MIDI: A Disaster Resilient Mid-RIse

MIDI: A Disaster Resilient Mid-Rise ACE Mentor Program of Austin

2018 Program Project Brief

I. Project Overview

With the recent onset of natural disasters, resilient design has become a popular topic of conversation - not just amongst architects and designers, but politicians, engineers, and city planners as well.

Unpredictable natural events like the California wildfires, Hurricanes Harvey and Katrina, tsunamis in Japan, and earthquakes Mexico City and Haiti are a reminder that we must design our buildings and cities so that they are able to weather these disruptions and bounce back stronger afterward.

At a larger scale, we need to be able to weather the shocks of climate change, resource destruction and depletion, and a host of other growing challenges to human wellbeing.

We need more resilient design, not just as an industry buzzword, but as a necessity for our long-term survival.

Resilient Design Resilience is associated with a building’s robustness, resourcefulness, and recovery. Resiliency encompasses safety, security, durability, energy conservation, and environmental friendliness. It is a measure of a building’s ability to serve its intended purpose with minimal disruption, such as keeping a family from being displaces from their home, or keeping a business or community service in operation.

The Mid-rise The term mid-rise typically designates a multi-storied building, ranging in height from 5-10 levels equipped with elevators. Buildings are designed to include multiple programs, including ground floor retail and residential and/or office above.

Resilient Design in Mid-Rise Construction To design a building with resilience means to start the design process by thinking carefully about the typical use scenarios of the building, common points of stress due to normal use, as well as the most likely disaster situation that could challenge the integrity of the building and/or endanger its occupants.

The local environment always plays a critical role in determining factors that make a building resilient or not, and so resilient design is always locally specific.

For example, New York City has a wet climate, and water is part of its environmental challenges throughout the year. In New York City, the most common likely natural disaster scenarios involve water: hurricanes, flooding, storm surges, and blizzards. Of course, builders in New York City also need to design to withstand seismic activity, high heat loads in the summer, power outages, man-made disasters like terrorism, as well as the normal change that comes with thousands of people moving through spaces in rapid succession.

On the West Coast of the United States, seismic considerations are obviously more of a concern, as well as fire danger. Thinking through every potential problem and disaster situation can be overwhelming for designers, which is why a sensible approach starts by examining the most likely problem situations and pulling from local wisdom, knowledge, and experience.

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II. Resilient Design Considerations

Seismic Activity When it comes to devastating natural disasters, earthquakes are high up on the list, but what many people don’t realize is that much of the damage in earthquakes occurs largely due to poorly constructed buildings and faulty infrastructure. Fortunately, there are many new technologies and building methods that allow buildings to be increasingly ductile and able to withstand severe seismic activity. Contrary to what the layperson might think, a structure’s ability to flex and absorb vibration is just as important as how strong it is when it comes to earthquake-proof design. One of the most popular seismic building methods is base isolation, which is exactly what it sounds like — decoupling the base of a structure from the rest of the building so that only the base shakes during an earthquake while the superstructure remains intact.

Extreme Weather: Storms, Hurricanes, and Flooding As climate change brings rising sea levels and more extreme weather events, building designers need to focus extra attention on the challenges of weather – especially hurricanes and flooding. When designing mid-rise buildings in hurricane and flood prone areas, special attention needs to be paid to designing to resist severe wind load, as well as heavy precipitation, and ground-level flooding. Buildings in hurricane prone areas need to be very well-sealed, as well as have adequate drainage solutions for roofs, terraces, basements, and any other areas which may collect water. For mechanical rooms, where adequate ventilation and outside air-intake is important, storm-resistant louvers are a good choice for maximizing air intake while blocking wind and driving rain. They’re designed specifically to let air in and keep wind and driven-rain out.

Flood barrier walls are obvious solutions to the threat of flooding on the ground level, as well as not locating emergency backup generators, or anything else important, in the basement. On this note, smart building designers would do well to locate all important mechanicals on the tops of buildings rather than in the basement, in flood-prone regions.

Extreme Heat and Cold The same types of passive design strategies that can be employed in homes to make them super energy efficient and green, can also be used in mid-rise buildings to result in everyday energy savings as well as life-saving natural heating and cooling options in a disaster situation without access to electrical power (and therefore mechanical HVAC). For example, if electricity is knocked out due to a flood or earthquake, or even if there is just a common “blackout”, an all-glass office building can quickly become like an oven on a hot summer day, potentially risking the health and lives of occupants inside. Proper insulation, natural ventilation with operable windows, solar shading devices, and employing stack ventilation can help buildings remain comfortable for inhabitants even when there is no mechanical heating and cooling available.

Fire Resistance Most building code adequately addresses common fire hazards with mandatory fire-resistant stairwells, fireresistant building materials and proper escape methods, but these days we also need to plan carefully to address fires caused by earthquakes, lightning and other natural disasters. In addition to urban fire hazards, wildfires are a growing threat in the Western United States, and steps that can be taken to protect buildings against wildfire include fire-resistant landscaping, brush-clearing, and barrier zones in wildfire prone areas.

Infrastructure & Power Outages Power outages and blackouts are such a common occurrence that commercial building designers always need to design backup systems to keep a building usable and comfortable. Always have a backup power supply, and keep your back-up power on a higher floor, maintain off-grid heating and cooling capabilities, make sure that natural ventilation is possible when air conditioning fails, and maximize daylight so that people can continue to see, work and move around without artificial light.

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III. Project Expectations

Throughout the project, students should: • Acquire firs-hand experience using some of the common tools of the design/construction industry (i.e. computer aided-design software and architect/engineer scales).

• Use a scale to measure dimensions from a drawing and draw objects to scale.

• Identify the differences between a plan, section, and elevation • Understand the basic aspects of construction drawings and diagrams.

• Understand the conversion of scale and drawing dimensions to full-size on-site parameters.

Throughout the project, mentors should: • Aid students to develop and deliver a multimedia presentation using different visual aids such as drawings, boards, and models.

• Work as part of a team and contribute constructively to its mission.

• Develop creativity and innovation necessary to solve design challenges.

• Refine critical thinking processes and strategies • Learn to meet deadlines.

• Learn to effectively communicate thoughts and ideas orally as well as graphically.

• Demonstrate an effective and constructive ability to critique their own work as well as that of others.

• Appreciate the importance of professional decorum, behavior and dress in the work environment.

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IV. Sessions

Session 1 - January 18 - Introduction to Project Location Session 2 - January 25 - Introduction to Architecture Session 3 - February 1 - Architecture II Session 4 - February 8 - Field trip to University of Texas School of Architecture Session 5 - February 15 - Civil Engineering Session 6 - February 22 - Field trip to Iron Workers Training Facilities Session 7 - March 1 - Structural Engineering Session 8 - March 8 - Field-trip to the University of Texas School of Engineering Spring Break - March 15 Session 9 - March 22 - Introduction to Construction Management Session 10 - March 29 - Construction Management II Session 11 - April 5 - Construction Site Visit Community Service Event - April 7 Session 12 - April 12 - Sustainability and Landscape Architecture Session 13 - April 19 - Overall Completion Session 14 - April 26 - Team Board Presentation Work-session Session 15 - May 3 - Team Presentation Work-session Session 16 - May 10 - Final Presentation Session ACEA Rodeo - May 12

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V. Deliverables

Presentation Board Teams shall submit one digital file for a single 24” x 36” presentation board in a vertical/portrait format (long side vertical, short side horizontal). An InDesign and PowerPoint Template will be provided.

The file must be of a high resolution for exhibition and publication purposes. The presentation board shall be saved as a PDF (Portable Document Format) at 300dpi resolution.

Student and Mentor Names must appear on the lower right hand corner of the presentation board. This information must be 18 point (1/4 inch high) font size in Arial black or a comparable bold sans serif font.

Black text on a white background or white text on a black background.

