[Greenbuilding] Flood Resilient Housing

[Rob Tom]

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:58:51 -0400, Ross MacLeod <drossmacleod at gmail.com>  
wrote:

>  I recognize that with climate change... we can reasonably expect in my  
> life time a more extreme
> event that would flood my home


Yea, verily I sayeth unto thee,
Build thyself an Ark.
(see: Old Testament --> "Noah" )

> I thought that a hybrid structure based on  stilts
> interleaved with collapsible sections of wall or ''curtain" (up to the  
> first floor, which would be raised several feet), might be interesting.


Tsk, tsk.
Murricans and their penchant for gizmological complexification of  
relatively simple tasks.

But (a little more) seriously & ribbing aside, the notion of "House as  
Ark" (or at least as "boat" does seem to make a lot of Green sense,  
especially in areas where flooding as a result of climate change is likely.

I've always been impressed with how efficiently the cabins of small sail  
boats are laid out.
Excessive weight and bulkiness is not desirable qualities in sailing craft  
so structure is fined-down to elegant simplicity  and every bit of space  
is made to earn its keep.

And sailing craft are by necessity, totally autonomous WRT support  
infrastructure -- in their purest form requiring only sun, wind and water  
in order to function-- a quality that we landlubbers would do well to  
emulate with our terrestrially-anchored homes.

Floods ? 40 days and 40 nights of rain ? 30 foot swells and no land in  
sight ?

Har-rr-r-rrrr ! Nothing a good sailing craft couldn't handle.

But speaking of treehouses, there a fellow in British Columbia who  
pre-fabricates habitable spheres (initially crafted out of cedar but now  
laid up with fibreglass) that he winches up into trees where they are hung  
like big Christmas decorations.
Need more room ? Hoist up another sphere.


=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
<A r c h i L o g i c   at  c h a f f y a h o o   dot   c a >
winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply