Massart - Tree House Student Residence: Please Provide An Overview of The Project

MassArt Tree House Student Residence
Think of the areas in and around Boston and most likely institutions of higher education come to
mind: Harvard University, MIT, Boston University, to name a few.Massachusetts College of Art
and Design (MassArt) is relatively small in comparison but a new 20-story tower gives the college
some exposure befitting one of the oldest art schools in the United States. Designed by ADD Inc, the
aptly named Tree House Student Residence resembles a tree in its bark-like brown skin, while it
also echoes Boston's traditional brick buildings. The architects answered a few questions about the
project.
The exterior is an organic mosaic of over 5,000 composite aluminum panels of varying depths and hues. ( Photo : Chuck
Choi )
Please provide an overview of the project.
Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) is an urban arts school located in downtown
Boston, along the Avenue of the Arts that is home to numerous artistic venues and educational
institutions including Symphony Hall, the New England Conservatory, Northeastern University, and
the Museum of Fine Arts. The Tree House project was the central component of MassArts desire to
increase the percentage of students living on campus from 26% to 44%, including 95% of incoming
freshman. At the core of the colleges transition from a commuter school to a residential campus was
the desire to create a vibrant living and learning community to cultivate artistic, social and academic
development.
The tower is located along the Avenue of the Arts, amidst academic facilities and residence halls. ( Photo : Chuck Choi )
Through a programming effort that included student focus groups, benchmarking tours of
comparable projects, and freshman core curriculum demands, the building harmonizes the needs of
college administrators and the unique learning/living requirements of nearly 500 incoming art
school freshmen. The project features a ground floor caf and living room, a second-floor health
center; and a Pajama Floor at the third level with communal kitchen, game room, laundry facilities,
and fitness center. The residential floors include alternating studio spaces, lounges, project
workrooms, and snack kitchens to create an informal studio atmosphere conducive to artistic
dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration. Hailed by critics as the most innovative new high rise in
Boston, the project is a unique complement to the city skyline that expresses the character and
creative force of the institution it serves.
Dark browns at the base mirror tree bark before growing progressively lighter to make the building appear taller and lighter in
the skyline. Green window panels punctuate the faade like the leaves of a tree. ( Photo :Chuck Choi )
What are the main ideas and inspirations influencing the design of the building?
The exterior, inspired by Gustav Klimts 1909 Tree of Life painting, is an organic mosaic of
composite aluminum panels of varying depths and hues. Dark browns at the base mirror tree bark
before growing progressively lighter to make the building appear taller and lighter in the skyline.
Green window panels punctuate the faade like the leaves of a tree.
The warm tones of the building skin were created with 5,500 metal panels, dimensionally organized
in a two story repeat, but gradually increasing in the proportion of lighter panels over darker as the
building rises from the "trunk" to the top. This, combined with higher glosses on lighter panels, gives
the building its richness and subtle sense of strength as it becomes more gold toward the top of its
canopy.
Inspired by Gustav Klimts Tree of Life, this innovative high rise expresses the character and creative force of the institution
it serves. (Photo : Peter Vanderwarker )
The projects interior spaces expand upon this concept through a bold color palette to create an
engaging and light-filled environment. The lobby features an oversized, snaking yellow sofa that
echoes the shapes of the landscaped plaza. The ceiling, constructed of lacquered western hemlock,
reinforces the tree concept while steel door frames add an industrial element. Art is infused
throughout the building ranging from commissioned alumni pieces in the lobby to a rotating gallery
on the third floor. While the budget did not allow for expensive finishes, designers drew on the
possibilities of modest materials such as carpet and paint to develop a bold visual statement that
activates the space through color.
Students in the colleges architecture and interior design programs helped shape some of the projects common areas,
including the ground floor caf. ( Photo : Lucy Chen )
From the onset, ADD Incs design team was challenged to differentiate the 20 occupied floors of this
urban high-rise. The team responded through the use of boldly and distinctly colored corridors and
common areas that change every two floors. As one travels vertically through the building, the
palette grows from deep purples on the lower floors, to yellows, oranges, and finally blues on the
upper levels. Through this simple technique, the residence hall has become a laboratory of sorts for
art students to experience the effect of color on light, quality, mood, and identity of space.
The lobby features an over-sized, snaking yellow sofa that echoes the shapes of the landscaped plaza. The ceiling,
constructed of lacquered western hemlock, reinforces the tree concept. ( Photo : Lucy Chen )
To what extent did the clients and/or future users of the building influence the design and the
outcome of the building?
The design of The Tree House Residence hall exemplifies collaboration. During the design process,
the team worked to harmonize the goals and aspirations of professors, administrators, students,
trustees, alumni, city and state agencies, neighbors, and the buildings owner. ADD Inc conducted indepth benchmarking tours, hosted focus groups and an 85-person design charrette, and developed
full-scale mock-up units for students to experience and critique. Students in the colleges
architecture and interior design programs helped shape some of the projects common spaces,
including the ground floor caf.
The Pajama Floor allows students to lounge, play games, or study in groups. ( Photo : Lucy Chen )
Were there any significant challenges that arose during the project? If so, how did you
respond to them?
The site poses significant construction and structural issues. It contains a large network of
underground culverts that carry waste to a Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA)
wastewater treatment plant serving a large percentage of downtown Boston buildings. Consequently,
the 20-story dormitory sits on a relatively small footprintapproximately 55 feet by 125 feet. The
architectural design is a tall, slender building that curves around and cantilevers over the MWRA
easement. The height of the narrow structure and its cantilevered form necessitated unusually deep
piles and additional bracing. The constrained footprint mandated that every square inch of space had
to be utilized effectively in order to meet the program goals and requirements within the height
constraints of the site. BIM modeling of all components and systems enabled real time visualization
and coordination by all team members, allowing the team to recognize conflicts early in the design.
A communal kitchen accented by bold color is the center of an active residence life program. ( Photo : Lucy Chen )
How would you describe the architecture of Massachusetts and how does the building relate
to it?
Many of the most-loved buildings of Massachusetts (especially Boston) are warm toned brick
buildings in the historic neighborhoods of Beacon Hill, the North End, and the Back Bay. While the
material of the Tree House is contemporary metal, the gold, tan, rust, and brown panels connect it to
the historic clay color palette.
Email interview conducted by John Hill.
Designers drew on the possibilities of modest materials such as carpet and paint to develop a bold visual statement that
activates the space through color. ( Photo : Lucy Chen )
Ground Floor Plan ( Drawing : ADD Inc. )
Pajama Floor / Level 3 Floor Plan ( Drawing : ADD Inc. )
Typical Floor Plan ( Drawing : ADD Inc. )
Floor By Floor
The NRH building is four stories tall and offers a total of 76 beds, including
four unique rooms, 24 single occupancy dormitory rooms and 24 double
occupancy dormitory rooms. Restroom facilities in the NRH are suite-style,
configured such that two singles or two doubles will share facilities. See
below for a full list of community areas available in the building. Click on the
heading to view each level's floor plan.
Lower Level (First Floor)

Large Community Kitchen
Large Community Television Lounge
Laundry Room #1
Indoor Bike Storage
Music/Multipurpose Room
4 Single Occupancy Rooms
4 Double Occupancy Rooms (8 beds)
Ground Level (Second Floor)

Lobby/Mailboxes
Housing Office
Public Restrooms (2)
Conference Room
Vending Room
Second Level (Third Floor)

Community Kitchen
Community Television Lounge
Food Pantry
Study Room (Carrels)
Study Room (Desk-Chairs)
Third Level (Fourth Floor)

Laundry Room #2
Study Room (Desk-Chairs)
Chapel
Floor Plans
Photos
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Mangrove City: Emulating natures tropical beauty through complex design

BY: DANIELLE DEL SOL | OCTOBER - 21 - 2010
Elements of natural beauty can often astound visually, but they are always infinitely more awe-inspiring
when one considers the millions of complex details involved in their existence. Leng Pau Chung, an
architecture student in Sarawak, Malaysia, harnesses this wonder in the skyscraper complex Mangrove
City: the buildings mimic nature in their holistic form and evolutionary capabilities, but Chung shows the
complexs beauty through the details.
Set amongst mangrove wetlands, the buildings combine complex green technology and materials to
create a structures that, like the mangroves that surround them, will endure.
Plans for a wind turbine, rainwater harvesting, seawater filtration, daylight shutters, and water and
energy distribution throughout the complex are fleshed out in great detail in Chungs eVolo skyscrapers
entry. As an example, Chung shows how, during different times of the day, the buildings solar integrated
ETFE film can be repositioned to best generate energy and filter incoming sunlight.
Flexible construction methods are used for the complexs structural plans to allow for future additions
and alterations: like the mangroves, Mangrove City will have the capability to evolve. A tall high-rise that
will house laboratories serves as the main, anchoring building of the complex. More labs are found in
hallways that are attached horizontally to the main structure. These hallways are column-free and
seemingly float in the air; however, they are in fact supported on both ends by a free standing
greenhouse and a modular building that houses residences. A concrete slab raft that is reinforced from
below supports the entire complex.
By rising vertically, Mangrove City minimally impacts its surrounding inspiration. This will allow it, as
Chung says, co-exist with Mother Nature for ever and ever.
Rotating Mangrove Towers New Indonesian Sustainability

BY: LIDIJA GROZDANIC | JUNE - 20 - 2011
Designed by Agung Mahaputra, Andika Priya Utama, Arief Aditya Putra, Dely Hamzah, Nidia
Safiana, and Rahadi Utomo, the proposal offers a unique way of integrating densely populated
architecture into the natural environment of Northern Jakarta. The site is surrounded by mangrove forest
whose delicate ecosystem is left without an undue footprint. The idea consists of two asymmetrical
towers that rotate to get the beautiful vista while capturing sunlight from morning to midday. A corridor
without artificial air conditioner encircles each floor. The corridors serve as a barrier between the suns
heat and the workspace. They absorb the heat gain while allowing light in thereby reducing the
dependence on electricity for artificial light and air in the buildings.
The Mangrove concept offers flexible spaces on each floor. A skeletal structure is used as the main
structural system for the faade, which provides shade for interior spaces. The density of this shading
system varies and is adjustable with the annual movement of the sun.
The Towers are designed to become part of the mangrove forest of Jakarta in that it can be used by the
public. They are open to the public as an extension of the forest: the Java sea, the mangroves, the
promenade, the tower ground floor, the podium floor, and the roof floor are designed to be accessible by
those who want to enjoy the north sea of Jakarta. A dynamic pedestrian bridge escorts visitors from the
promenade up to the podium level. The buildings are inaccessible by car. In order to preserve the health
of the forest, the project promotes accessibility to only pedestrians and cyclists.
Mangrove Tower in the Baltic Sea
BY: ADMIN | JANUARY - 20 - 2010
4
Green Skyscrapers
In the next few days we will showcase 25 innovative proposals for green skyscrapers. These projects
were submitted for the Annual Skyscraper Competition from 2006 to 2009.
Project 15 of 25
Jaakko Kallio-Koski, Toni sterlund, Joose Mykknen
Finland
Mangrove Tower
The Sea at Risk

The Baltic Sea is the second largest brackish water basin in the world in terms of water volume. The
water of the Baltic Sea is a mixture of ocean water and fresh water brought by numerous rivers. The
unique brackish-water ecosystem is very sensitive to disturbances. About 85 million people live in the
Baltic Sea catchment area, placing severe pressure in the ecosystem.
The Mangrove Tower is a temporary structure designed to prevent eutrophication in the sensitive
archipelagos of the Baltic Sea. The actual process of reducing pollutants is simple, but needs a large
scale self-sufficient system that can be relocated after the site has been cleaned.
Eutrophication
Eutrophication is a major problem in the Baltic Sea since the 1800s when the Sea changed from an
oliogotrophic clear-water sea into a eutrophic marine environment. It is a consequence of nutrient
loading caused by human activity. Due to the large amounts of nutrients, microscopic phytoplankton has
drastically increased and algae blooms have become prevalent. Increased primary production of the
Sea increases the amount of organic matter in the sediment and leads to self feeding internal nutrient
loading cycle. Organic matter that settles at the bottom of the sea begins to decompose. Decomposition
consumes limited oxygen resources of the bottom water layers and turns it into an anoxic system.
Mangrove Tower
The Mangrove Tower consists of a bundle of mangrove branches. Each branch being an independent
unit; where the upper part contains wind turbines for generating power necessary for the water pumps
located at the bottom. The Mangrove Tower is a water oxygenator that pumps surface water full of
oxygen to the lower layers of the sea. The towers are placed in sheltered pools on the coast. Its
morphogenetic structure allows the addition or removal of several braches without loss of structural
stability.
Mangrove Tower - 1
Mangrove Visitor Centre

Part 1 Project 2011
Chzesiang Choot
University Of Malaya Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
The project sits in the heart of Kuantan, a city in Malaysia. Like many Malaysia cities, Kuantan is developing
rapidly, the consequences being a loss of mangrove swamps area due to the pollution. The mangrove visitor
centre intends to raise the awareness to the people about the important of mangrove as a part of the city.
With that in mind, the ultimate intention of the design is to incorporate the unique characteristic and behaviour
of mangrove with the site`s element so that it is not just a building, but an architecture with natural feature.
The buildings is raised on stilts offered more benefits to the site than on the ground. It creates a public space
underneath the building so that it encourages the movement from the city to the river. Not only that, the building
somehow denote that the site as the most significant entrance to the river esplanade. Building acts like a
mangrove, provide a large canopy to the pedestrian underneath it. The space was inspired by the spaces
between the roots of the mangrove as the space where interactions happened. In addition, the stilts give a
sense of fisherman village like what it has along the Kuantan River.
The form of the building appears to be two different languages are speaking to each other in a unique way.
Again, it tries to enhance and highlight the paradox in the mangrove and the site. Besides, it also ties back the
river and the city which has somewhat disconnected in the sense and also fully utilize the site as a threshold of
city to the river.
Elevation design is taking consideration into the views from city towards mangrove and vice versa. The skin of
building is designed so that the each block do not look so stiff and monotonous, the formal block appeared to
have informal and random skin pattern while the informal block possessed the formal and regular skin pattern.
Chzesiang Choot
Tutor:
Ezlina Adnan
Achrafieh 732 / Bernard Khoury Architects
18
NOV
2011
Projects Built ProjectsSelected Projects ApartmentsBeirutHousingLebanon

