Design for flooding : architecture, landscape, and urban design for resilience to flooding and climate change

339 Pages·2011·27.37 MB·English

by  Donald Watson

Architecture/Urban Design/Urban Planning W
D O N A L D W A T S O N M I C H E L E A D A M S
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T
S
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO PLANNING AND
O
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DESIGN FOR WATER SUSTAINABILITY, AS WELL

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AS FLOODING AND NATURAL DISASTERS A
D
A
Architects, urban planners, and urban designers, as well as water resources engineers DONALD WATSON, FAIA, an
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and landscape architects will discover that Design for Flooding presents the best architect and planner, is former chair S
practices and lessons to create buildings and communities that are more resilient in
of the Yale School of Architecture
the face of severe weather, climate change, and the prospect of rising sea level.
Environmental Design Program, and
Design for Flooding covers technical and institutional issues—along with new design former professor and dean of the
and business opportunities—built upon: School of Architecture, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute. He received the
(cid:129) Fundamentals of climate and weather, stormwater and fl oodplain management
2002 ACSA Distinguished Professor
(cid:129) Best practices of fl ood-resistant design and adaption to sea level rise Award and the 2005 AARC Haecker D
(cid:129) Multidisciplinary design that integrates sound ecological and engineering Leadership Award for Architectural
principles Research. His publications include E
(cid:129) Innovative design and construction to protect and improve water security Climatic Building Design, winner in
S
the Architecture and Urban Planning
category of the American Publishers
“Design for Flooding defi nes the need and opportunity for planners, architects, I
landscape architects, engineers, and conservation biologists to work together Award for Professional and Scholarly G
to develop the mix of inland and coastal fl ooding solutions required for a Excellence.
comprehensive response to climate change.” N
—From the Foreword by Daniel Williams, FAIA, author of MICHELE ADAMS, P.E., a water
Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture, and Planning resources engineer, is principal and
founder of Meliora Environmental f
“Design for Flooding should be a major tool for the design professions, for
o
Design in Kimberton, Pennsylvania.
public agencies, and for civic activists, indeed for everyone who wishes to
bring a genuinely ‘intelligent’ design for water to their communities. It is a Her work encompasses environ- r
call to action and demonstrates that we have the knowledge, the tools, and the mentally sensitive site design and

capability to better manage the water system on which we depend.” sustainable water resources engineering. F
—From the Foreword by Carol Franklin, FASLA
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A portfolio of award-winning designs illustrates practical and visionary projects to
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prepare for a resilient future, including:
(cid:129) A case study of Climate’s Long-term Impacts on Metro Boston (CLIMB) O
analyzes four alternatives to prepare for climate change DESIGN for
D
(cid:129) A design charrette sponsored by The Regional Plan Association of New York
illustrates creative concepts for waterfront revitalization and fl ood protection
I
(cid:129) Lessons from the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States indicate the
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effectiveness of long-term preparedness planning combined with phased
mitigation and renewal projects
G
F LOODING
(cid:129) Examples include renovations and small buildings, showing how every project at
any scale is a design opportunity to increase the sustainability and resilience of
our communities, water, and ecosystem services
COVER: 1993 Flood, West Alton, Missouri, near the confl uence of Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
© 1993 Srenco Photography.
ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE, and URBAN DESIGN
for RESILIENCE to CLIMATE CHANGE
978-0-470-47564-5 4-COLOR GLOSSY
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DESIGN FOR
FLOODING

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DESIGN FOR
FLOODING
Architecture, Landscape, and
Urban Design for Resilience to
Flooding and Climate Change
Donald Watson, FAIA, and
Michele Adams, P.E.

JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.
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This book is printed on acid-free paper. (cid:2)
Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Watson, Donald, 1937-
Design for flooding : architecture, landscape and urban design for resilience to flooding and climate
change / Donald Watson and Michele Adams.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-47564-5 (clot h : alk. paper);
ISBN 978-0-470-89000-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-89001-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-89002-8 (ebk);
ISBN 978-0-470-95031-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-95056-2 (ebk);
1. Architecture and climate. 2. Flood damage prevention. 3. City planning—Environmental
aspects. 4. Environmental management. 5. Climatic changes. I. Adams, Michele (Michele C.),
1961- II. Title. III. Title: Architecture, landscape and urban design for resilience to flooding and
climate change.
NA2541.W38 2011
720'.47— dc22
2010016472
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgments vii PART II: DESIGN WITH WATER 67
Foreword by Carol Franklin,
RLA, FASLA ix Chapter 4: The Natural Landscape 71
Foreword by Daniel E. Williams, FAIA xi 4.1 Understanding the Natural
Introduction xv Water Balance 71
4.2 When the Water Balance Is Altered 74
PART I: NATURE OF WATER 1
4.3 Soils and Vegetation 78
4.4 Subsurface Water Movement 83
Chapter 1: Weather 3
4.5 Stream Systems, Wetlands, Riparian
1.1 Sun and Earth 3
Zones, and Floodplains 84
1.2 The Atmosphere 6
1.3 Weather 17 Chapter 5: The Altered Landscape 91
5.1 When the Landscape Is Altered 91
Chapter 2: Land and Water 31
5.2 Altered Stream Systems and
2.1 Water and Carbon Cycles 31 Increased Flood Damage 95
2.2 Biodiversity and the Landscape 36 5.3 Why Detention Does Not Solve
2.3 Follow the Water: The Opportunity Flooding 98

