Climate change exacerbates natural disasters and existing chronic stressors within our communities. As global weather patterns continue to change and trigger more extreme events, we’re taking these risks seriously. We’re researching, developing, and adapting strategies to increase the resilience of our buildings and our communities so that—even in the face of acute and chronic events—they can survive, recover, grow, and flourish.
Climate change projections indicate an imminent surge in both the frequency and severity of natural disasters. The United States especially has experienced a 154% increase in the occurrence and cost of disasters.1 The Pacific Northwest faces an impending catastrophe with the anticipated Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake, poised to affect 7 million people across 140,000 square... Read more »
In this Innovation Incubator, our goal is to craft a comprehensive framework to establish the concept of Wet Green Infrastructure (WGI). Two key focuses drive our exploration: – The relevance of green infrastructure and its interconnectedness, drawing upon ecological theory to better understand ecological networks. – The significance of wetland habitats in the UK and... Read more »
The purpose of this Toolkit is to start weaving together diverse perspectives and voices, each contributing to the creation of spaces that align with Indigenous values. It strives to provide a comprehensive resource that promotes collaborative, ethical, and culturally sensitive design practices that honour Indigenous perspectives, history, and sustainability goals. Nonetheless, the engagement tools and... Read more »
This article aims to identify and explore the links between design practices for natural disaster victims, refugees, and displaced houseless communities. This study employs an urban design framework for the evaluation of three case studies that provide design standards for housing populations in transitional situations. The approaches observed from these three case studies have been... Read more »
The threat of wildfires in California has significantly altered quality of life in the region. Adaptation will require fundamental corrections in land stewardship, development patterns, and building practices. Design professionals must make sense of an overwhelming array of information. In this article a literature review summarizes design relevant information including the role of wildfire in... Read more »
We investigated the resiliency of two commonly used wall types with current and projected future weather. We modified existing weather files using linear regression to predict future increases in rainfall in Houston TX. We found these weather files unreliable and ended up purchasing project files. We utilized the increased rainfall data and varying permeability of... Read more »
The threat of wildfires in California has significantly altered quality of life in the region. Adaptation will require fundamental corrections in land stewardship, development patterns, and building practices. Design professionals must make sense of an overwhelming array of information. This report summarizes design relevant information including the role of wildfire in California’s ecosystem and the... Read more »
With the support of the AIA College of Fellows and its 2015-2017 Latrobe Research Prize, the Arid Lands Institute assembled a multidisciplinary team which included researchers at Perkins&Will to accelerate the design of climate adaptation in water-stressed cities. Specifically, the Drylands Resilience Initiative set out to make it fast, easy, and affordable to capitalize on... Read more »
In response to the current climate crisis, we must establish widespread familiarity with carbon and its cumulative impacts, elevate our critique of sustainable design, and embrace our part in balancing the carbon budget. We set out to understand a project’s global warming potential by looking at inflows and outflows of carbon, and identified key contributors... Read more »
This research project proposes both an expanded set of “socialized” metrics to complement the physical neighborhood metrics typically used for TOD projects, and a new data visualization methodology for extracting and visualizing neighborhood metrics consistently and dynamically. With the addition of socialized metrics, designers will be better equipped to have conversations with clients and stakeholders... Read more »
Much work needs to be done to address inequities in our society and our built environment. This study is an initial attempt to consolidate indicators regarding social equity in order to re-focus and re-frame our design process by providing measurable targets for social equity. As part of the report a relatively exhaustive literature review of... Read more »
