Everyone Has a Role in Climate Responsive Design and Resiliency
10:23
Design is at the forefront of resilient building. Here’s how it is helping drive safer housing solutions.
Homes need to protect and provide shelter and security; however, more and more homes are challenged to provide those basics by climate threats that are growing in intensity, and not only threatening lives, but destroying homes.
These challenges have inspired innovations in materials, construction methods, design principles, and community planning.
Community Level Change
As far back as the 1930s when an earthquake destroyed homes in Long Beach, Calif, communities have been driven by disasters to develop the right codes to provide safer living structures for residents.
Michael Hess serves as the director of sustainability, resilience, and the Future-Ready City Initiative for the City of Orlando and said the city has always baked resiliency into its planning across all city departments.
“Everything we do is really driven through community engagement and collaboration,” Hess says. “We spend a lot of time doing focus groups to listen to local business partners and residents.”
Orlando also performs vulnerability assessments to understand how to protect residents from more frequent and more intense storms. These assessments help validate and prioritize internal funding for resiliency planning and for a team dedicated to resiliency grants.
The city also engages with builders to discuss initiatives and to offer incentives for green building communities, such as tax breaks for builders that pursue LEED certifications.
“In Florida, the building code is driven at the state level,” Hess said. “We had a lot of changes in the building code, especially after Hurricane Andrew. The state level code does a great job focusing on resiliency.”
Communities like Orlando also keep an eye on the risks of broader consequences.
“A potential collapse in property values due to uninsured homes could ripple through the economy, echoing the 2008 crisis,” Hess said. “A lack of viable insurance would reshape housing markets, disrupt local economies, and exacerbate socio-economic inequalities.”
Show Me the Money: Catalyzing Change
Jennifer Berthelot-Jelovic is the founder and CEO at design consulting firm, A SustainAble Production , and has been tracking these trends.
“The mindshift comes from funding mechanisms–you cannot get investors to invest if you
are building in a hurricane zone or in a climate disaster area,” she says. “Funding and insurance are key levers. In about 2020, BlackRock said that they will not invest unless you are sustainable and financially sustainable, and that they were paying attention to climate risk and in fact looking at risk management including everything around climate and sustainability. People were paying attention to that because they couldn't get funding.”
BlackRock has been a leader in watching trends surrounding the transition to a low-carbon economy due to its implications for macroeconomic trends, like inflation.
The company’s website says, “Government policy, technological innovation, and consumer and investor preferences are driving a material economic transformation to a lower-carbon world, creating investment risks and opportunities. BlackRock’s research assessment is that companies positioning themselves to benefit from these shifts can improve their earnings outlook relative to others over time. And, our research shows that an orderly transition would result in higher economic growth compared with no climate actions, and would create a more constructive macro environment for financial returns for our clients overall.”
Better financial returns? That’s what drives the market and if it can be done with resiliency targets included, even better.
Design and Material Innovation
It’s not just funding mechanisms that make a difference. Innovative design and new materials can play a big role in responding to climate risk.
For instance, phase-change materials (PCMs) can help manage building temperatures by storing and releasing energy in a way that optimizes the material’s phase transition, such as from a solid to a liquid or vice versa. These types of materials could be used in building envelopes for better thermal performance, but haven’t yet been able to overcome the challenges for effective application.
Other materials are proving to be good solutions for strength against hurricane force winds or for protection from wildfires. Most are being introduced to the market through start ups and need industry support to get to scale. Scale is what helps the new products achieve an attractive price point and become a popular part of design.
Sometimes it’s about knowing how to do the right design. The American Institute of Architects provides a Resilience Design Toolkit to inform architects about best practices for design on all sorts of projects. The Resilience Design Toolkit is a guide specifically developed for architects to understand the steps to manage resilience studies for a project, and a general method to involve resilience design thinking in the design process.
Industry innovators like Ed Barsley, an architect and founder of The Environmental Design Studio, are advancing the industry with his project Home for All Seasons. The 10 principles for the design of the home were:
Livable zones should be on the first floor and above for a future-proof, high-flood design, and to avoid reliance on temporary flood measures.
The ground floor 'garden room' zone is a flood resilient, multi-use space that can be quickly adapted and cleaned post flood.
An elevated exit on the first floor can give safe exit and entry during a flood and would reduce the need for emergency services.
Water and power should be up on the first floor to continue to operate during a flood.
A small design footprint leaves space to include landscaping features that will displace water to surrounding, safer places.
House design that can be compact plot for smaller back-to-back distances.
The building is designed to encourage passive stack ventilation effect so air is drawn in through the high thermal mass ground floor zone.
Thick and continuous super insulated envelope for comfort in extreme cold.
Roof orientation to support on-site energy generation.
The core house plan can be adapted to suit the changing needs of the homeowner and works for a range of different house types and layouts.
Many reports are showing that 2024 was the warmest year on record in the U.S.
