WASHINGTON — Jon duSaint, a retired software engineer, has just purchased property near Bishop, California, in a steep valley east of the Sierra Nevada. The area is at risk of wildfires, severe heat during the day, high winds, and torrential snowfall in the winter.
However, DuSaint isn’t worried. He plans to live in a dome.
The 9-meter structure will be covered with aluminum tiles that reflect heat and are resistant to fire. Since the dome has less surface area than a rectangular house, it is easier to insulate from heat and cold. And it can withstand strong winds and heavy snowfall.
As the weather becomes more extreme, geodesic domes and other resilient home designs are receiving new attention from more climate-conscious homebuyers, and from the architects and builders geared to serve them.
The trend could start to unlock the inertia underlying the struggle to adapt to climate change: Technologies exist to protect homes from severe weather — but those innovations have been slow to make their way into traditional construction, leaving people increasingly exposed to shocks. weather, say experts.
The result is not only increased risk of death or injury, but also financial calamity, as homeowners struggle with declining property values, the inability to obtain insurance, or the loss of what is commonly their asset. more valuable.
The domes are just one example of the innovation that is underway. Homes made of steel and concrete can be more resistant to heat, wildfires, and storms. Even traditional wood frame homes can be built in ways that greatly reduce the chances of severe hurricane or flood damage.
However, perhaps no type of resilient home design inspires as much devotion as geodesic domes.
In 2005, Hurricane Rita swept through Pecan Island, a small community in southwestern Louisiana, destroying most of the few hundred homes in the area.
Joel Veazey’s 214-square-meter dome was not one of them. He only lost a few tiles.
Two characteristics give domes their ability to withstand wind.
First, they are made up of many small triangles, which can carry a greater load than other shapes. Furthermore, the shape of the dome channels wind around it, depriving that wind of a flat surface on which to exert force.
At the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, in Washington, students from the Catholic University of America, also in Washington, recently finished rebuilding “Weatherbreak,” a geodesic dome built more than 70 years ago and briefly used as a home in the Hollywood Hills, in California.
It was avant-garde at the time: about a thousand aluminum struts screwed together to form a hemisphere nearly 8 meters high and 15 meters wide, evoking a huge metal igloo.
“Geodesic domes emerged as a way that the past can offer a solution to our housing crisis, in a way that hasn’t really gotten enough attention,” said Abeer Saha, the curator who oversaw the rebuilding.
Por: CHRISTOPHER FLAVELLE
BBC-NEWS-SRC: IMPORTING DATE: 2023-07-25 22:20:07
2023-07-28 05:30:29
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