for Watershed Planning 43 5.4 Summary: The Natural Landscape
as a Model for Resilient Design 99
Chapter 3: Flooding 49
Chapter 6: Design for Inland Flooding 103
3.1 Flooding from Increased
Precipitation 49 6.1 Resilient Design for Inland Flooding 103
3.2 Flooding from Severe Storms 54 6.2 Tools for Watershed Protection 125
3.3 Economic and Social Costs of 6.3 Communities and Buildings in
Water-Related Natural Disasters 61 Floodplains 129
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II CONTENTS
PART III: FLOOD-RESISTANT DESIGN 131 10.2 Comprehensive Planning for Resilient
Communities 207
Chapter 7: Flood Design Analysis 135 10.3 Local Actions to Build Community
7.1 Definition of Terms 135 Resilience 210
7.2 Flood Elevation: Base Flood and
Chapter 11: Sea Level Rise 219
Design Flood 143
11.1 Sea Level Rise: The Issues 220
Chapter 8: The Coast 151 11.2 Sea Level Rise: Design
8.1 Coastal Processes 151 Responses 223
8.2 Shoreline Protection 160
Chapter 12: Design for
8.3 Flood Barriers and Floodgates 164
Resilience 257
8.4 Summary of Coastal Protection
12.1 The Wave of the Future 257
Measures 164
12.2 Models for National and
International Action 259
Chapter 9: Flood Design Practices
for Buildings 169 12.3 Design Resolution 268
9.1 Overview of Flood Design 169
Epilogue 271
9.2 Flood Design at the Building Scale 176
Glossary 273
PART IV: DESIGN FOR RESILIENCE 197 Index 295
Chapter 10: Flood-Resistant
Design for Sites and Communities 199
10.1 Coastal Communities 199

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PREFACE AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T he ideas presented in this book combine many voices, This book thus follows an evolving approach to archi-
over many years of conversation and professional endeavor. tecture that the Olgyay brothers defined in the 1950s as
The concept of resilience has emerged in the past decade in “ bioclimatic design, ” subsequently defined by Ian McHarg
both international and national responses to severe climatic as “ environmental design, ” by Malcomb Wells as “ gentle
impacts. The fact that those climatic impacts are in part architecture, ” followed by “ passive solar design ” in the
explained by how we build on the land— t he enterprise 1970s, “ regenerative design ” by landscape architect John T.
of the design and construction professions — reverses what Lyle, and “ s ustainable design” after the Rio Earth Summit
many of us spend careers in teaching and practicing: to in the early 1990s. Each of these terms and their variations
design with climate , building informed by bioclimatic design attempt some nuance to a deeply felt response of architec-
principles. This conception has been part of architecture ture and landscape architecture to the world.
writing and theory since Vitruvius wrote of climate, Sun, T his book grows out of these conversations. The
and wind influences within the art and science of “ build- challenge to define a comprehensive vision of sustain-
ing well.” In early twentieth century, Frank Lloyd Wright able communities evolves from formative discussions
promoted a poetic and philosophic conception of “ organic of the AIA Committee on the Environment with Bob
architecture” in recognition of the inspiration of nature in Berkebile, Randolph Croxton, Susan Maxman, Bill
his work. The “ green thread ” continued to be expressed in McDonough, Gail Lindsay, Richard Rittelmann, Carol
the 1920s and 1930s work of Bauhaus architects, Finnish and Colin Franklin, Harry Gordon, Sharon Sutton,
master architect Alvar Aalto, and American works of Mary and Pliny Fisk and Gail Vittori, to name only a brief
Colter, Richard Neutra, the Keck Brothers, and the col- few. The preeminence of water as formative element in
laboration of Maria Telkes and E leanor Raymond, among design was the focus of a “ w atershed” symposium, Water (cid:2)
many others. Design, sponsored by EPA/AIA in 2006, led by Daniel
Now climate is influenced by d esign , a reversal of the Williams and Vivian Loftness. The symposium brought
vector of influence. As viewed in this book, every building together international experts around the topic of water.
project, large or small, contributes to climatic moderation It demonstrated the power of collaboration of disparate
or extremity in some way as part of a watershed, floodplain, fields from conservation biology sciences to civil engi-
or coastal environment. The line that the designer draws neering design integrated into community, landscape
has global consequence. and building design, adding the “ blue stream ” to the
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VIII PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
green t hread. This collaboration is central to the agenda tions, all gratefully received, including examples of world -
for resilient design. rank photographers, cited in captions and credits.
Collaboration made this book possible. The authors T he technical review of Christopher Jones, P.E., is
are indebted to chapter reviews by Carl McDaniel, David responsible for much of what is correct in the representa-
Borton, and Tavis Dockwiller. Kate McElwain, Petrik tion of FEMA requirements and details of best practices of
Watson, Kimberly Ann Watson, Brittany Adams, and flood- r esistant design. The authors alone are responsible
Linda Thomas prepared artwork and photographs. The for errors that linger.
notes to each chapter acknowledge additional contribu-

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