Who doesn't have a dream of building a cabin in the woods by a small pond—maybe Walden Pond? Many of us are attracted to the sea—maybe in some primal way, or the sheer poetics of a daily sunrise or sunset over the ocean.
Building near the water has its perils. Venice canals flood. The Netherlands has been building dikes since before the Middle Ages. In the U.S. we think of the great hurricanes that have devastated the Gulf Coast and the shores of New York and New Jersey.
In Japan and Sri Lanka we think of tsunamis.
On March 11, 2011 a great wave swept away the villages of northeastern Japan. Rebuilding continues even years later. The architecture of healing that has come from Japan's tragedy includes the Minna no Ie (Home-for-All), places for survivors to gather and share their stories, express their grief. Pritzker Laureate Toyo Ito actualized the idea of community spaces designed and built by architects—an idea that won his team the Golden Lion award at the 13th Venice Biennale of Architecture. Another Pritzker winner, Shigeru Ban, developed shelter spaces and temporary housing for the victims. But can the world depend on a couple of Pritzker Laureates to create after-thought solutions to natural disasters?
The 2013 flooding in southern Alberta was devastating to Canada. The Bow River swept water into the streets of Calgary, near Norman Foster's Bow Skyscraper. Ah, Sir Norman Foster—another Pritzker Laureate.
Threat of extreme weather came unexpectedly in November 2014 when communities in Western New York State were dumped on, this time with snow.
Unusually cold air swept over the relatively warm waters of Lake Erie, creating "lake effect" precipitation that collapsed roofs and closed major highways for days.
It seems that architects and cities will have to deal more and more with "unexpected weather events" and build for hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, and floods. We can build houses on piers. We can change building codes to accommodate higher roof loads. We can expect that pristine lakes today may dry up without snow melt.
Or we could do something about climate change....
Learn More:
- Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction by Mark Maslin, Oxford University Press, 2014
- The Agile City: Building Well-being and Wealth in an Era of Climate Change by James S. Russell, Island Press, 2012
- Future Scenarios: How Communities Can Adapt to Peak Oil and Climate Change by David Holmgren, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009
- Resilient Cities by Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley, and Heather Boyer, Island Press, 2009
- Adapting Buildings And Cities For Climate Change: A 21st Century Survival Guide by Sue Roaf, David Crichton, and Fergus Nicol, Elsevier Architectural Press, 2005
- Extreme Weather Hits Home: Protecting Your Buildings from Climate Change by John Banta, New Society Publishers, 2007