Architect:Bernard Khoury Architects
Photographer:Bernard Khoury Architects
Materials: Wood Steel Concrete
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Bernard Khoury Architects
Architects: Bernard Khoury Architects
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Architect: Bernard Khoury Architects
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Bernard Khoury Architects
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From the architect. The Achrafieh 732 Residential building by Bernard Khoury
Architects, is located on a 209 square-meter land situated on Lot # 732 in a
quiet residential area of Achrafieh, Beirut. The 9.8m-wide Eastern edge faces
Chehade Street, which runs down perpendicular to Abdel Wahab el Inglizi
Street.
Bernard
Khoury Architects
The building is located in a high-end neighborhood of Achrafieh. We propose

to layout the residences in a longitudinal Loft-fashion, open to the east and
west directions. The street level facade of the ground floor allows for both
the pedestrian building entrance as well as for the vehicular entrance.
Surface parking is provided on the ground floor, fitting the cars under the
3.5m high pilotis structure of the building.
Khoury Architects
The open plan structure of the building allows for several layout
combinations for every type of residence. Each apartment is completely
glazed from one end, maximising its exposure to the outside. Apartments
range from 167-334 m, among which are simplex apartments as well as 2floor apartments distributed along 6 levels. In addition, each apartment has
its allocated underground storage space situated in the basement level. The
seventh and eighth floor house a 236m duplex-penthouse including 2 ample
private terraces on each side, as well as an allocated underground storage.
typical floor
plan
As opposed to the usual typology of residential apartments that tend to

scatter the balconies along the different peripheral sections of an apartment,
three types of balconies are proposed: located on the western side is a
generous deck, opening up the back edge of the building to a void, and
separating it from its surroundings, giving the building a more domestic feel
in such a dense urban context. On the Eastern edge of the building, 2 types
of balconies are suggested: one is an organic-shaped wooden shell, accessed
from the apartment by an opaque door, resulting into a secluded hide-out or
fumoir. Whereas the main length of the faade benefits from a thin 70cm
wide platform running adjacently to the glazed edge, allowing the
apartments to expand once all the doors are slid open, and creating an
outdoor extension to the reception areas.
Bernard
Khoury Architects
A criss-crossed mesh of wooden stems mounted onto the east facade is

alternately pinned down by jar planters. A jasmine plant climbs out of each
jar and spreads onto this secondary skin allowing the building to transform
seasonally along with its vegetation.
Bernard
Khoury Architects
typical floor plan
#skyscraper #reclaims, #renews, re-uses snow, rain, & #grey-water collected in the
internal corners of the ocular forms. This #unique and novel #building is very rigorous in its
design. All floor plates are usable, structurally inherent, and provide shelter above and
below for farming and people, internal and external programing is included for wild life
preserves and #recreational use for the public to participate #civic functions.
true #highrise#architecture #future planning
Flex: Flexible Learning Environments / HMC

Architects
19
APR
2011
by Alison Furuto
Articles EducationalCaliforniaLos AngelesHMC ArchitectsUnited States
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Courtesy of
HMC Architects
In 2010, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) held a design competition for a flexible
solution to replace portable buildings across the district, and HMC Architectsaccepted the
challenge. The district asked them to ignore their standards and put an emphasis on an
ideas-based approach. They wanted creative, progressive responses to their problem, not
dressed-up modular buildings. They challenged the traditional box shape of the classroom
by looking at how the room is used and how it is currently under utilized. Although their
design solution, which they named Flex, did not win the competition, their end product is a
portable classroom solution that can be used at any school, with hope that their design can
inspire other school districts to think differently when it comes to portable classrooms. More
images and architects description after the break.
Before they could begin brainstorming design solutions for the competition, they dove into
some research about teaching philosophies. The future of teaching is becoming more and
more about tailored individual instruction, self-guided instruction, and group learning
activities. Socrates believed in enabling students to think for themselves, rather than filling
their heads with right answers. He regularly engaged his pupils in dialogues by responding
to their questions with questions, instead of answers. This process, known as the Socratic
Method, encourages divergent thinking rather than convergent. Students are rearranged to
face each other in the classroom, and are given opportunities to examine a common piece of
work, whether it is in the form of a novel, poem, art print, or piece of music. After studying
the common piece, open-ended questions are posed. Open-ended questions allow students
to think critically, analyze multiple meanings in text, and express ideas with clarity and
confidence. Participants feel a certain degree of emotional safety when they understand that
this format is based on dialogue and is not necessarily a debate.
aerial view
Dialogue is exploratory and involves the suspension of biases and prejudices.
Discussion/debate is a transfer of information designed to win an argument and bring
closure. Once teachers and students learn to dialogue, they find that the ability to ask
meaningful questions that stimulate thoughtful interchanges of ideas is more important than
the answer. Participants in a Socratic Seminar respond to one another with respect by
carefully listening instead of interrupting. Students are encouraged to paraphrase
essential elements of anothers ideas before responding, either in support or in
disagreement. Members of the dialogue look each other in the eyes and use each others
names. This simple act of socialization reinforces appropriate behaviors and promotes team
building. Now imagine if a classroom flexed with these needs in mind and encouraged
dialogue.
view from
covered dining area
They started the design process by examining the standard classroom box. First, the
teaching wall is usually centered on one wall, all students facing forward. This follows the I
teach, you listen and take notes model of instruction. Second, the two sides and back wall
of the classroom are mostly used for hanging student work, fixed computer stations, large
displays, maps, or storage. Third, and most important, the corners of the box-shaped
classroom are largely unused for instruction due to the fact that they are hard to see from
the opposite sides of the room. These corners are often used as informal storage areas, or
clutter. The real estate that is usable for instruction on a 30 long teaching wall is actually
about 20 due to sight lines.
view from
second floor balcony
These realizations about the classroom box led them to a hexagon layout. With a hexagon,
the teacher has three walls instead of one for instruction, and each wall is centrally focused
back to the student to create a panoramic display. The walls can also integrate technology
such as smart boards, flat panel monitors, student voting/scorekeeping, sliding marker
boards with storage, and even fold out tables. And by introducing a hexagonal layout, both
standard classroom configurations (teacher lecturing class), and informal instruction (group
work/study sessions) work well within this configuration. Also, the connection between
classrooms is enhanced. With the box, there are three interior and one exterior connection,
however, the hexagon has two more walls to work with, so you can have up to five interior
connections.
learning environment
view inside
The hexagon shaped classroom is not a new idea. Past explorations had varying levels of
success based on the technology at the time. There are now a plethora of systems on the
market that perform at rates never before seen. From movable wall systems, to soundabsorbing materials, to resilient finishes, they now have the technology to make the
hexagon classroom a success.
inside new
learning environment
Sustainable strategies were integrated from the outset to create a space that was designed
for quick assembly/disassembly and built from recycled materials. They also explored
integrating photovoltaic panels, green screens, rainwater harvesting, chilled beam system,
dry fixtures, grey-water reuse, low carbon materials, and zero waste construction.
a hexagonal classroom
advantages of
In the case of the classroom, form follows function as the space conforms to the student and
teachers needs, not the other way around. Due to the uniformity of the shape, all beams,
columns, and wall panels/storefront systems can be the same size. Using Flex, the entire
school can be mass produced in a factory and shipped to the site for quick assembly. Also,
panels are interchangeable, and customization has endless possibilities. An interior modular
learning system can be integrated using a kit-of-parts to create endless configurations. The
hexagon can also be configured to accommodate a variety of spaces including but not
limited to administration, library, food service, multi-purpose, or indoor dining. Imagine the
infinite possibilities when new design solutions meet and direct the changing landscape of
classroom instruction.
modular
system
view inside learning environment
aerial view
inside new learning environment
view from covered dining area
Courtesy of HMC Architects
renewable strategies
modular system
advantages of a hexagonal classroom
various program configurations: library specialists
various program configurations: science labs
view from second floor balcony
UKs Moonstone Project Achieves Zero Carbon Rating with ArchiCAD

Articles

In Progress: Roberto Cantoral Music Hall / BROISSINarchitects
Articles
Cite:
Review: How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand
How Buildings Learn