“We’re at a critical turning point where extreme heat has become an increasingly urgent challenge,” says Ladd Keith, an associate professor within the College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture, who will lead the Heat Resilience Initiative.
“The support for this initiative will allow us to advance heat resilience and address extreme heat as both a local and global hazard threatening the quality of life, health, and lives of billions of people globally,” Keith says.
Practical solutions like heat mitigation or urban cooling, heat management, and heat governance could significantly advance heat resilience.
Laura Patino, serves as the chief resilience officer for the City of San Antonio and worked to create a resilience, energy efficiency, and sustainability fund with addressing overheating as a main priority. The fund captures about $10 million annually to reinvest in resiliency, efficiency and sustainability measures.
Patino was placed in the role one year ago and has been busy reviewing 46 city plans on resilience to then validate the city’s plan with data to support key objectives and bring together community partners.
“What we came up with through the evaluation is that there are seven key shocks and stressors that are impacting our community at any given time,” she says. “The way that we can start addressing those is to focus on five areas–climate resilience, disaster readiness, infrastructure readiness, opportunities for San Antonioans, and resilience governance. It breaks it down into what actions we do for climate with the natural environment and the built environment, and how to integrate the natural environment into how we build.”
With more than 20 consecutive days of more than 100 degrees in the summer of 2024, one initiative is to increase the tree canopy in the city, which is just one of 60 actions the city is taking to combat extreme heat. San Antonio also is funding a cool pavement project program to research and test technology that works the best for reducing heat from the roads.
“The goal is to influence building code to make homes more energy efficient and more resistant to heat,” Patino said. “We’re exploring the indoor air quality minimums and maximums to set as a policy. Especially for renters to have an air temperature maximum. We are trying to figure out how to incentivize this type of development with private builders and we need to do better as a city to bring in cooling mechanisms in the design phase.”
Specifically to address overheating, Barsley’s Home for all Seasons has a number of design considerations. It is configured to be mixed mode, with its form design to provide shade during the summer months and use the stack effect to pull cool air from the shaded ground floor zone.
Secondly, the high thermal mass of the ground floor garden room can act to pre-cool the air before it goes to the first level and moves up the natural ventilation chimney stack with a heat exchanger on the roof ridge. Adjustable horizontal louvers and other design features can provide shade to the side to reduce solar gain.
What the Future Holds
With all the stakeholders involved, from the community level to the project architect, the consideration for the right design must be a priority. Design plays a critical role as a solution for a better built environment in the future, and everyone plays an important role to deliver the right design.
Publisher’s Note: Green Builder's 20th Anniversary celebration is sponsored by: Carrier and Trex.
Jennifer Castenson currently serves as the vice president at online construction project management platform Buildxact. Previously, she served as the vice president of programming at national media and data group Zonda. Castenson also serves as contributing writer to Forbes, reporting on innovative solutions in the built environment.
Everyone Has a Role in Climate Responsive Design and Resiliency
Design is at the forefront of resilient building. Here’s how it is helping drive safer housing solutions.
Homes need to protect and provide shelter and security; however, more and more homes are challenged to provide those basics by climate threats that are growing in intensity, and not only threatening lives, but destroying homes.
These challenges have inspired innovations in materials, construction methods, design principles, and community planning.
Community Level Change
As far back as the 1930s when an earthquake destroyed homes in Long Beach, Calif, communities have been driven by disasters to develop the right codes to provide safer living structures for residents.
“Everything we do is really driven through community engagement and collaboration,” Hess says. “We spend a lot of time doing focus groups to listen to local business partners and residents.”
Orlando also performs vulnerability assessments to understand how to protect residents from more frequent and more intense storms. These assessments help validate and prioritize internal funding for resiliency planning and for a team dedicated to resiliency grants.
The city also engages with builders to discuss initiatives and to offer incentives for green building communities, such as tax breaks for builders that pursue LEED certifications.
“In Florida, the building code is driven at the state level,” Hess said. “We had a lot of changes in the building code, especially after Hurricane Andrew. The state level code does a great job focusing on resiliency.”
Communities like Orlando also keep an eye on the risks of broader consequences.
“A potential collapse in property values due to uninsured homes could ripple through the economy, echoing the 2008 crisis,” Hess said. “A lack of viable insurance would reshape housing markets, disrupt local economies, and exacerbate socio-economic inequalities.”
Show Me the Money: Catalyzing Change
Jennifer Berthelot-Jelovic is the founder and CEO at design consulting firm, A SustainAble Production , and has been tracking these trends.
“The mindshift comes from funding mechanisms–you cannot get investors to invest if you
are building in a hurricane zone or in a climate disaster area,” she says. “Funding and insurance are key levers. In about 2020, BlackRock said that they will not invest unless you are sustainable and financially sustainable, and that they were paying attention to climate risk and in fact looking at risk management including everything around climate and sustainability. People were paying attention to that because they couldn't get funding.”
