too, architects and building design pros can be of service. In California, Donoho and architects she has worked with have provided guidance to overwhelmed residents and have researched community rebuilding models that get displaced homeowners back to normal life faster. New services and companies like Northern California’s Homebound, for example, act as a network of contractors ready to jump into action and rebuild whole communities at a much quicker than average pace, she says.
“This is really a unique moment in disaster recovery,” Donoho says, “because we’re looking at every way to be resilient and to get those homes back fast.”
Tell us: Are architects or other home design professionals making a difference after a disaster in your community? Share your stories in the Comments.
More
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Expanding Their Reach
In smaller communities, and coastal communities especially, architects are facing a unique opportunity to help lead resiliency efforts, Azaroff says. Programs like the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Community Rating System (which awards communities exceeding National Flood Insurance Program standards by reducing insurance rates) or variations on New York’s Climate Smart Communities (in which communities take actions to reduce their collective energy use and increase local energy production) can help create greener, more sustainable communities and communities that are less reliant on the larger grid system and therefore more resilient when catastrophe strikes. Architects and other design professionals, Azaroff says, may be in a position to step up to help usher in those infrastructure changes.
Navigating the rebuilding process itself can be daunting for homeowners, and there, too, architects and building design pros can be of service. In California, Donoho and architects she has worked with have provided guidance to overwhelmed residents and have researched community rebuilding models that get displaced homeowners back to normal life faster. New services and companies like Northern California’s Homebound, for example, act as a network of contractors ready to jump into action and rebuild whole communities at a much quicker than average pace, she says.
“This is really a unique moment in disaster recovery,” Donoho says, “because we’re looking at every way to be resilient and to get those homes back fast.”
Tell us: Are architects or other home design professionals making a difference after a disaster in your community? Share your stories in the Comments.
More
Shelter in a Storm: Architects Improve Global Disaster Relief
How to Prep for Disaster Insurance Claims
How to Save What’s Priceless When Disaster Strikes
Find architects and building designers in your area
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After last year’s devastating fires in Northern California, the architect and attorney at Equinox Design and Development in Windsor, California, says she met with fellow leaders from the American Institute of Architects and then attended a public meeting to convey to government officials and others the group’s commitment to providing help.
“I went up and shook hands with the governor and with each of those politicians and said, ‘Architects are here to help people get back into their homes quickly,’” Donoho says.
On the other side of the country, Illya Azaroff, an architect and co-chairman of AIA New York’s Design for Risk and Reconstruction Committee, says that this supportive mindset, though long a tenet of most architects’ work, has found new life in the wake of recent high-profile natural disasters, both in the architects’ immediate response to catastrophes and in the new protections they’re dreaming up for the built environment going forward.
Immediate Assistance
The AIA’s 2018 Code of Ethics explicitly says members should “render public interest professional services, including pro bono services, and encourage their employees to render such services” after disasters or other emergencies, and many architects have been doing just that for years.
But Azaroff says events like 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and 2012’s Superstorm Sandy “woke up the entire nation” and prompted architects in particular to focus more intently on recovery and resilience in their work. As more recent threats like Hurricane Irma and California’s deadly wildfires have unfolded, architects like Donoho, Azaroff and others have worked with peers to jump in where needed in the immediate aftermath of a storm, fire or other danger. The first four days following the end of the incident can be the most crucial for architects looking to act as resources for the community, Donoho says.
“You have to show up at the site in those first four days to really understand the nature of the disaster,” she says.
There’s been a big push in recent years, Donoho says, to educate architects on how they can help in these scenarios. In the work Donoho and her team have done in Northern California following wildfires, for instance, there has been an effort to show members of the community that if their house has been destroyed, an architect — who generally has experience juggling complicated infrastructure issues, public safety concerns and design thinking — is another option to turn to in addition to a contractor or builder, particularly if their house was customized, historic or architecturally unique.
“The real role of the architect in this situation isn’t so much being part of the first responders or even going around and doing inspections,” Donoho says. “It’s really about gearing up to be able to deliver services quickly and competently to people who aren’t used to hiring architects.”
Architects’ background in creative problem solving when it comes to the built environment can also help when city governments are evaluating their response capabilities, Azaroff says. Following Superstorm Sandy, he helped bring together 400 volunteer design pros with city, state and federal officials to evaluate the short-, medium- and long-term effects of the disaster.
“We should be out in the field after a disaster, for that first part of it, and then stay involved after disaster to ensure that these neighborhoods and cities can recognize their gaps and recover in a proper way,” Azaroff says.