Stewart Brand's quest for adaptive architecture
If you look at a photo of a city, any city, from fifty years ago, that city is going to look a lot different than
now. A hundred or more years ago, even existing buildings are unrecognizable. This may seem obvious,
yet surprisingly little thought is given to what happens after a building is built by designers or owners. A
building may change owners, change tenants, change uses, get a facelift, add on, tear down, reconfigure,
and so on. We are still using buildings that were built before mechanical heating and cooling was
commonplace, and libraries are now as full of computers as books. In fact, such changes are the rule
rather than the exception, yet little thought is given to this fact. Brand's book is an attempt to redress this
omission.
Brand's major thesis can be summed up in this quote: "A building is not something you finish. A building is
something you start." Brand is interested in the long-term -- what happens after the building is built, how
do people adapt it and adapt to it over time, and what kinds of modifications are made over the life of a
building which is often much longer than a human lifespan, and spends time looking at various case
studies in order to come up with a philosophy of how to build buildings that evolve over time
- "Evolutionary design is better than visionary design."
For the sake of use, buildings fall into three major categories - commercial, residential and institutional.
1.
Commercial buildings have to adapt quickly, often radically, because of intense competitive
pressure to perform, and they are subject to the rapid advances that occur in any industry.
2.
Domestic buildingshomesare the steadiest changers, responding directly to the family's
ideas and annoyances, growth and prospects.
3.
Institutional buildings act as if they were designed specifically to prevent change for the
organization inside and to convey timeless reliability to everyone outside. When forced to change anyway,
as they always are, they do so with expensive reluctance and all possible delay.
Brand considers the question by means of his experience in a brand new media lab designed by the
world famous modernist architect I.M. Pei, which he considers typical of "overdesigned" modernist
architecture focused on looks rather than daily use:
...Here was a building purpose-built to house a diverse array of disciplines and people collaborating on
deep research in fast-evolving computer and communication technologies. Consider in that light the
building's dominant feature--its vast, sterile atrium. In many research buildings a central atrium serves to
bring people together with open stairways, casual meeting areas, and a shared entrance where everyone
sees each other daily. The Media Lab's atrium cuts people off from each other. There are three widely
separated entrances (each huge and glassy), three elevators, few stairs, and from nowhere can you see
other humans in the five-story-high space. Where people might be visible, they are carefully obscured by
internal windows of smoked glass.
The atrium uses up so much of the building that actual working office and lab space is severely limited,
making growth and new programs nearly impossible and exacerbating academic turf battles from the first
day. Nowhere in the whole building is there a place for casual meetings, except for a tiny, overused
kitchen. Corridors are narrow and barren. Getting new cabling through the interior concrete walls--a
necessity in such a laboratory--requires bringing in jackhammers. You can't even move office walls
around, thanks to the overhead fluorescent lights being at a Pei-signature 45-degree angle to everything
else.
The Media Lab building, I discovered, is not unusually bad. Its badness is the norm in new buildings
overdesigned by architects. How did architects come to be such an obstacle to adaptivity in buildings?
That's a central question not just for building users but for the architectural profession, which regards itself
these years as being in crisis. Design professor C. Thomas Mitchell voices a common indictment:
"A range of observers of architecture are now suggesting that the field may be bankrupt, the profession
itself impotent, and the methods inapplicable to contemporary design tasks. It is further suggested that
collectively they are incapable of producing pleasant, livable, and humane environments, except perhaps
occasionally and then only by chance."pp 52-53
Brand contrasts this with the universally beloved Building 20 on the MIT campus. This building was not
designed by a famous architect, but quickly thrown up to provide a place for researchers to work on radar
projects during world War Two:
...But the most loved and legendary building of all at MIT is a surprise: a temporary building left over from
World War II without even a name, only a number: Building 20. It is a sprawling 250,000-square-foot
three-story wood structure"The only building on campus you can cut with a saw," says an admirer.
Constructed hastily in 1943 for the urgent development of radar and almost immediately slated for
demolition. When I last saw it in 1993, it was still in use and still slated for demolition. In 1978 The MIT
Museum assembled an exhibit to honor the perpetual fruitfulness of Building 20. The press release read:
Unusual flexibility made the building ideal for laboratory and experimental space. Made to support heavy
loads and of wood construction, it allowed a use of space which accommodated the enlargement of the
working either horizontally or vertically. Even the roof was used for short-term structures to house
equipment and test instruments. Although Building 20 was built with the intention to tear it down after the
end of World War II, it has remained these thirty-five years providing a special function and acquiring its
own history and anecdotes. Not assigned to any one school. department, or center, it seems to always
have had space for the beginning project, the graduate student's experiment, the interdisciplinary
research center.
...Building 20 was too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter, Spartan in its amenities, often dirty, and
implacably ugly. Whatever was the attraction? The organizers of a 1978 exhibit queried alumni of the
building and got illuminating answers. "Windows that open and shut at will of the owner (Martha Ditmeyer)
"The ability to personalize your space and shape it to various purposes. If you don't like a wall, just stick
your elbow through it." (Jonathan Allen). "If you want to bore a hole in the floor to get a little extra vertical
space, you do it. You don't ask. It's the best experimental building ever built." (Albert Hill) "One never
needs to worry about injuring the architectural or artistic value of the environment." (Morris Halle) "We feel
our space is really ours. We designed it, we run it. The building is full of small microenvironments, each of
which is different and each a creative space. Thus the building has a lot of personality. Also it's nice to be
in a building that has such prestige (Heather Lechtman)
In 1991 I asked Jerome Wiesner, retired president of MIT, why he thought that "temporary" Building 20
was still around after half a century. His first answer was practical: "At $300 a square foot, it would take
$75 million to replace." His next answer was aesthetic: "It's a very matter-of-fact building. It puts on the
personality of the people in it." His final answer was personal. When he was appointed president of the
university, he quietly kept a hideaway office in Building 20 because that was where "Nobody complained
when you nailed something to a door."
Every university has similar stories. Temporary is permanent, and permanent is temporary. Grand, finalsolution buildings obsolesce and have to be torn down because they were too overspecified to their
original purpose to adapt easily to anything else. Temporary buildings are thrown up quickly and roughly
to house temporary projects. Those projects move on soon enough, but they are immediately supplanted
by other temporary projects--of which, it turns out, there is an endless supply. The projects flourish in the
low supervision environment, free of turf battles because the turf isn't worth fighting over. "We did some of
our best work in the trailers, didn't we?" I once heard a Nobel-winning physicist remark. Low Road
buildings keep being valuable precisely because they are disposable.
pp. 25-28
Building 20, then is Brand's ideal of buildings - nothing too fancy, sturdy structure, flexible spaces that can
be adapted by the end users (he's a fan of wood for its malleability, "Wood is already the most adaptive of
all building materials because amateurs are comfortable messing with it" p.194), easily comprehensible
plan layout, common spaces for collaboration. It's easy to poke a hole and run new services as need be a must for the fast-changing technology of MIT. The users much favor usability over "high" design that
looks good in magazines or reflect some "genius" designer's personal style.
Had Brand stuck around MIT a bit longer, he would have an even more egregious example of brandname folly and overdesigning. The Stata Center by world-famous brand-name Frank Gehry had so many
problems that the owners sued Gehry and the construction company:
The Ray and Maria Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is an outlandish cartoon
village in listing brick and scrolling aluminum, with a Mbius-strip main corridor inside. An italic-angled
entrance, shaped like the cutting edge itself, ushers visitors off the drab Cambridge street. But then you
see it, that universal symbol of malfunction: an orange mechanical lift.
Yes, MIT, the very apogee of tech sophistication, seems to have bought itself a bright-yellow lemon. The
showstopper home for its computer-science, linguistics, and philosophy departments cost $300 million to
build ($200 million more than initial estimates) and opened in 2004 (four years behind schedule). And now
the school has turned to the courts to express its buyer's remorse. A lawsuit filed in October against both
the construction firm and the architect alleges "design and construction failures," negligence, and breach
of contract, which have cost the university $1.5 million in repairs already, with millions more likely to
come.
The suit grabbed headlines because the architect's name is Frank Gehry, fueling a backlash against
celebrity architects and their flashy designs. The go-to guy for this take is John Silber, the former
president of Boston University, who has just published a book called Architecture of the Absurd: How
"Genius" Disfigured a Practical Art. The Stata Center is on the cover.
This kerfuffle may have little to do with outward appearances, though. True, some of Gehry's other
buildings have been tweaked after opening their doors, as when the steel-sided Disney Concert Hall in
Los Angeles had to be sanded to remove a glare that could practically cook eggs on the sidewalk. And
occupants have questioned elements of the Stata Center's design. ("I still would prefer straight to slanted
walls, so as to put up bookshelves and a blackboard," says linguist Noam Chomsky, who has an office
there.)
Lost in the Funhouse (Fast Company)
On the other hand, the building has features that Brand would highly approve of:
The building will never be finished. Says Gehry: Im happy when the building is forgiving enough so you
can do things to it without destroying it. Put a new light where you want, knock out a wall. Says a Stata
linguist: Any kind of scientific work is always under construction, always still being built. When you
publish a book or a paper its never finished, its just a step on the way to the next one.
It occurred to Gehry long ago that his buildings looked more interesting while they were under
construction than when they were finished. Ever since, hes sought ways to give buildings that restless
sense of something still happening. Nothing about the Stata feels finished. Since it opened, its been in a
constant state of minor modification, as the researchers fit it to their needs. The architecture is a
metaphor for the science: always an open question, always a work in progress.
Not everyone loves the Statas unfinished indoor materials, which are raw metal, glass, plywood,
industrial lamps, exposed wires, and raw concrete. But they understand the motive, which is that Gehry
wanted his building to feel like a warehouse, easy to change and rearrange.
Theres lots of wasted space. Another winning move is the amazing amount of unprogrammed space. An
efficiency expert would call it a total waste. This is space that isnt anyones turf. Its everywhere. Its the
stuff of those village greens and generous elevator lounges. People grab it when they need it. A space
may become the overflow site for some experiment. Or students may clutter it with a newly invented
game, or an impromptu discussion or party. They eat and study anywhere and everywhere: The
undergraduates really mill in the building. Some of them walk in out of curiosity and end up working with
us.
Because so much space isnt under anyones direct supervision, the Stata feels free and relaxed. And the
openness means that its parts are visible to one another: People can be seen to be working. You can
see the building is alive. You can feel part of a community that is working hard. I used to have to go to a
conference on the West Coast to find out what the guy next to me was working on. Theres connectivity.
There are even windows in the fire stairs.
Does Gehry's Stata Center Really Work? (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Brand accuses architects of practicing "magazine architecture" -- designing novel buildings that
photograph well for inclusion in architecture magazines in order to win awards and attract new clients,
rather than delivering buildings that are practical, workable and adaptable:
At a building preservation conference in Charleston, South Carolina, I chatted with an architecture
student. Interested primarily in rehab and restoration work, she referred unflatteringly to the majority of
her 450 fellow students at the Tulane University Architecture Department as "magazine architects." By
which she meant image-driven and fad-driven architects, because architecture magazines probe no
deeper than the look and style of the buildings they cover. They never interview clients or users. They
never criticize buildings except, rarely, in terms of being bad art or off-trend. Articles consist primarily of
stylized color photographs. Reports cover only new or newly renovated buildings, often in language that
sounds like the "prismatic luminescence" school of fine writing. The subject is taste, not use; commercial
success, not operational success.
Architecture magazines are about what sells. They are advertising, cover to cover.
A major culprit is architectural photography, according to a group of Architecture Department faculty I had
lunch with at the University of California, Berkeley. Clare Cooper Marcus said it most clearly: "You get
work through getting awards, and the award system is based on photographs. Not use. Not context. Just
purely visual photographs taken before people start using the building." Tales were told of ambitious
architects specifically designing their buildings to photograph well at the expense of performing well.
Art must be inherently radical, but buildings are inherently conservative. Art must experiment to do its job.
Most experiments fail. Art costs extra. How much extra are you willing to pay to live in a failed
experiment? Art flouts convention. Convention became conventional because it works. Aspiring to art
means aspiring to a building that almost certainly cannot work, because the old good solutions are thrown
away. The roof has a dramatic new look, and it leaks dramatically.
The Gehry example above seems to prove the points - Gehry's amoebic forms dissolving into one
another seem tailor-made for photographs, but the projecting windows and irregular shapes cost more to
construct, are inherently less resistant to water and so must use complex sealants and waterproofing
systems subject to failure, and require overengineered structures just to stand up. But it looks good in a
magazine, and it reinforces the Gehry "brand," and that's all that matters. Users are usually concerned
with more mundane matters:
Does the building manage to keep the rain out? That's a core issue seldom mentioned in the magazines
but incessantly mentioned by building users, usually through clenched teeth. They can't believe it when
their expensive new building, by a famous architect, crafted with up-to-the-minute high-tech materials,
leaks. The flat roof leaks, the parapets leak, the Modernist right angle between roof and wall leaks, the
numerous service penetrations through the roof leak; the wall itself, made of a single layer of snazzy new
material and without benefit of roof overhang, leaks. In the 1980s, 80 percent of the ever-growing
postconstruction claims against architects were for leaks.
Architects, he says, are obsessed with the look of the building, that is, the surface facade, while giving
short shrift to such important things as the structure, the services, and the space planning:
A building's exterior is a strange thing to concentrate on anyway. All that effort goes into impressing the
wrong peoplepassers-by instead of the people who use the building. Only if there is a heavily trafficked
courtyard or garden do the building dwellers notice the exterior at all after the first few days. Most often
they don't even enter by way of the facade and big lobby; they come in by the garage door. And yet, ever
since the Renaissance, "the history of architecture is the history of facades." It is a massive misdirection
of money and design effort, considering how badly buildings need their fundamentals taken care of. Chris
Alexander is vehement: "Our present attitude is all reversed. What you have is extremely inexpensive
structure and all this glitz on the surface. The structure rots after thirty years, and the glitz is so expensive
that you daren't even fuck with it."
Architects got themselves stuck in the skin trade. Frank Duffy observes, "The only area of architectural
discretion in artistic or financial terms is the skin. The architectural imagination has allowed itself to be
well and truly marginalized." It happened because architects offered themselves as providers of instant
solutions, and only the look of a building gives instant gratification. When the space planning doesn't work
out and needs improvement, or the structure indeed rots, where's the architect? Long gone.
This leads Brand to a theory of adaptable buildings, or "steps toward an adaptive architecture." His idea is
that a building is actually a collection of several discrete interacting components, each of which exists for
a varying duration of time. For example, the site is often determined by lot lines extending back
generations (as in the case of London, for example). The structure often lasts for centuries and can
remain even with a new skin. But interior walls and services are apt to rapid change over the lifetime of
even a single user of the building, such as an expanding business. Things like furniture are constantly on
the move. Here he quotes British architect Frank Duffy, a former president or the RIBA, and theorist of
building change:
"Our basic argument is that there isn't such a thing as a building," says Duffy. "A building properly
conceived is several layers of longevity of built components." He distinguishes four layers, which he calls
Shell, Services, Scenery, and Set. Shell is the structure, which lasts the lifetime of the building (fifty years
in Britain, closer to thirty-five in North America). Services are the cabling, plumbing, air conditioning, and
elevators ("lifts"), which have to be replaced dropped ceilings, etc., which changes every five to seven
years. Set is the shifting of furniture by the occupants, often a matter of months or weeks.
A design imperative emerges: An adaptive building has to allow slippage between the differently-paced
systems of Site, Structure, Skin, Services, Space plan, and Stuff . Otherwise the slow systems block the
flow of the quick ones, and the quick ones tear up the slow ones with their constant change. Embedding
the systems together may look efficient at first, but over time it is the opposite. and destructive as well.
p.12
Brand redefines these discrete elements, from longest-lasting to highest turnover, as Site, Structure, Skin,
Services, and Stuff:
1.
Site: The geographical setting, the urban location, and the legally defined lot whose boundaries
and context outlast ephemeral buildings.
2.
Structure: the foundation and load-bearing elements. Architects would probably include what is
called the "core" --the vertical circulation elements such as stairs and elevators, since these are usually
constructed at the same time and are an integral part of the layout (and sometimes the structural design
as well. Brand classes elevators as services). He quotes Christopher Alexander saying a structure should
last for 300 years or more.
3.
Skin: the exterior surface of the building (architects would call this the weather barrier). Architects
also refer to this as the "Shell" - often "structure, and core and shell are separate construction packages
in modern fast-paced construction.
4.
Services: The working guts of a building, electrical wiring, plumbing, HVAC ducts,
communication and alarms, and moving parts like elevators and escalators. These Brand believes should
be very changeable as technology changes - "We overestimate technological change in the sort term and
underestimate it in the long term."
5.
Space Plan: The interior arrangement of doors and walls. "Turbulent commercial space can
change every 3 years or so, exceptionally quiet homes might wait 30 years."
6.
Stuff: Chairs, desks, sofas, bookshelves, computers, etc. "Furniture is called mobilia in Italian for
good reason."
Brand classifies two major approaches to adaptable building historically - the High Road - buildings that
are such high quality and design that they remain for centuries, often becoming subject to historical
preservation statutes, and the Low Road - utilitarian vernacular buildings where no one cares what you do
to them over time, and thus are endlessly adaptable though adaptive re-use, additions, renovations, etc.
A Low Road building needs only to be roomy and cheap. Structurally it should be robust enough to take
the major changes in use it will attract. Finish can be minimal and ornament modest or absent entirely.
Initial Services can be rudimentary. Design it primarily for storage and it will soon attract creative human
occupants. p.194
The High Road examples he uses are three presidential estates that have existed in one form or another
to the present day: George Washington's Mount Vernon, James Madison's Montpelier, and Thomas
Jefferson's Monticello. Perhaps not surprisingly it is Jefferson, the architect's house, which is the most
resistant to change. He also looks at Boston's Athenaeum library and the Chatsworth estate in England
(contemporary readers might wish to imagine Downton Abbey, especially it's latest incarnation as a
museum/tourist attraction/filming set):
Whereas Low Road buildings are successively gutted and begun anew, High Road buildings are
successively refined. These are precisely the two principal strategies of biological populations--the
opponent versus the preserver: "R-strategy" versus "K-strategy" in the jargon. It is the difference between
annual and perennial plants--between weeds like dandelions which scatter profuse seeds to the winds,
and dominant species like oak trees, which nurture their few acorns and then build an environment that
protects the next generation. Individuals of opportunistic species are typically small, short-lived, and
independent, putting all their energy into productivity. Preserver species are more often large, long-lived,
densely interdependent and competitive, rationing their energy for high efficiency.
The sustained complexity of High Road buildings leads in the fullness of time to rich specialization. they
cannot help becoming unique. they respond to so many hidden forces, they are in part mysterious,
sustained by subtleties. At the same time they are filled with obsolete oddities, preserved out of habit until
odd new uses are found for them. (Where can we string the new fiberoptic cable? How about the old
laundry chute?) High road buildings are common, but the points I want to make about them are best
demonstrated in extreme examples.
pp. 38
"Beauty is in what time does," says Frank Duffy. Something strange happens when a building ages past a
human generation or two. Any building older than 100 years will be considered beautiful, no matter what.
Having outlived its period of being out of fashion, plus several passing fashions since that, it is beyond
fashion. If it has kept High Road continuity, the whole place is highly adapted, complex and mysterious, a
keeper of secrets. Since few buildings live so long, it has earned the stature of rarity and the respect we
give longevity. p. 91
Both strategies work, as long as you stay away from Magazine architecture - the "no road" approach:
If you want a lovable building, a strategic decision needs to be made right at the beginning. The design
and construction can fruitfully take either the High Road or Low Road, toward beloved permanence or
toward beloved disposability. The High Road requires Structure built to last and some areas of very high
finish indeed, particularly with the Skin and at least some interiors, to set a high standard for future work.
The major threat to an urban High Road building over time is shifting real-estate values, so either a
financial endowment or great public esteem is needed to protect the property. A Low Road building needs
only to be roomy and cheap. Structurally it should be robust enough to take the major changes in use it
will attract. Finish can be minimal and ornament modest or absent entirely. Initial Services can be
rudimentary. Design it primarily for storage and it will soon attract creative human occupants. p. 193-194
Not surprisingly, Brand is a fan of vernacular architecture--"everything not designed by professional
architects in other words, most of the world's buildings." Vernacular buildings are adapted from a long
period of trial and error to a unique locale and incorporate generations of knowledge of how to solve
problems and provide for comfort and durability in a particular climate. Examples featured prominently
include the Medieval three-aisled structures, New England saltbox (Cape Cod) homes, bungalows of the
1920-1930, Santa-Fe style, which has been successfully updated to make Santa Fe a leading tourist
destination, and Victorian Painted Ladies, which have contributed to San Francisco's postcard charm (and
sky-high property values). He thoroughly renounces and criticizes novel structures like the geodesic
domes which he played such a huge role in popularizing as the publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog:
Vernacular building traditions have the attention span to incorporate generational knowledge about longterm problems such as maintaining and growing a building over time. High-style architecture likes to solve
old problems in new ways, which is a formula for disaster, according to Dell Upton at the University of
California. Vernacular builders, he says, are content to accept well-proven old solutions to old problems.
Then they can concentrate all their design ingenuity strictly on new problems, it any. When the standard
local root design works pretty well, and materials and skills are readily available for later repair, why would
you mess with that?
Brand includes other ideas such as scenario planning taken from military and corporate planning boards
to take programming a step further and anticipate future changes rather than just present uses. He talks
about the Post Occupancy Evaluation done by architects and how it should be standard practice. He
cites the example of John Abrams, a residential builder in Martha's Vineyard who photographs each wall
of a home after the services are installed but before the drywall goes on and keys them to a set of floor
plans. He celebrates "the romance of maintenance" as an all-too-neglected portion of building creation
and ownership "If you want a building to learn, you have to pays its tuition. p.190"
He gives various tips on what an adaptive building should incorporate:
The simpler a roofpitched, of coursethe less it leaks or needs maintenance. Complexity can come
later if it must. Roofs that are built fussy at the beginning are an obstacle to later change. The more a roof
overhangs, the better it protects the walls from sun and rain. The lighter the color of the roof, the better it
will stand up to solar deterioration, keep the building cool, and lessen the stress of temperature change in
the roof materials.
Walls...should be vertical and should begin flat and simple, like a good initial roof. They should invite easy
penetration with new doors or windows. This is the great attraction of stud walls. p.195...external walls
can take either a High Road or Low Road approach, encouraging either permanence or change. Low
Road walls offer a further choicethey can be funky or high tech. One of the best of the funky is the
highly forgiving board-and-batten. For high-tech Low Road walls, the current acme is the variations on
Dryvit known in the trade as "exterior insulation and finish systems" (EIFS). High Road walls are nearly
always masonry. Stone is grander. Brick is more adaptable...
I favor keeping Services separate from Skin as well as from Structure...The conservative tacticat higher
initial costof installing overcapacity electrical feeders and breakers, oversize chases, and an apparent
excess of outlets is nearly always rewarded. The general rule is: oversize your components....Anticipate
greater connectivity always. All new buildings should have extra conduit laid throughouttwo or three or
more vacant half-inch plastic conduits with labeled string hanging out of the ends waiting for unplanned
phone lines, speaker leads, computer wires, coaxial cable, or what have you.
As for shape: be square. The only configuration of space that grows well and subdivides well and is really
efficient to use is the rectangle. ...If you start boxy and simple, outside and in, then you can let
complications develop with time, responsive to use. Prematurely convoluted surfaces are expensive to
build, a nuisance to maintain, and hard to change...The way rooms and floors are laid out can be crucial
for a building's resilience to changing times... p. 192
The book is consistent with Brand's ideas about long-term thinking and sustainability, which influenced his
creation of the Long Now Foundation. Buildings should be built with the long-term use in mind, not as
jewels for magazine covers. They will change over time, it's just a matter of how much and how seamless
that process is, even if the ultimate change is tearing the thing down.
A host of "alternative" architecture thinkers are found in the pages of the book - Christopher Alexander,
Jane Jacobs, Leon Krier, Frank Duffy, Joel Garreau, Lloyd Kahn, along with quotes from other thinkers
(Henry Glassie, Ivan Ilich, Gregory Bateson, et al.)
Ironically, the years since Brand's book was published has seen a resurgence in the conversion of old
industrial buildings to new uses such as lofts, apartments, condominiums, offices and art galleries. These
are being done in older post-industrial neighborhoods from Brooklyn and Soho to the Pearl District in
Portland, and everywhere in between including the Rust Belt. The very things that make this possible sturdy, fireproof structures of concrete and heavy timber, regular structural grids, wide open floor plates,
high ceilings, wood stud walls, square and rectangular building shapes, low-maintenance brick walls with
operable windows and skylights, lots of extra floor space - are precisely what Brand recommends be
incorporated into new buildings to make them viable in the long term.
While Brand has a lot of good advice, and his outsider prespective is refreshing, it's hard to see it being
widley taken up in a world where architects are busy putting up condominium towers and building art
galleries and shopping malls for the one percent in wealthy urban enclaves like Manhattan and Dubai,
while older neighborhoods succumb to foreclosure blight and are being bulldozed . As investment
manager Jeremy Grantham put it, "Capitalism doesn't care about your grandchildren." Still, there's plenty
to chew on here for people who are looking for a more adaptive, resilient and humane architecture that
creates a sense of place beyond the needs of short-term profit. While it doesn't get the headlines of Frank
Gehry or Zaha Hadid, good, small-scale solutions are being built along these lines in various locations
around the world, and from these we could learn to build a new type of architecture that is built around
human needs, resilience, durability and adaptability, rather than novelty, fashion and luxury. See this
good example of co-housing from Germany:
R50 cohousing is a new model typology for low-cost and affordable housing offering a maximum
capacity for adaptation and flexibility throughout its lifetime. Social, cultural, economic and ecological
aspects have been considered equally to define a contemporary sustainable approach to urban
living...Meeting the owners aspiration for collective and affordable living and working, the architectural
concept is based on a compact and efficient structure with carefully detailed connections on different
scales. It is based on a concrete skeleton with one access and two service cores, an independent timber
facade and a suspended steel construction for the all around balconies. A slightly sunken basement level
provides access to the building and merges private and public spaces. Each apartment and all additional
community spaces were developed by an intensive process of consultations, discussions and design.
Based on the structural framework the sizes of apartments could be determined and individual
requirements accommodated in the floor plans. In parallel to this process, a common standard for fixtures
and fittings was developed and defined, which has resulted in a collective approach to interior fittings, the
use of materials and some surfaces left unfinished, whilst allowing individual layouts of the apartments.
This kind of structured yet open design process has not only allowed for extensive participation, selfdirected design and self-building, but has also led to mutual agreement on the type, location, size and
design of spaces shared by residents.
R50 Cohousing / ifau und Jesko Fezer + HEIDE & VON BECKERATH (Arch Daily)
Another great example is incremental hosing designed to help repair slums, such as The Quinta Monroy
houses in Chile. Residents start with the gray, concrete structure and foundations, then fill in the adjacent
spaces with their own materials over time.
Has This Chilean Architect Figured Out How To Fix Slums? (Mother Jones)
In the waterside slums of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, 480,000 residents face the threat of displacement as the
government seeks to redevelop their land, claiming urban renewal is necessary for economic
development. But Kunl Adeyemi has an alternative solution. He envisages a city of floating homes that
would allow residents to remain within their community, and safe from rising tides, while at the same time
improving the quality of their lives.
In Pakistan, Yasmeen Lari is applying skills learned building vast commercial structures and restoring
historic national monuments to help communities at risk from flood and earthquake damage. She has built
more than 36,000 safe homes and won the UN Recognition Award in the process.
But perhaps most striking of all are the buildings of the Vietnamese architect Vo Trong Nghia. Since the
economic boom of the 2000s, population and pollution in the country has soared. Only 2.5% of Ho Chi
Minh City is green space and nine in 10 children under five suffer respiratory illness. Nghia is combatting
these problems with green architecture: buildings infused with living plants and trees. Vietnamese cities
have lost their tropical beauty, he says. For a modern architect the most important mission is to bring
green spaces back.
Rebel architects: building a better world (Guardian)
Number of toilets required in buildings

How many toilets are required for employees who work inside buildings?
The requirements for toilet pans and urinals in buildings are set out in the New Zealand
Building Code, which is part of the Building Regulations 1992, administered by
the Department of Building and Housing. The requirements depend on the building use,
including whether the toilets will be used by employees only, or by members of the public as
well.
The following tables set out the numbers to be provided in commercial and industrial
premises used by employees only. Refer to the Building Code Approved Document Clause
G1: Personal Hygiene for further details and requirements in other situations.
Unisex toilet facilities
Design occupancy
Number
15
630
Greater than 30
add 1 per 40
Separate toilet facilities females
Design occupancy
Number
110
1150
5190
Greater than 90
add 1 per 60
Separate toilet facilities males (toilet pans only)
Design occupancy
Number
110
1150
5190
Greater than 90
add 1 per 60
Separate toilet facilities males (toilet pans and urinals)
Toilet pans
Urinals
Design occupancy
Number
Design occupancy
Number
110
1150
1160
151550
61120
Greater than 550
add 1 per 450
Greater than 120
add 1 per 80
Date Modified: Wednesday, 9 December 2009

Disclaimer: The content on this website covers common problems. It will not answer every question and
should not be used as a substitute for legislation or legal advice.State sector employers and employees may
be affected by some differences in the laws that apply to them (e.g. State Sector Act 1988).The Department
of Labour takes no responsibility for the results of any actions taken on the basis of information on this
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SECTION 2902 MINIMUM PLUMBING FACILITIES

[P] 2902.1 Minimum number of fixtures.
Plumbing fixtures shall be provided for the type of occupancy and in the minimum number shown
in Table 2902.1. Types of occupancies not shown in Table 2902.1 shall be considered individually
by thebuilding official. The number of occupants shall be determined by this code. Occupancy
classification shall be determined in accordance with Chapter 3.
[P] TABLE 2902.1 MINIMUM NUMBER OF REQUIRED PLUMBING
FIXTURESa (See Sections 2902.2 and 2902.3)
N CLASSIFI OCCUP DESCRI

WATER
LAVAT BATHT DRINKING OT
o CATION ANCY PTION CLOSETS
ORIES UBS/ FOUNTAIN HE
.
(URINALS
SHOW
Se,f
R
SEE
ERS
(SEE
SECTION
SECTION
419.2 OF
410.1 OF
THEINTERN
THEINTER
ATIONAL
NATIONAL
PLUMBING
PLUMBING
CODE)
CODE)
M
MAL FEMAL
FEM
AL
E
E
ALE
E
1 Assembly
(continued
)
A-1d
A-2d
Theaters
and
other
building
s for the 1 per 1 per
performi 125
65
ng arts
and
motion
pictures
Nightclu
bs, bars,
taverns,
dance
halls
1 per 1 per
and
1 per 75
40
40
building
s for
similar
purpose
s
Restaura
nts,
banquet 1 per 1 per
halls
75
75
and food
courts
A-3d
1 per
200
Auditori 1 per 1 per

ums
125
65
without
permane
nt
seating,
art
galleries
1 per
200
1 per
200
1 per 500
1
serv
ice
sink
1 per 500
1
serv
ice
sink
1 per 500
1
serv
ice
sink
1 per 500
1
serv
ice
sink
,
exhibitio
n halls,
museum
s,
lecture
halls,
libraries,
arcades
and
gymnasi
ums
Passeng
er
terminal
1 per 1 per
s and
500
500
transpor
tation
facilities
Places of
worship
and
1 per 1 per
other
150
75
religious
services
1 per
750
1 per
200
1
serv
1 per 1,000
ice
sink
1
serv
1 per 1,000
ice
sink
(continued)
[P] TABLE 2902.1continued MINIMUM NUMBER OF REQUIRED PLUMBING FIXTURES a
N CLASSIF OCCU DESCR WATER LAVAT BATHT

o ICATIO PANC IPTIO CLOSETS ORIES UBS/
.
N
Y
N
(URINALS
SHOW
SEE
ERS
SECTION
419.2 OF
THEINTER
NATIONA
DRINKIN OT
G
HE
FOUNTAI R
NSe,f
(SEE
SECTION
410.1 OF
THEINTE
L
PLUMBIN
G CODE )
RNATION
AL
PLUMBIN
G CODE)
M FE
MAL FEM
AL MA
E
ALE
E LE
1 Assembly
A-4
A-5
Coliseu
ms,
arenas,
skating
rinks,
pools
and
tennis
courts
for
indoor
sportin
g
events
and
activitie
s
1 per
75
for
the
first
1,50
0 and
1 per
120
for
the
remai
nder
excee
ding
1,50
0
1 per
40
for
the
first
1,52
0
and
1 per
60
for
the
rema
inder
exce
edin
g
1,52
0
Stadiu
ms,
amuse
ment
parks,
bleache
rs and
grandst
ands
for
outdoor
sportin
g
events
1 per
75
for
the
first
1,50
0 and
1 per
120
for
the
remai
nder
excee
1 per
40
for
the
first
1,52
0
and
1 per
60
for
the
rema
inder
1
pe 1
r per
20 150
0
1 1
pe per
r 150
20
0
1 per
1,000
1 per
1,000
1
ser
vic
e
sin
k
1
ser
vic
e
sin
k
exce
and
ding edin
activitie 1,50 g
s
0
1,52
0
2 Business
Educatio
nal
Buildin
gs for
the
transac
tion of
busines
s,
professi
onal
service
s, other
service
s
involvin
g
mercha
ndise,
office
buildin
gs,
banks,
light
industri
al and
similar
uses
Educati
onal
facilitie
s
Factory
F-1 Structu
and
and F- res in
1 per 25
for the first
50 and 1
per 50 for
the
remainder
exceeding
50
1 per
40 for
the
first 80
and 1
per 80
for the
remain
der
exceedi
ng 80
1 per 50
1 per
50
1 per 100
1 per
1
ser
vic
1 per 100
e
sin
kg
1
ser
vic
1 per 100
e
sin
k
See
1 per 400 1
Section
ser
industrial
5 Institutio
nal
which
occupa
nts are
engage
d in
work
fabricat
ing,
assemb
ly or
process
ing of
product
s or
materia
ls
I-1
Residen
tial
care
I-2
Hospita
ls,
ambula
tory
nursing
home
care
recipie
ntb
Employ
ees,
other
than
residen
tial
careb
100
1 per 10
1 per per
roomc
1 per 25
411 of
theInte
rnation
al
Plumbi
ng
Code
vic
e
sin
k
1 per
10
1
ser
vic
1 per 8 1 per 100
e
sin
k
1 per
per
roomc
1
ser
vic
1 per 100
e
sin
k
1 per
35
1 per
15
1 per 100
Visitors
, other
than
residen
tial
care
I-3
I-3
Prisons
b
Reform
atories,
detenti
on
centers
and
correcti
onal
centers
1 per 75
1 per cell
1 per
100
1 per
cell
1 per 500
1 per
15
1
ser
vic
1 per 100
e
sin
k
1
ser
vic
1 per 100
e
sin
k
1 per 15
1 per
15
1 per
15
1 per 25
1 per
35
1 per 100
1
ser
vic
1 per 100
e
sin
k
Employ
eesb
I-4
Adult
day
care
and
child
day
care
1 per 15
1 per
15
(continued)
[P] TABLE 2902.1continued MINIMUM NUMBER OF REQUIRED PLUMBING
FIXTURESa (See Sections 2902.2 and 2902.3)
WATER
CLOSET
S
DRINKI
(URINA
NG
LS SEE
FOUNT
SECTIO
AINSe,f
LAVA
BATH
N 419.2
(SEE
TORI
TUBS
OF
SECTIO
ES
N CLASS OCC DESC THEINT
OT
N 410.1
o IFICA UPA RIPT ERNATI
OR
HE
OF
. TION NCY ION ONAL
SHO
R
THEINT
WER
PLUMBI
ERNATI
S
NG
ONAL
CODE)
PLUMB
ING
M FE
CODE)
MA FEM A M
LE ALE L AL
E E
Mercan
tile
Retail
store
s,
servic
e
statio
ns,
shops
,
salesr
ooms
,
mark
ets
and
shop
ping
cente
rs
1 per
500
1 per
750
7 Reside R-1 Hotel

1 per 1 per 1 per
s,
sleeping sleepi sleepi
1 per
1,000
1
ser
vice
sink
g
1
ser
ntial
motel
s,
board
ing
house
s
(tran
sient)
unit
ng
unit
ng
unit
Dorm
itorie
s,
frater
nities
,
sorori
1 per 1 per
R-2 ties
1 per 10
10
8
and
board
ing
house
s (not
transi
ent)
R-2 Apart
1 per 1 per 1 per
ment dwelling dwelli dwelli
house
unit
ng
ng
unit unit
vice
sink
1 per
100
1
ser
vice
sink
1
kitc
hen
sink
per
dw
elli
ng
unit
;1
aut
om
atic
clot
hes
was
her
con
nec
tion
per
20
dw
elli
ng
unit
s
Oneand
1 per
two1 per
1 per dwelli
R-3 famil dwelling
10
ng
y
unit
unit
dwelli
ngs
R-3 Congr 1 per 10 1 per 1 per

egate
10
8
living
faciliti
es
1 per
100
1
kitc
hen
sink
per
dw
elli
ng
unit
;1
aut
om
atic
clot
hes
was
her
con
nec
tion
per
dw
elli
ng
unit
1
ser
vice
sink
with
16 or
fewer
perso
ns
Congr
egate
living
faciliti
es
1 per 1 per
R-4
1 per 10
with
10
8
16 or
fewer
perso
ns
Struc
tures
for
the
stora
ge of
goods
,
ware
house
s,
Storag S-1
8
store
e
S-2
house
s and
freigh
t
depot
s, low
and
mode
rate
hazar
d
1 per
100
See
Secti
on
411
of
1 per
theIn
100
terna
tional
Plum
bing
Code
1 per
100
1
ser
vice
sink
1 per
1,000
1
ser
vice
sink
a. The fixtures shown are based on one fixture being the minimum required for the
number of persons indicated or any fraction of the number of persons indicated.
The number of occupants shall be determined by this code.
b. Toilet facilities for employees shall be separate from facilities for inmates or care
recipients.
c. A single-occupant toilet room with one water closet and one lavatory serving not
more than two adjacent patient sleeping units shall be permitted where such room
is provided with direct access from each patient sleeping unit and with provisions
for privacy.
d. The occupant load for seasonal outdoor seating and entertainment areas shall be
included when determining the minimum number of facilities required.
e. The minimum number of required drinking fountains shall comply with Table
2902.1 and Chapter 11.
f. Drinking fountains are not required for an occupant load of 15 or fewer.
g. For business and mercantile occupancies with an occupant load of 15 or fewer,
service sinks shall not be required.
[P] 2902.1.1 Fixture calculations.

To determine the occupant load of each sex, the total occupant load shall be divided in
half. To determine the required number of fixtures, the fixture ratio or ratios for each
fixture type shall be applied to the occupant load of each sex in accordance with Table
2902.1. Fractional numbers resulting from applying the fixture ratios of Table 2902.1
shall be rounded up to the next whole number. For calculations involving multiple
occupancies, such fractional numbers for each occupancy shall first be summed and then
rounded up to the next whole number.
Exception: The total occupant load shall not be required to be divided in half
where approved statistical data indicate a distribution of the sexes of other than 50
percent of each sex.
[P] 2902.1.2 Family or assisted-use toilet and bath fixtures.
Fixtures located within family or assisted-use toilet and bathing rooms required
by Section 1109.2.1 are permitted to be included in the number of required fixtures for
either the male or female occupants in assembly and mercantile occupancies.
[P] 2902.2 Separate facilities.
Where plumbing fixtures are required, separate facilities shall be provided for each sex.
Exceptions:
1. Separate facilities shall not be required for dwelling units and sleeping units.
2. Separate facilities shall not be required in structures or tenant spaces with a
total occupant load, including both employees and customers, of 15 or less.
3. Separate facilities shall not be required in mercantile occupancies in which the
maximum occupant load is 100 or less.
[P] 2902.2.1 Family or assisted-use toilet facilities serving as separate
facilities.
Where a building or tenant space requires a separate toilet facility for each sex and each
toilet facility is required to have only one water closet, two family/assisted-use toilet
facilities shall be permitted to serve as the required separate facilities. Family or assisteduse toilet facilities shall not be required to be identified for exclusive use by either sex as
required by Section 2902.4.
[P] 2902.3 Employee and public toilet facilities.
Customers, patrons and visitors shall be provided with public toilet facilities in structures and
tenant spaces intended for public utilization. The number of plumbing fixtures located within the
required toilet facilities shall be provided in accordance with Section 2902.1 for all users.
Employees shall be provided with toilet facilities in all occupancies. Employee toilet facilities shall
either be separate or combined employee and public toilet facilities.
Exception: Public toilet facilities shall not be required in open or enclosed parking garages. Toilet
facilities shall not be required in parking garages where there are no parking attendants.
[P] 2902.3.1 Access.

The route to the public toilet facilities required by Section 2902.3 shall not pass through
kitchens, storage rooms or closets. Access to the required facilities shall be from within
the building or from the exterior of the building. All routes shall comply with the
accessibility requirements of this code. The public shall have access to the required toilet
facilities at all times that the building is occupied.
[P] 2902.3.2 Location of toilet facilities in occupancies other than malls.
In occupancies other than covered and open mall buildings, the required public and
employee toilet facilities shall be located not more than one story above or below the
space required to be provided with toilet facilities, and the path of travel to such facilities
shall not exceed a distance of 500 feet (152 m).
Exception: The location and maximum travel distances to required employee facilities in
factory and industrial occupancies are permitted to exceed that required by this section,
provided that the location and maximum travel distance are approved.
[P] 2902.3.3 Location of toilet facilities in malls.
In covered and open mall buildings, the required public and employee toilet facilities shall
be located not more than one story above or below the space required to be provided
with toilet facilities, and the path of travel to such facilities shall not exceed a distance of
300 feet (91 440 mm). In mall buildings, the required facilities shall be based on total
square footage (m2) within a covered mall building or within the perimeter line of an open
mall building, and facilities shall be installed in each individual store or in a central toilet
area located in accordance with this section. The maximum travel distance to central
toilet facilities in mall buildings shall be measured from the main entrance of any store or
tenant space. In mall buildings, where employees toilet facilities are not provided in the
individual store, the maximum travel distance shall be measured from the employees
work area of the store or tenant space.
[P] 2902.3.4 Pay facilities.
Where pay facilities are installed, such facilities shall be in excess of the required
minimum facilities. Required facilities shall be free of charge.
[P] 2902.3.5 Door locking.
Where a toilet room is provided for the use of multiple occupants, the egress door for the
room shall not be lockable from the inside of the room. This section does not apply to
family or assisted-use toilet rooms.
[P] 2902.4 Signage.
Required public facilities shall be designated by a legible sign for each sex. Signs shall be readily
visible and located near the entrance to each toilet facility. Signs for accessible toilet facilities
shall comply with Section 1110.
[P] 2902.4.1 Directional signage.

Directional signage indicating the route to the public facilities shall be posted in
accordance with Section 3107. Such signage shall be located in a corridor or aisle, at the
entrance to the facilities for customers and visitors.
[P] 2902.5 Drinking fountain location.
Drinking fountains shall not be required to be located in individual tenant spaces provided that
public drinking fountains are located within a travel distance of 500 feet of the most remote
location in the tenant space and not more than one story above or below the tenant space.
Where the tenant space is in a covered or open mall, such distance shall not exceed 300 feet.
Drinking fountains shall be located on an accessible route.
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Flood mitigation solutions in buildings (part one)
Flood mitigation solutions in buildings (part one)

by Anthony Lymath
Architect/Technical Author, NBS
Overview
Barely a year seems to pass nowadays without flooding being a feature of the national news. It is an emotive subject
due to the degree of devastation it can cause not only can severe flooding endanger life, but even at moderate
levels can lead to substantial damage and disruption to normal patterns of life. Water source contamination and
inhibited access are significant problems, coupled with the ease with which internal fixtures and decorations can be
damaged irreparably. A flooded house can be uninhabitable for months, and subsequent insurance costs can rise
considerably as a result. And now the UK governments plans to overhaul their flood-cover agreement with the
insurance industry are coming under scrutiny, over concerns that a significant proportion of the population could find
their property not only uninsurable, but also un-mortgageable and, in extreme cases, unsellable. Fortunately there are
a number of measures that can be taken to minimise both the risks and impact of flood damage, both for new
development and for existing buildings.
Flood avoidance strategies for new buildings

At the outset of a project, preliminary issues such as building siting and orientation, landform/topography and site
location should all be considered, with respect to the proximity of the development to areas of potential flooding.
Consultation with the Environment Agency (EA) and relevant Lead Local Flood Authoritys (LLFA) extensive flood risk
information services should form part of the initial site analysis and data searches, to ascertain current and future risk
of flooding from the various different sources. This information should be used to identify the development site at
lowest risk of flooding, from those available.
Planning legislation
Under the previous legislation, Planning Policy Statement PPS25 in England and Wales sought to discourage
building on floodplains without first undertaking a flood risk assessment, followed by the setting of minimum floor
heights above predicted flood levels. The subsequent replacement by the National Planning Policy
Framework (NPPF) broadens the requirement for Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to adopt proactive strategies to
mitigate and adapt to climate change, taking full account of flood risk, coastal change and water supply and demand
considerations.
... the essence of the policy is safeguarding land from development that is required for
current and future flood management.
Planning policy on the issue of flood risk is quite explicit, and follows a specific sequence of measures. The
procedure is set out in the NPPF and its supporting Technical Guidance document, and is summarised below.
However, the essence of the policy is safeguarding land from development that is required for current and future
flood management.
Initially, the LPA conducts a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA), which evaluates flood risk across the extent of
the area under their control. This SFRA supports and informs the Local Plan, in conjunction with the Flood Zone
maps produced by the EA and LLFA, enabling them to target future development away from areas at highest risk of
flooding.
The SFRA is also used to inform the sustainability appraisal (incorporating the Strategic Environmental Assessment
Directive) of local development documents, and will provide the basis from which to apply the Sequential Test and
Exception Test, in both the development allocation and development control processes. These tests are described
below.
The EA (and also, now, the LLFA, who is typically the Local Authority [LA]) produce detailed flood maps which until
recently have only identified sea and river flooding, ignoring the presence of existing defences. However, flood risk is
defined in the Technical Guidance document as including all sources of flooding and surface water-flood maps have
now been added to the EA website. These maps classify flood risk into one of three categories, numbered Flood
Zone 1, 2, 3 respectively. Zone 3 is further broken down into a and b subdivisions. Flood Zones 2 and 3 are
illustrated on the maps, whereas Zone 1 (the lowest risk) is deemed to comprise all other land. The NPPF states that
the overall aim should be to steer new development to Flood Zone 1, but that where development is necessary, it
should be made safe without increasing flood risk elsewhere.
Flood Zone 1 is defined as Low Probability with a less than 0.1% (1:1000) annual probability
of river or sea flooding. Development proposals on sites over one hectare, must be supported by
a Site-Specific Flood Risk Assessment (SSFRA). This must consider the vulnerability to
flooding from all sources (including river and sea flooding), as well as the potential to increase
the risk of flooding elsewhere due to surface water run-off from hard surfaces within those
development proposals. It should also demonstrate how these flood risks will be managed so that
the development remains safe throughout its lifetime, taking climate change into account.
Furthermore, an evacuation plan for the development should be prepared, in consultation with
the emergency services. There is no restriction on the type of development which may take place
in this Zone.
Minor developments are unlikely to raise significant flood risk issues unless they
would have an adverse effect on a watercourse, floodplain or its flood defences;
would impede access to flood defence and management facilities; or where the
cumulative impact of such developments would have a significant effect on local
flood storage capacity or flood flows. Technical Guidance, NPPF
Flood Zone 2, Medium Probability, is classified as having a risk of either:
between 1% and 0.1% probability of river flooding; or

between 0.5% and 0.1% probability of sea flooding.
Only certain types (listed in the table below) of development are considered appropriate for this
Zone, and all development proposals in this Zone (and above) must be accompanied by a
SSFRA.
Flood Zone 3a is defined as High Probability, with a greater than 1% chance of annual river
flooding, or greater than 0.5% sea flooding risk.
More vulnerable uses, and essential infrastructure, should only be allowed in this Zone if the
Exception Test is passed (see below), and that infrastructure should be designed to be immune to
flooding.
Flood Zone 3b is the floodplain land itself, and only water-compatible uses should be
permitted. Even then, no net loss of floodplain storage should result; water flows should not be
impeded; and flood risk should not be increased elsewhere as a result.
The following table, adapted from the NPPF Technical Guidance document, illustrates the types of development that
are considered suitable for each Flood Zone.
Flood Zone
1
Flood Zone 2
Flood Zone 3a
Flood Zone
3b
Essential
infrastructure
Appropriate
Appropriate
Appropriate
Appropriate
Highly vulnerable
Appropriate
Exception Test
required
Not appropriate
Not
appropriate
More vulnerable
Appropriate
Appropriate
Exception Test
required
Not
appropriate
Less vulnerable
Appropriate
Appropriate
Appropriate
Not
appropriate
Water-compatible
Appropriate
Appropriate
Appropriate
Appropriate
The development classifications themselves are as follows (adapted from the NPPF Technical Guidancedocument):
Essential
infrastruct
ure
Essential transport infrastructure (including mass evacuation

routes) which has to cross the area at risk.
Essential utility infrastructure which has to be located in a
flood risk area for operational reasons, including electricity
generating power stations and grid and primary substations; and
water treatment works that need to remain operational in times
of flood.

Highly
vulnerable
More
vulnerable
Less
vulnerable
Wind turbines.
Police stations, ambulance stations and fire stations and
command centres and telecommunications installations required
to be operational during flooding.
Emergency dispersal points.
Basement dwellings.
Caravans, mobile homes and park homes intended for
permanent residential use. Sequential & Exception Tests required
for mobile- or park-home sites.
Installations requiring hazardous substances consent (see
Circular 04/00Planning controls for hazardous substances).
Where there is a demonstrable need to locate such installations
for bulk storage of materials with port or other similar facilities,
or such installations with energy infrastructure or carbon capture
and storage installations, that require coastal or water-side
locations, or need to be located in other high flood risk areas, in
these instances the facilities should be classified as essential
infrastructure. LPA also to take NPPF planning policy on pollution
into account.
Hospitals.
Residential institutions such as residential care homes,
childrens homes, social services homes, prisons and hostels.
Buildings used for dwelling houses, student halls of residence,
drinking establishments, nightclubs and hotels.
Nonresidential uses for health services, nurseries and
educational establishments.
Landfill and sites used for waste management facilities for
hazardous waste. For definition, see Planning for Sustainable
Waste Management: Companion Guide to Planning Policy
Statement 10.
Sites used for holiday or short-let caravans and camping,
subject to a specific warning and evacuation plan. Sequential &
Exception Tests required for mobile- or park-home sites.
Police, ambulance and fire stations which are not required to
be operational during flooding.
Buildings used for shops, financial, professional and other
services, storage and distribution, nonresidential institutions not
included in more vulnerable, and assembly and leisure.
Land and buildings used for agriculture and forestry.
Waste treatment (except landfill and hazardous waste
facilities).
Minerals working and processing (except for sand and gravel
working).
Water treatment works which do not need to remain
operational during times of flood.
Sewage treatment works (if adequate measures to control
pollution and manage sewage during flooding events are in

place).
Water
compatible
Flood control infrastructure.

Water transmission infrastructure and pumping stations.
Sewage transmission infrastructure and pumping stations.
Sand and gravel working.
Docks, marinas and wharves.
Navigation facilities.
Ministry of Defence defence installations.
Ship building, repairing and dismantling, dockside fish
processing and refrigeration and compatible activities requiring a
waterside location.
Water-based recreation (excluding sleeping accommodation).
Lifeguard and coastguard stations.
Amenity open space, nature conservation and biodiversity,
outdoor sports and recreation and essential facilities such as
changing rooms.
Essential ancillary sleeping or residential accommodation for
staff required by uses in this category, subject to a specific
warning and evacuation plan.
The NPPF Technical Guidance document notes three important points:
Where buildings combine a mixture of uses, they should be placed into the higher of the relevant classes of
flood risk sensitivity

Developments that allow uses to be distributed over the site may fall within several classes of flood risk
sensitivity
The impact of a flood on particular uses will vary from one to another, so the flood risk management and
mitigation measures may differ between uses within any particular vulnerability classification.
In all zones, developers and LAs should seek opportunities to reduce neighbourhood flood risk by virtue of the
design, siting and use of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS). The Floods and Water Management Act 2010
establishes a SuDS Approving Body in unitary or county councils. This body must approve drainage systems in new
developments and re-developments before construction begins. In Flood Zone 3a, there is a further requirement to
attempt to provide (or preserve) flood storage space on site; while in Zones 3a and 3b, they should also seek
opportunities to relocate existing development to land in lower-risk zones, where climate change is expected to
increase flood risk.
Any planning applications submitted to the LA are then considered against both the Local Plan and the SFRA, for
suitability from a flood risk point of view. In order to demonstrate compliance with the Local Plan from a flood risk
point of view, applications in all Flood Zones except Zone 1 must undergo a Sequential Test. This is based on the
SFRA (or on EA flood zones if this isnt available), and follows the principle that Development should not be allocated
or permitted if there are reasonably available siteswith a lower probability of flooding, and that Where there are no
reasonably available sites in Flood Zone 1 consider reasonably available sites in Flood Zone 2, applying the
Exception Test if required. And finally, only where there are no reasonably available sites in Flood Zones 1 or 2
should the suitability of sites in Flood Zone 3 be considered. Note that the Sequential Test isnt required if the LA
have already used it to prepare their development plan (and that the development proposals are in accordance with
that plan), although a SSFRA may still be required.
Then, if this is passed, and if Table 1 of the Technical Guidance document states that it is necessary, the Exception
Test should be applied. The details of the Exception Test are set out in the NPPF, but are described below.
The Exception Test requires that the development should
provide wider sustainability benefits to the community that outweigh flood risk; and the SSFRA must
demonstrate that the development will be safe for its lifetime without increasing flood risk elsewhere; and
where possible, reduce flood risk overall.
If both elements of the test are passed then the development may be approved. The following table, adapted from the
NPPF Technical Guidance document, outlines which types of development require the Exception Test, for the
different Flood Zones.
Watercompatible
uses
Highly
vulnerable
development
More
vulnerable
development
Less
vulnerable
development
Flood Development is
Zone appropriate in
1
principle
Development is
appropriate in
principle
Development is
appropriate in
principle
Development is
appropriate in
principle
Development is
appropriate in
principle
Flood Development is
Zone appropriate in
2
principle
Development is
appropriate in
principle
Exception Test
required
Development is
appropriate in
principle
Development is
appropriate in
principle
Flood
Exception Test
Zone
required
3a
Development is
appropriate in
principle
Development
should not be
permitted
Exception Test
required
Development is
appropriate in
principle
Flood
Exception Test
Zone
required
3b
Development is
appropriate in
principle
Development
should not be
permitted
Development
should not be
permitted
Development
should not be
permitted
Essential
infrastructure
Having considered the results of the Sequential Test (and the Exception Test, if required), the Local Planning
Authority (LPA) should only consider approval of appropriate development where
the site is organised to locate the most vulnerable development in areas of lowest flood risk if practicable;
that development is appropriately flood resilient and resistant; and
it incorporates SuDS.
A similar policy to the above applies to coastal areas, but the specific details are outside the scope of this article.
Notwithstanding the Sequential and Exception Test mechanisms that exist within planning policy, the key point to
remember is that building on flood plains should be avoided, as their purpose is to hold excess water in a safe place
away from development. Filling them with buildings achieves nothing more than moving the problem somewhere
else. It was recently reported that some councils five-year housing supply allocations fall within Flood Zone 3 land, at
least one of which was inundated in the February 2014 floods in the south east of England.
Next article: Flood mitigation solutions in buildings (part two)
Flood mitigation solutions in buildings (part two)

by Anthony Lymath
Architect/Technical Author, NBS
Overview
Flood avoidance strategies for new buildings (continued)

Building Regulations
As far as construction regulations in the UK and Republic of Ireland are concerned, the Scottish Building Standards,
Technical Handbook 3.3 Flooding and groundwater contains the most stringent requirements, stating that Every
building must be designed and constructed in such a way that there will not be a threat to the building or the health of
the occupants as a result of flooding and the accumulation of groundwater. There then follows extensive guidance
on surface flooding, flood risk assessment and resilient construction. Reference is made to the following:
Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

Scottish Planning Policy 7: Planning and flooding 2003 (SPP 7) now superseded by the Scottish Planning
Policy 2010
PAN 69 Planning and building standards advice on flooding
CIRIA document C624 Development and flood risk guidance for the construction industry 2004
English and Welsh Building Regulations refer to flooding in three separate Approved Documents:
Approved Document C Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture states that flood
resistance is not currently a requirement ... of the Building Regulations, thus putting the onus on best practice
rather than legislation. However, Sections 3 (Subsoil drainage) and 4 (Floors) contain guidance on mitigation
measures that can be adopted.
Approved Document H Drainage and waste disposal states in the Performance guidance that the
Requirement of H1 will be met if the foul water drainage system does not increase the vulnerability of the
building to flooding. This is then elaborated upon in reference to avoiding flood contamination and damage due
to foul drain surcharges. Note also that all drainage unaffected by surcharge should by-pass the protective
measures and discharge by gravity. Similarly, the Requirement of H2 will be met if wastewater treatment
systems and cesspools are sited and constructed so as not to ... be in an area where there is a risk of flooding.
Perhaps most significant, however, is Requirement H3 Section 2Drainage of paved areas, which effectively
places a requirement for the use SuDS in the form of permeable paving and drainage to other pervious areas
such as grassland. Section 3 of Requirement H3 states that design rainfall intensities should be obtained from
BS EN 752-4 Drain and sewer systems outside buildings, where low levels of surface flooding could cause
flooding of buildings. Finally, Requirement H5 aims to minimise the risk of flooding of foul sewers by demanding
separate drainage systems for foul and rain water.
Although Approved Document J Combustion appliances and fuel storage systems makes no specific
mention of flooding, Section 5 Provisions for liquid fuel storage and supply gives guidance on protection
measures where there is a risk of oil pollution, namely secondary containment in the form of bunds (either
integral to the storage tank or provided on site).
The Building Regulations (Northern Ireland ) Technical Booklet C Site preparation and resistance to contaminants
and moisture takes a similar stance to the English and Welsh position in Approved Document C, stating that the
Building Regulations do not set any requirements for resistance to flooding ... [but] ... a building ... can be constructed
with mitigating measures.
The Republic of Ireland Building Regulations (at the time of writing) make only passing references to flooding, in
Technical Guidance Document H Drainage and waste water disposal.
Flood avoidance strategies

Having established the appropriate Flood Zone in which to site a proposed development, it is recommended that as a
first step, the Communities and Local Government publication Improving the flood performance of new
buildings (2007) should be consulted. In particular, there is a set of three very useful flowcharts in diagrams 4.2, 4.3
and 4.4 of that document which enable the designer to establish which defensive design strategies should be
employed. These strategies are covered in detail in the mitigation section for refurbishment and repair below; they are
equally applicable to both new build and existing.
At a strategic level, consider alternative locations for the building as described above. If this is not possible, set the
ground floor level above the maximum predicted flood height. This is obviously going to be subject to local planning
restrictions, and may be a requirement due to a SSFRA.
Install SuDS including hydrobrakes, dry swales (which fill to act as balancing ponds during a deluge, releasing the
water slowly into the surface water drainage system usually in conjunction with a hydrobrake); green roofs and
rainwater harvesting. Reference should be made to CIRIA publication C697 The SuDS manual (2007).
Pluvial flooding is exacerbated by impermeable surface materials, and is becoming of increasing concern to the
government, particularly with regard to the increasing popularity in paving-over of residential front gardens to provide
additional car parking spaces. Where this is carried out with impermeable hard paving materials, run-off which would
otherwise have percolated into the ground is being directed instead into the surface water drainage system,
increasing the load. Permitted development for householder applications now only allows permeable paving materials
to be used, or for the run-off to be directed to a permeable area such as a planting bed or lawn. It is estimated that
the proportion of urban domestic gardens that have been paved-over, increased from 28% in 2001 to 48% in 2011.
Specify permeable surfaces if possible, to minimise reduction of surface water run-off and hence pressure on the
drainage system. Soft landscaping materials such as vegetation are the most effective; also gravels and permeable
hard pavings such as tarmacadam and proprietary permeable brick paving units are useful where planting is not
suitable. Site car parking areas and planting at the lowest levels on the site, to act as sacrificial flood retention areas.
The issue of insurance should also be considered. At the time of writing, the UK Government (in conjunction with the
insurance companies) is completely revising the scope and structure of insurance provision against flood damage to
buildings. The previous scheme had been set up as a temporary measure and now it is due to be replaced in the
summer of 2015 with a new scheme, known as Flood Re. Under the not-for-profit scheme, annual insurance
premiums would be capped for high-risk residential properties by imposing a 10.50 levy per household across the
country; pay-outs would come from a central fund. One of the key tenets of the scheme is to support the NPPFs
discouragement of new construction on high-flood risk land, by excluding any new property built on Flood Zone 3 land
from being covered. It is proving to be contentious, however, as in its present form a swathe of property including
recently-constructed dwellings (post-January 1st 2009) and business premises which includes residential landlords
looks set to be excluded. According to the British Property Federation, some 840,000 properties could be at risk of
flooding (including 70,000 deemed high-risk), and a question mark hangs over whether the definition of business
premises extends to businesses run from the home. The Government has just U-turned on the exemption of the most
expensive houses (Council Tax band H, or about 3,800 properties) from the scheme, which had been excluded on the
grounds that owners could be seen as being more able to pay for their own repairs; but not so far on the other
exemptions. In total, the proposed exclusions could affect some 9,000 households (either newly built or high-value).
Should any doubts exist about the availability and validity of flood-risk insurance for buildings, then consultation with
the Association of British Insurers (ABI) or the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is
advised.
With all of the debate currently surrounding Flood Re, developers would be wise to exercise prudence in avoiding
new building on high-risk land for the foreseeable future, no matter how attractive the proposition may seem.
Flood mitigation measures for refurbishment and repair