BlackRock has been a leader in watching trends surrounding the transition to a low-carbon economy due to its implications for macroeconomic trends, like inflation.
The company’s website says, “Government policy, technological innovation, and consumer and investor preferences are driving a material economic transformation to a lower-carbon world, creating investment risks and opportunities. BlackRock’s research assessment is that companies positioning themselves to benefit from these shifts can improve their earnings outlook relative to others over time. And, our research shows that an orderly transition would result in higher economic growth compared with no climate actions, and would create a more constructive macro environment for financial returns for our clients overall.”
Better financial returns? That’s what drives the market and if it can be done with resiliency targets included, even better.
Design and Material Innovation
It’s not just funding mechanisms that make a difference. Innovative design and new materials can play a big role in responding to climate risk.
For instance, phase-change materials (PCMs) can help manage building temperatures by storing and releasing energy in a way that optimizes the material’s phase transition, such as from a solid to a liquid or vice versa. These types of materials could be used in building envelopes for better thermal performance, but haven’t yet been able to overcome the challenges for effective application.
Other materials are proving to be good solutions for strength against hurricane force winds or for protection from wildfires. Most are being introduced to the market through start ups and need industry support to get to scale. Scale is what helps the new products achieve an attractive price point and become a popular part of design.
Sometimes it’s about knowing how to do the right design. The American Institute of Architects provides a Resilience Design Toolkit to inform architects about best practices for design on all sorts of projects. The Resilience Design Toolkit is a guide specifically developed for architects to understand the steps to manage resilience studies for a project, and a general method to involve resilience design thinking in the design process.
Industry innovators like Ed Barsley, an architect and founder of The Environmental Design Studio, are advancing the industry with his project Home for All Seasons. The 10 principles for the design of the home were:
This video outlines the principles.
Addressing The Heat
Many reports are showing that 2024 was the warmest year on record in the U.S.
“We’re at a critical turning point where extreme heat has become an increasingly urgent challenge,” says Ladd Keith, an associate professor within the College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture, who will lead the Heat Resilience Initiative.
“The support for this initiative will allow us to advance heat resilience and address extreme heat as both a local and global hazard threatening the quality of life, health, and lives of billions of people globally,” Keith says.
Practical solutions like heat mitigation or urban cooling, heat management, and heat governance could significantly advance heat resilience.
Laura Patino, serves as the chief resilience officer for the City of San Antonio and worked to create a resilience, energy efficiency, and sustainability fund with addressing overheating as a main priority. The fund captures about $10 million annually to reinvest in resiliency, efficiency and sustainability measures.
Patino was placed in the role one year ago and has been busy reviewing 46 city plans on resilience to then validate the city’s plan with data to support key objectives and bring together community partners.
“What we came up with through the evaluation is that there are seven key shocks and stressors that are impacting our community at any given time,” she says. “The way that we can start addressing those is to focus on five areas–climate resilience, disaster readiness, infrastructure readiness, opportunities for San Antonioans, and resilience governance. It breaks it down into what actions we do for climate with the natural environment and the built environment, and how to integrate the natural environment into how we build.”
With more than 20 consecutive days of more than 100 degrees in the summer of 2024, one initiative is to increase the tree canopy in the city, which is just one of 60 actions the city is taking to combat extreme heat. San Antonio also is funding a cool pavement project program to research and test technology that works the best for reducing heat from the roads.
“The goal is to influence building code to make homes more energy efficient and more resistant to heat,” Patino said. “We’re exploring the indoor air quality minimums and maximums to set as a policy. Especially for renters to have an air temperature maximum. We are trying to figure out how to incentivize this type of development with private builders and we need to do better as a city to bring in cooling mechanisms in the design phase.”
Specifically to address overheating, Barsley’s Home for all Seasons has a number of design considerations. It is configured to be mixed mode, with its form design to provide shade during the summer months and use the stack effect to pull cool air from the shaded ground floor zone.
Secondly, the high thermal mass of the ground floor garden room can act to pre-cool the air before it goes to the first level and moves up the natural ventilation chimney stack with a heat exchanger on the roof ridge. Adjustable horizontal louvers and other design features can provide shade to the side to reduce solar gain.
What the Future Holds
With all the stakeholders involved, from the community level to the project architect, the consideration for the right design must be a priority. Design plays a critical role as a solution for a better built environment in the future, and everyone plays an important role to deliver the right design.
Publisher’s Note: Green Builder's 20th Anniversary celebration is sponsored by: Carrier and Trex.
By Jennifer Castenson, Guest Columnist
Jennifer Castenson currently serves as the vice president at online construction project management platform Buildxact. Previously, she served as the vice president of programming at national media and data group Zonda. Castenson also serves as contributing writer to Forbes, reporting on innovative solutions in the built environment.Also Read