Designing Communities for Disaster
A look at multifamily properties that were developed to be resilient.
They say April showers bring May flowers. Are your communities designed to withstand the showers, though?
Natural disasters such as flooding are often devastating. And climate change is affecting the severity and frequency of these events. They’re also costly, especially to repair buildings in the aftermath. Because of this, multifamily developers are leaning into resilient design, while still taking into account the look and feel of their communities. And not only is this good for aesthetics but also for their pocketbooks as well.
“There’s a true business case for resilience and ROI for developers and investors,” Lindsay Brugger of the Urban Land Institute told Diana Mosher for “Resilient Design: 4 Apartment Case Studies.” “In some cases, we’ve seen higher rental premiums, and therefore better resale value and also better financing.”
There are some creative options for resilient design. Take, for example, Halletts Point, a mixed-use community in Queens, N.Y. This community includes features that protect the building—and its residents—from flooding, including deployable flood barriers and backwater valves. But just because it offers some practical solutions doesn’t mean the community is totally utilitarian.
Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners, the architectural firm for the community, designed it with elements such as native plant species. Not only does this lead to a local flair around the community, but the plants themselves were picked because of their tolerance for wind and salt, which also would come in handy in the case of a flood.
Want more inspiration for resilient design? Check out our story in the issue!