In the unfortunate case that a building owner/occupier should find their property to become flooded, the first issue
likely to face them is where to turn for help. Most householders are unlikely to have the time or knowledge to deal
with damage and repairs, which for a typical house could easily run in to the tens of thousands of pounds (in fact the
current estimate is 12-19,000 per dwelling). It is worth noting that companies exist nowadays, who specialise in both
mitigation and repair services.
Flood mitigation measures can fall into one of three strategies (as identified in the Communities and Local
Government publication Improving the flood performance of new buildings [2007]), depending on the depth of
predicted flooding: these are termed Water Exclusion, Mitigation and Water Entry. The following diagram adapted
from that document illustrates the rationale behind each of these strategies:
Design water
Approach
depth
Mitigation measures
Low-permeability materials up to
0.3m
Allow water in to property, to minimise risk of structural damage (but
Greater than 0.6m
attempt to keep low flood depth water out)
Easily-replaceable materials at
higher depths
Design to drain water away after
flooding
Water Entry strategy
Access to all voids to permit

drying and cleaning
Resistance/resilience
Low-permeability materials up to
High structural risk allow water in
Between 0.3m
Low structural risk attempt to keep water out
and 0.6m
Mitigation strategy
0.3m
Flood resilient materials and

designs
Access to all voids to permit
drying and cleaning
Attempt to keep water out

Less than 0.3m
Low-permeability materials
Water exclusion strategy
Land raising
Landscaping to create flood
Avoidence
Remove development from flood hazard
retention areas
Raised door thresholds
SuDS
The Water exclusion strategy focuses on either avoidance or prevention of flooding, and is suitable for a design flood
depth of up to 0.3m. This is intended to give the building occupants more time to relocate vulnerable contents to
higher levels, and should not be considered to be effective for more than a relatively short duration flood event.
Flood avoidance strategies such as those discussed above, or resistance measures (covered in part three) are both
appropriate for this category, which aims to keep the property interior dry during low-level and short-term flood
events.
Next article: Flood mitigation solutions in buildings (part three)
June 2014
Overview
Flood mitigation measures for refurbishment and repair (continued)

Mitigation measures, appropriate for a design flood depth of 0.30.6m,to be adopted for managing residual flood risk,
are aimed either at resistance (keeping water out), resilience (to water damage), and/or repair (of water damage).
Flood-resistant construction can prevent entry of water or minimise the amount of water that may enter a building
where there is flooding outside. This form of construction should be used with caution and accompanied by resilience
measures, as effective flood exclusion may depend on occupiers ensuring some elements, such as barriers to
doorways, are put in place and maintained in a good state. Buildings may also be damaged by water pressure or
debris being transported by flood water. This may breach flood-excluding elements of the building and permit rapid
inundation.NPPF Technical Guidance document
For resistance, barriers or bunds can be considered. These may be either permanent landscaped features or bund
walls (including for example around fuel storage tanks), or removable products for installation as temporary barriers
across building apertures. These include, for example, flood boards on doors, or airbricks/ service ducts (although the
NPPF Technical Guidance document advises that temporary and demountable defences are not normally
appropriate for new developments). Similarly, temporary, freestanding barriers which are assembled close to, but not
in contact with, buildings such as property flood skirt systems can be useful. Fences can be designed to include
impermeable materials at the base, such as concrete planks or masonry dwarf walls. Drainage systems can
incorporate double-sealed lock-down inspection chamber covers, and non-return valves (to prevent sewage backingup) to BS EN 13564. Refer also to CIRIA publication C506 Low-cost options for prevention of flooding from
sewers (1998). Sanitary and washing appliances should be sited above ground level (i.e. not in basements).
Although it can be argued that resistance measures such as those noted above have the undesirable effect of
moving the problem elsewhere, they can of course be compensated by other measures, such as the creation of
flood retention areas in places such as car parks or landscaping features.
Resistance and resilience measures can also pay a major role for:
Water-compatible development (for example outdoor sports and recreation, or facilities such as changing
rooms), and less vulnerable development (for example retail and restaurant buildings) where appropriate flood
warning is provided and temporary disruption may be deemed acceptable
Refurbishment of buildings (where there is no material change of use) that are already exposed to flooding,
or are likely to be in the future

Some material change of use proposals, where it can be demonstrated that no other flood risk management
measures are practicable.
Resilience is defined as minimizing the impact that flood water has upon entry to a building, seeking to avoid
permanent damage or loss of structural integrity; maintain pre-flood dimensions (e.g. timber swell) and improve the
speed and convenience of drying and cleaning to avoid rot or mould decay.
Flood-resilient buildings are designed to reduce the consequences of flooding and facilitate recovery from the effects
of flooding sooner than conventional buildings ...
Resilient construction is favoured because it can be achieved more consistently and is less likely to encourage
occupiers to remain in buildings that could be inundated by rapidly rising water levels.NPPF Technical Guidance
document
Floodwater is invariably contaminated in some form, and these contaminants can cause further damage to buildings
and services, besides posing a threat to public health. Contaminants can include sewage, hydrocarbons, silt, salt and
other biological or chemical substances, depending on the location of the flood and any unsecured hazards that may
be present in the vicinity. Hydrocarbons are perhaps most commonly present in this manner in the form of petroleum,
although asphalt and wood preservatives such as creosote are other sources for hydrocarbon pollution.
Apart from the obvious routes, water can enter buildings through many places. The wall and floor materials
themselves can be permeable; concealed voids such as wall cavities and party walls; at junctions between e.g.
suspended timber floors and walls; air bricks and other ventilators; inadequate or broken seals around window and
door frames (including thresholds); weepholes in facing brickwork; services entry points; cracks in mortar or render;
subfloor voids; inadequate or defective damp-proof membranes or tanking; and through sanitary or washing
appliances via drainage backflow.
Resilience measures can take many forms, across many areas of the building:
Floors use ground-bearing solid concrete slabs in preference to suspended timber; specify ceramic, stone
or concrete-based tiled surfaces to floors and skirtings (with cement-based adhesive and water-resistant grout)
ideally draining to a floor sump pump; paint timber skirtings on the reverse before fitting; avoid concrete screeds
above insulation as drying time of the insulation is increased considerably; damp-proof courses and membranes
should be durable (minimum 1200 gauge for polythene) with particular attention paid to laps, and consider
double-layer protection with cavity drains to retaining walls and basements; consider loose rugs in preference to
fitted carpets for ease of removal and storage, as well as drying and replacement; specify closed-cell insulation
to resist water absorption (but bear in mind that floor coverings will need to counteract the buoyancy of the
insulant if submerged)
Walls use closed-cell insulation below predicted flood level in external walls; specify water-resistant walling
materials such as pressed-face or engineering brick or rendered blockwork, use extended periscope subfloor
ventilators or fit removable airbrick covers; fix plasterboard sheets horizontally rather than vertically, or split
sheets mid-height with a dado rail, to reduce the extent of replacement; specify lime- or cement-based
renovating plasters or renders rather than gypsum-based, with water-resistant paint finishes. The use of waterproof, water-resistant or micro-porous surface coatings on masonry should be viewed with caution; these have
been seen in some instances to inhibit the drying-out of the building fabric, leading to further dampness-related
problems internally, and their use is currently discouraged by the Brick Development Association
Kitchens specify plastic, solid wood or stainless steel for cupboards and housings, in preference to particle
board or MDF; mount appliances above the predicted flood height; fit non-return valves to drains from washing
machines and dishwashers; seal between and behind cupboards to minimise water penetration; specify lowporosity materials for work surfaces
Doors and windows specify PVC-U, aluminium (and aluminium-faced or foam-core door panels) or
hardwood frames in preference to softwood; use loose-pin butt hinges to enable easy removal of internal doors
for temporary storage above flood level; ensure that all frames are well sealed and gasketed
Services avoid (or minimise) any wiring below predicted flood level; fit all switches, socket outlets, service
panels, meters etc. above predicted flood level; consider routing electrical ring main at first floor level with drops
to ground floor; fit electrical cabling in surface trunking rather than chased-in to wall surfaces; install boilers and
other heating or cooling equipment at first floor level (or as close to ground floor ceiling level as possible); protect
communications wiring and other services with insulation within services ducts.
The following diagrams are adapted from tables 6.1 and 6.2 respectively, in the Communities and Local Government
publication Improving the flood performance of new buildings (2007).
Flood resilience characteristics of building materials (based on laboratory tests)
Resilience characteristics
Material
Water penetration
Drying ability
Retention of pre-flood dimensions, integrity
Good
Good
Good
Bricks
Engineering
Material
Water penetration
Drying ability
Medium
Medium
Good
Poor
Poor
Poor
Poor
Medium
Good
Medium
Poor
Good
OSB2
(11mm thick)
Medium
Poor
Poor
OSB3
(18mm thick)
Medium
Poor
Poor
(class A & B)
Facing
(pressed)
Facing
(handmade)
Blocks
Concrete
(3.5N, 5N)
Aerated concrete
(aircrete)
Timber board
Gypsum plasterboard
Material
Water penetration
Drying ability
Poor
Not assessed
Poor
Below DPC
(1:3 cement:sand)
Good
Good
Good
Above DPC
(1:6 cement:sand)
Good
Good
Good
Gypsum plasterboard
(9mm thick)
Mortars
Flood resilience characteristics of walls (based on laboratory tests)
Material
Water penetration Drying ability
External face
Engineering bricks
(class A & B)
Facing bricks
(pressed)
Good
Good
Good
Medium
Medium
Good
Material
Internal face
Concrete blocks
Poor
Medium
Good
Aerated concrete
(aircrete)
Medium
Poor
Good
Mineral fibre
Poor
Poor
Poor
Blown-in expanded mica
Poor
Poor
Poor
Medium
Medium
Good
Cement render
(external)
Good
Good
Good
Cement/lime render
(external)
Good
Good
Good
Gypsum plasterboard
Poor
Not assessed
Poor
Cavity insulation
Rigid PU foam
Renders/plaster
Material
Lime plaster
(young)
Poor
Not assessed
Poor
Reference to the Communities and Local Government publication Improving the flood performance of new
buildings (2007) is strongly advised in all cases.
Water entry
Where predicted flood depths could exceed 0.6m above the ground floor level, a water entry strategy needs to be
adopted, whereby water is allowed uninhibited access into (and out of) the building. This is because the structural
integrity of cavity-walled masonry buildings in particular can be jeopardised, potentially leading to collapse, if the
differential head (i.e. difference in water level between inside and outside) exceeds 0.6m. The resilience measures
discussed above are applicable to this approach, the focus being on enabling drying and minimizing consequential
repair of the building fabric. New products are now being brought to market including:
flood-proof kitchen cupboards, made from waterproof materials

retractable, sectional flood barriers which are permanently installed in critical locations, and which rise and
fall automatically in response to water levels

doors which are flood-proof up to a designated height, then allow water in, should this be exceeded. These
have the advantage of combining the strategies and hence covering all bases.
Following a flood event, it is recommended that a thorough survey is carried out on the property to assess structural
and services damage; as well as damage to finishes and fittings, and dimensional integrity.
Fortunately for the property owner, help is at hand in the form of extensive guidance and standards for the safe and
robust repair of flood-damaged buildings. In addition, there are companies who specialise in such work, in addition to
supplying and installing flood protection products and flood-avoidance management services. The Flood Protection
Association represent companies and organisations involved in the manufacture, supply and installation of flood
protection devices; while the National Flood Forum are a charity supporting the victims of flooding. In addition, the
government has pledged help for homeowners affected by flooding, in the form of a 5,000 grant towards the cost of
installing resilience and resistance measures to protect against future recurrences (this came in to force on 1 April
2014).
Standards and guidance for the repair of flood-damaged property include:
Communities and Local Government publication BD2760 Guidance and standards for drying flood damaged
buildings (2010)
Communities and Local Government publication Preparing for floods: interim guidance for improving the
flood resistance of domestic and small business properties (2003)

PAS 64:2013 Mitigation and recovery of water damaged buildings. Code of practice
CIRIA publication C623 Standards for the repair of buildings following flooding (2005)
Flood Repairs Forum Repairing flooded buildings: an insurance industry guide to investigation and
repair (2006)
White I, OHare P, Lawson N, Garvin S and Connelly A Six steps to property level flood resilience
guidance for property owners

Dhonau M, Wilson G, McHugh A and Burton, R Homeowners guide to flood resilience a living document
RICS A clear guide to flooding for property owners
Property owners buildings insurance policies should also be checked and claims submitted as a priority; depending
on the finalisation of the Flood Re insurance scheme, this may have a significant bearing on the choices (and budget)
available for repair. In addition, and perhaps most crucially, repair from flooding can present an ideal opportunity to
upgrade with flood-resilient measures, although the balance between insurance and personal financing will need to
be established at the initial claim stage.
There are also a number of standards which cover the specification of flood protection products:
PAS 1188-1:2009 Flood protection products. Specification. Building aperture products

PAS 1188-2:2009 Flood protection products. Specification. Temporary products
PAS 1188-3:2009 Flood protection products. Specification. Building skirt systems
PAS 1188-4:2009 Flood protection products. Specification. Demountable products
Looking to the future

As the pressure on land is only likely to increase, more innovative approaches to construction may have to be
considered. Low-lying countries such as Holland have taken a more imaginative approach for a number of years now,
and floating structures are not uncommon. While tethered or anchored in position, they are able to rise and fall in
response to water levels. At least one UK example is currently under construction on a riverside site in the south of
England, and a prototype flood-resilient house is being developed at the Building Research Establishment (BRE).
While rare examples are starting to appear in the UK, they remain largely at the theoretical level at present due to
their highly unconventional technology and consequentially-higher construction costs. In addition, detailed
consultation with both the Environment Agency and the relevant LLFA will be needed from the earliest conceptual
stages of a project. But as the pressure on land for development is only likely to increase, we are going to have to
evolve new solutions to deal with flood risk.
This article was adapted from a series on Climate Change Adaptation in Buildings.
June 2014
ARCHITECTURE
The F9 Flood-Proof House Stands Tall Above Rising Tides

06/01/2011
under Architecture, Design, Disaster-proof design, Environment, Green Building

