Research on Flood Design - Literature Review #1

DESIGN FOR FLOODING: ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE, AND URBAN DESIGN FOR RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Humans have traditionally built in response to the social, economic, ecological and climatic conditions of the time. As demonstrated significantly in recent times around the globe however, the climate is changing. As the structural capacity of geology and soil changes, so will city boundaries with sea level rising and our response to building. It is now time to design with climate and have our buildings informed by bio-climatic design principles.

Flooding is natural and part of the natural hydrologic cycle of earth. But it is a disaster because of the way that we are expanding into flood plains and removing the natural areas or functions that protect us from natural hazards have not been wise. Wastes are filtering into the reservoirs of our water supply and we are experiencing huge natural disasters - yet we are still to learn from this. A lack of proper community planning and building design has often resulted in flooding that threatens the life and property of all in its path and we see this in the recent 2011 floods that devastated Queensland.

This book discusses several topics on Design for flooding starting with the basics on the nature of water (weather, land and water, and flooding).

Part two looks at designing with water (the natural landscape (e.g., stream systems, wetlands, riparian zones, and floodplains), the altered landscape (e.g., altered stream systems and increased flood damage), and design for inland flooding (resilient design for inland flooding). This chapter provides a comprehensive guide to the complex design and engineering requirements and regulations of flood resistant design.

Part three examines flood resistant design (flood design analysis, the coast (e.g., summary of coastal protection measures), and flood design practices for buildings (e.g., flood design at the building scale).

The final part discusses flood resistant design for sites and communities, sea level rises (e.g., sea level rise: design responses) and design for resilience (e.g., models for national and international action).

In relation to resilient design and how this relates to our DAB510 project, this article describes resilient design as “preparing for extreme storms and flooding of inland watersheds and coastal areas to provide resiliency and emergency preparedness for natural disaster”. Copying natural systems is recommended to best design for buffering, zone separation, redundancy, rapid feedback, and decentralization. The flood resilient design checklist includes raising buildings above minimum flood level codes, designing for severe wind and wave impacts, and using materials that are waterproof or resistant to water damage. The chapters in part III of this book recommend designs that go beyond minimum code and I will examine these aspects further as we go into the semester. 

Watson, D., Adams, M (2010). Design for flooding: Architecture, landscape, and urban design for resilience to climate change.  Retrieved from http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/%28S%281lbjizf2045eal1jugj5ox4e%29%29/Reader.aspx?p=624403&o=96&u=b2PwBbP4uOU4QuPXRPVSPA%3d%3d&t=1302588905&h=87AF126B15D716BA206CE162A36A1BE334D48F71&s=4104035&ut=245&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#