FEATURES
DESIGN FOR FLOOD RESILIENCE By Bruce Mugola The world today is uncontrollably unpredictable. Climate change is a reality my generation has grown up seeing as a fact of nature. It is a reality that the current and future generations will have to contend with in the years to come. It is almost impossible to imagine a future whereby we can go back to the past; when weather patterns were perfectly predictable and issues like food security and safety was a non-issue. The change is here to stay.
THE SITUATION AT KANO PLAINS With floods as a regular phenomenon in their lives, the residents of Kano plains have experienced floods since ‘the beginning of time’. If that is so, then living in a way that doesn’t anticipate this phenomenon is the oddity. Therefore, as a designer who has been practicing in the era of climate change, I was keen to develop adaptable and sustainable design solutions to this recurrent problem.
The human race has to adapt to change in order to imagine a future community that can not only survive but also thrive under turbulent conditions.
My journey as a problem solver in this regard was to begin with watching the tonnes of YouTube videos covering floods at Kano plains over the years. A review of victims’ interviews by local media revealed the following key aspects:
Resilience and adaptability are key elements that need to be imbued in the minds of the current generation. Most importantly too is the fact that these elements are vital to the people who are going to shape the future cities; the designers, architects, engineers, and policy makers. They need to ink it so to speak, in their DNA. This article is based on a design submission I made for the AAK design competition themed ‘flood resilient settlements’ where I got to design a rescue pod, which is a structure that potentially adapts to changes in water levels, stores food reserves and secures the safety of its users during flood events.
Issue 03 | March 2021
I used this information as a brief. With Ksh. 200,000 as the allocated budget, I had to come up with a solution for a figurative family unit situated right on the banks of River Nyando. I needed to design a structure that can: 1.Adapt to changes in water level. 2. Secure food reserves 3. Secure the safety of its users. Thus, I came up with the rescue pod.
The residents of Kano plains have experienced floods since ‘the beginning of time’.
- The floods were sudden and more often than not, occurred at night. - The water levels rose from knee height up to overhead height. -Food security was a major issue. Most victims lamented having been left destitute with nothing to eat as their food reserves had been ruined by the floods.
BuildPress Magazine | 28