Required Concepts on Board: • Rendered Exterior Perspective • Interior Floor Plan(s) / Space Plans(s) to demonstrate functionality • Civil and Landscaping Site Plan • Diagrammatic Structural Plan / Application of Loadings • Diagram depicting resilient/sustainable features • Explanation of construction management planning and estimated project cost Scale and placement of drawings, diagrams & text on the presentation board are left to the discretion of the team.

Required Text A text narrative or statement of no more than 250 words describing the project concept and design intent must be provided as a separate file in a Microsoft Word compatible (.doc) file.

Digital Presentation Items 2-8 are to be arranged in an 11” x 17” PDF (Horizontal Format) file for use at the final presentation.

Scale and placement of drawings, diagrams & text on the presentation board are left to the discretion of the team. An InDesign and PowerPoint Template will be provided.

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VI. Judging Criteria

To assist with the judging process, a series of judging criteria is defined in four categories as outlined below.

Teams are encouraged to keep these criteria in mind throughout the design process.

Creative Approach (25%) • The design response is innovative and inspirational.

• The design response shows originality and creative thinking in terms of mid-rise design and the future evolution of a mid-rise building.

• The building program is creative, yet clear and justified.

Response to Site (25%) • The design responds to the physical/cultural aspects of its site, such that the design is unique to its location, and not a generic response to a mid-rise building capable of being reproduced regardless of its location.

• The design responds to the environmental aspects of its site Sustainability (25%) • The design considers the building’s environmental impact and energy usage • The design considers efficiency throughout (core, shell, space, usage, etc.)

• The design considers social sustainability, occupant lifestyle, and well-being Functionality (25 %) • Planning and building organization is clear and appropriate.

• There is clear structural, mechanical, and constructional rationale.

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VII. Possible Design Considerations

Achieving Resilience at the Building Scale • • • •

• • • • • •

• • • • • •

Design and construct (or renovate) buildings to handle severe storms, flooding, wildfire, and other impacts that are expected to result from a warming climate.

Locate critical systems to withstand flooding and extreme weather events.

Model design solutions based on future climatic conditions as much as possible, rather than relying on past data.

Create buildings that will maintain livable conditions in the event of extended loss of power or heating fuel through energy load reductions and reliance on passive heating and cooling strategies (passive survivability).

Create durable buildings using such features as rain-screen details, windows that can withstand hurricane winds, and interior finish materials that can dry out if they get wet and not require replacement.

Create beautiful buildings that will be loved and maintained.

Reduce dependence on complex building controls and systems. Provide manual overrides in case of malfunction or temporary power outages.

Optimize the use of on-site renewable energy.

Carry out water conservation practices and rely on annually replenished water resources, including, potentially, harvested rainwater, as the primary or back-up water supply.

Provide redundant water supplies or water storage for use during emergencies. For deep-well pumps, provide either stand-alone solar electricity or hand pumping options where possible. Where there is no option for on-site water, consider water storage that can gravity-feed to building.

Consider an option for human waste disposal in the event of non-operating municipal wastewater system. This could include composting toilets and waterless urinals.

Use locally available products and skill-sets.

Specify products and materials that will not off-gas or leach hazardous substances in the event of flooding or fire damage.

Rely on vernacular design practices that were prevalent before the advent of air conditioning and central heating. Combine these design strategies with modern materials to optimize resilient design.

Provide redundant electric systems with at least minimal back-up power capacity, such as a fuel-fired electric generator (with adequate fuel storage) or a solar-electric system with islanding capability.

Maintain on-premises, non-perishable food supply that could provide residents with adequate staples for a 3-to 6-month period. Non-perishable foods include canned goods; dehydrated foods (dried fruits, vegetables, meats in sealed bags); dried beans, grains, and rice; flours and cornmeal; salt; and vegetable oils. Some such foods may be stored in a freezer for long shelf-life, but they will remain relatively durable out of a freezer. Most foods should be stored in sealed glass jars for protection against insects and rodents.

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