3 Comments
by Tafline Laylin
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F9 Productions recently unveiled plans for a sturdy, sustainably built home that is designed
towithstand flooding and provide a safe haven when natural disaster strikes. Raised high above
the ground and built with durable reused materials, the little home features solar panels to
provide electricity while the sun shines, a fireplace keeps the home warm, and it takes advantage
of large windows and skylights to save energy and provide light in the event that electricity is
cut.
There are many other advantages to the F9 home. An angled roof harvests rainwater for
collection in water cisterns, a skylight permits plenty of light to enter the home, storage areas are
nicely tucked away so that nothing will get tossed around the house, and the main rooms (and
appliances) are elevated to ensure that they will not be impacted when river levels rise.
A fireplace provides heat in the absence of either electricity or sun, cars will be tucked below
the house, and translucent glass skirts the home to ensure an adequate amount of privacy. If I
lived in a flood zone, Id pick this home.
+ F9 Productions
Via Arch Daily
Flood House / F9 Productions
31
MAY
2011
by Megan Jett
Articles HousesUSAResidentialF9 ProductionsNorth DakotaFargo
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Exterior
After living a part of their lives in the flood prone region of Fargo, Lance Cayko & Alex
Gore from F9 Productions started thinking of the catastrophe that could strike if the flood
dikes gave way and for that reason they designed a flood resistant house that takes on the
challenge of how to survive in the worst conditions.
1) A raised home design elevates treasured items away from rising waters. The house is
built upon elevated ground that is high to protect the main level from any flooding. 2)
Protection is maintained by steel siding guards the house from falling debris, and also acts
as a shield against large floating objects. 3) Harsh east and west light is filtered though
operable steel curtain panels. Also intense summer light dapples though horizontal sun
screens. 4) Summer entertainment can take place on the outdoor Sun Deck which includes:
a fire pit, a bar and grill, and a table for dining.
Section Perspective
Section
Perspective
1) Water is collected in cases of infrastructure failure

though a low sloped roof that drains towards a cistern
located at the rear of the home. 2) Solar Panels line the
roof, supply power at any time and they are ready in the
midst of a regional power outage.3) Warmth is trapped in
the home by insulating the roof and floor with R-50 spray
foam insulation. Grey floor box indicates spray foam
insulation areas. 4) Sand bagging efforts are reduced
dramatically by the small footprint. 5) Safe boat access
off of the sun deck allows for the delivery of fresh
supplies an permits emergency rescue entrance.
Interior Image
Interior
1) Privacy is provided by using translucent glass on the lower part of the windows. 2)
Supplementary heat is supplied to the home thought the gas fireplace. 3) A storage wall
provides a cozy resting place for extra blankets, pillows, china, glassware, and toys. 4) The
skylight above the dining room filters daylight throughout the space.
Floor plans
Entry Level
Floor Plan
1) Cars are sheltered under the main living level and are warmed up by automatic starters in
order to fight winter cold. 2) A concrete path leads to the front door. 3) The washer/dryer is
elevated off the ground along with all electrical outlets in order to protect from any minor
flooding. 4) The entry serves as the main artery into the home. 5) Tools, toys, and law
equipment are stored on the entry level. 6) Optional expansion space.
7) All bedrooms, including the master suite, are elevated off the ground level keeping
precious items SAFE from flooding. 8) Two bathrooms service inhabitants and guests of the
home. 9) A main storage wall located in the center of the home provides space for
emergency goods, books, blankets, dishes and other items. 10) The fireplace provides a
secondary heating source for the home. 11) A comfortable living/dining room arrangement
provides space for entertaining. 12) The kitchen, which features a full height pantry, sits
where it can observe action on the back sun deck and the living room. 13) The sun deck
features a fire pit, comfortable chairs to sit in, a bar, and a dining table.
Main Level
Floor Plan
On Nov 8, it will be a year when Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda,

struck the Philippines with winds that went as high as 230 km/h to 315 km/h. It
left a terrible devastation, nearly wiping out the Eastern Visayas region: 11 million
people suffered, lost their entire families, and rendered homeless in the
aftermath. The damage according to The National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council (NDRRMC) is estimated at P35.5 billion.
A year after the tragedy people are still rebuilding their lives and communities.
Hopefully, with a key difference this time: theyre re-building with disaster in mind.
Theyre not alone as a group of organizations from the national and local
government, concerned professionals, and charitable foundations had come
together and launched projects that focus on designing disaster-resilient
structures.
Heres a look at the innovations done on disaster-proof designs in the
Philippines.
Design Against the Elements
Design Against the Elements is a global architectural design contest formed by a

partnership of the Quezon City government, Climate Change Commission,
MyShelter Foundation, United Architects of the Philippines, and Philippine White
Helmets. The contest was open to local and international architects, with
separate categories for professionals and students.
Launched in May 2010, the contest was spurred by the devastation caused by
the tropical storm Ondoy which notoriously flooded many of Metro Manila cities in
September 2009. The design competition is geared towards innovative and
green design for urban poor communities.
The following are two of the winning projects for the green design award in the
professional and student categories, respectively.
Disaster-Proof Bamboo Housing
This bamboo-made housing community is made of cluster housing units, two community centers, prayer
and meditation space, a library, and plenty of open green space.
(Image source: www.architecturecaribbean.com)
Designed by an Indian group of architects (Vasanth Packirisamy, Monish Kumar,
this is a masterplanned eco community built for sustainability, with

features such as bioswales, rainwater collection, grey
water recycling, and plantations intended for community
food supply.
Vikas Sharma, Sakshi Kumar, and Komal Gupta),
The housing units and community halls are built on stilts

with side elevation designed to avoid flooding and
withstand storms. Moreover, the landscape is designed to
direct the water from the cluster housing units toward the
lower elevation and to absorb stormwater as much as it
can.
The housing concept for this design is that each apartment
unit is built around a core which holds the kitchen and the
bathroom, along with necessities such as water lines,
power, and staircases. Plugin units made up of large
bamboo decks radiate from the core and function as living
room and bedroom/s.
The idea is that in the event of a dreadful typhoon when
plugin units are destroyed, the core refuge areas would
remain intact. As they are made of bamboo, plugin units
can be easily and inexpensively rebuilt and plugged into

the existing core.
Other cool features of the housing structure is that its
designed to collect rainwater through the roof funnel which
goes down to a storage tank at the bottom. Meanwhile
emergency food stores and a fresh water tank is secured
at the top of the building.
Green Design by Nikola Enchev and Stefan Vankov
This Green Design community has facilities such as multi-purpose hall, market, school/day care center,
waste treatment, plantation, and waste management facilities.
(Image source: www.archdaily.com)
This master-planned community is carefully designed to overcome the rough

topography and highly irregular shape of its site, at the same time, create local
focus points, a communal small scale employment, and allow floodwaters to

drain properly
Reinforced concrete makes up the ground story base of the community
structures, which with its lateral stability in all directions, provide earthquake
resistance and protects against water and insects. The concrete base is securely
connected to the upper storeys which are made of bamboo, intended to be easily
maintained by future residents.
What is amazing about the designed community is that the dwelling structures
are built as hexagonal modules. According to the designers, the hexagonal
shape is naturally stable, braced in all directions with equal sides. Since it can be
mirrored along its side, it can share the same frame with another hexagonal
module, thus increasing its stability.
Build Forward
Build Forward is a nationwide competition launched through the partnership of

the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), property developer Ortigas
& Co., and Habitat for Humanity. As a rallying response to the wake of
destruction left by the super typhoon Yolanda, it encouraged architectural
students to submit climate-adaptive designs for houses and public schools.
The design specifications emphasize low-cost and the speed by which the
project can be built within a short period of time. It required that the materials be
locally sourced and sustainable, can withstand wind gusts of 250 km/h, and an
intensity 8 earthquake.
Here are the two projects that won Build Forwards house and school design. The
winning entries will serve as design models for the houses and public schools in
areas badly affected by typhoon Yolanda.
Bambox Hut
Bambox Hut: Amphibious Housing for Taclobenos.

(Image source: buildforward.com.ph)
University of Santo Tomass architecture student Lara Therese Cruz house

design won first place for the piece called Bambox Hut, an amphibious house
that floats on water.
What makes the house float are the welded metal

drums attached to the concrete platform, pushed by
the buoyant force of the water while the vertical
movement is guided by side steel posts which keeps
the whole house from bobbing out of control
Going even further, the structural concept of her

piece is built to resist the onslaught of strong winds
and earthquakes. The roof shape offers an
aerodynamic feature that rides the wind while
remaining firmly attached to the structural hollow
steel frame. The frame is designed to hold the whole
house structure together without chances of the roof
tearing from the wall. In effect, the roof and wall is
built as one, grounded securely to the concrete pier
which increases the units overall stability.
The architect creatively combined local materials
such as bamboo, cocoboard, lumber, and abaca
with steel, metal, and reinforced concrete to produce
not only a disaster-resilient house but also a
pleasing one to look at. Other features such as roof
insulation, rainwater harvesting, and the small
details that go into the houses envelope, further
enhance the overall design.
Taklob
An entry from a trio of University of the Philippines architecture students Mervin Afan, Corenne Martin,
and Rafael Khemlani, Taklob is a school which also doubles as an evacuation center.
(Image source: buildforward.com.ph)
The school design ingeniously mimics the concave, half-cylinder roofing structure
of airplane hangars designed to weather the pressure of plane streams. With its
steel framing system, built-up arches, aerodynamic roof form, and its 1-meter
elevation from the ground, the school is designed to survive strong typhoon
winds and keep out from the storm surges.
Wide jalousie windows and clerestory allows cross-ventilation and natural light to
pour in the interiors. Really cool features include roll-down storm shutters and
retractable clerestory windows which provide cover against the typhoon up to
ground level. In action, they serve like a movable cover or lid, which the Filipino
word taklob means and from which the design is named after.
Storm Resistant School from MAT-TER Architects
Storm-resilient school design for the Guiuan National High School by MAT-TER architects.
(Image source: www.archdaily.com)
Early this year, California-based design and build studio MAT-TER had proposed
a new design for the Guiuan National High School in Samar, one of the most
badly hit areas by Typhoon Yolanda. The design was a response to the challenge
of an online course called Designing Resilient Schools, which crowd sourced
design ideas for schools affected by typhoons and other natural disasters.
The bamboo-based school design is elevated off the

ground by a grid of supporting concrete columns to protect
it from flood-waters. The structural system supports the
fluid-form roofing with the exteriors clad in lightweight skin.
Courtyards are situated centrally and form inner pocket
gardens.
The online course is launched from the partnership of the Open Online Academy
(OOAc.org), an online academy for architecture and social design, and
iversity.org, a European platform for Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in
support of the victims of Typhoon Yolanda.
The best designs produced in the course will then be implemented by
theDepartment of Education (DepEd) and the non-profit Architecture for
Humanity. Notably, one of the course instructors is Mr. Illac Angelo Diaz, the
executive director of MyShelter Foundation, a non-profit that was also behind
2010s Design Against the Elements competition.
Do you know of other projects that support disaster-proof designs which can be
used in the Philippines? Share them with us by commenting below.
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ARCHITECTURE
Beautiful Black Bamboo Community Center in Indonesia Built for Just

$2,500
09/23/2013
under Architecture, Gallery, Green Building

0 Comments
by Ana Lisa
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Villagers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia needed a community space for their daily meetings
but had little money or resources. So bamboo specialists Andrea Fitrianto and Jasri
Mulya worked with non-profitArchitecture in Development to create a sculptural space
from fast-growing black bamboo. The new Black Bamboo Community Center is airy,
super strong and built on underutilized space between two houses.
The Black Bamboo Community Center in Kampung Pakuncen, Yogyakarta, was built on stilts
on top of a drainage channel and in-between houses. Locals and bamboo specialists worked
together to construct the center earlier this year. The gorgeous new space is made entirely from
local black bamboo (Gigantochloa atroviolacea) assembled with steel screws and mortar joints.
The wonder grass is a renewable, long-lasting and very strong

plant and unlike wood, harvesting the material doesnt kill the
plant but makes it stronger and more productive. The total cost of the
.
The Black Bamboo Community Center is a great example
of climate-proof architecture its cool and airy in hot
weather, and its elevated position makes it immune to
flooding.
bamboo shelter was only $2,500, and it was covered by locals and housing rights associations
+ Architecture In Development
Resilient Schoolbuilding Design 2

In times of calamity, schools are converted into emergency evacuation centers.
S3H(Sustainable+Strong+Schoo+Home) focuses on how versatile a school can be. The combination of
sustainability through the various use of indigenous materials, and other green design features with
durability, makes it different and more efficient than generic school buildings.
Bamboo is used as the main component for the classroom

design, its durability and availability allows a faster and
cheaper method of construction. A-frame trusses that
support the roof also acts as
columns connected directly to the ground.This design
makes it more resilient against high speed wind
disturbances. Storm shutter louvers, measured to an
appropriate size envelope the building fenestrations. This
allows a passive wind direction and lessens wind drag as
wind exits immediately as it penetrates the building, it can
be used also to protect windows from breaking during

storm.

Massart - Tree House Student Residence: Please Provide An Overview of The Project

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Ground Floor Plan ( Drawing : ADD Inc. )

Pajama Floor / Level 3 Floor Plan ( Drawing : ADD Inc. )

Typical Floor Plan ( Drawing : ADD Inc. )

Lower Level (First Floor)

Ground Level (Second Floor)

Second Level (Third Floor)

Third Level (Fourth Floor)

Large Community Kitchen

Mangrove City: Emulating natures tropical beauty through complex design

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Mangrove Tower in the Baltic Sea

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Achrafieh 732 / Bernard Khoury Architects

Projects Built ProjectsSelected Projects ApartmentsBeirutHousingLebanon

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Bernard Khoury Architects

Architects: Bernard Khoury Architects

Location: Beirut, Lebanon

Architect: Bernard Khoury Architects

Project Year: 2008

Photographs: Bernard Khoury Architects

The building is located in a high-end neighborhood of Achrafieh. We propose

As opposed to the usual typology of residential apartments that tend to

A criss-crossed mesh of wooden stems mounted onto the east facade is

Bernard Khoury Architects

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Bernard Khoury Architects

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Bernard Khoury Architects

Bernard Khoury Architects

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typical floor plan

Flex: Flexible Learning Environments / HMC

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view inside learning environment

inside new learning environment

view from covered dining area

Courtesy of HMC Architects

advantages of a hexagonal classroom

various program configurations: library specialists

various program configurations: science labs

view from second floor balcony

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How Buildings Learn

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Number of toilets required in buildings