2025-01-02T17:51:08-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150437917/burning-down-the-house-to-make-american-homes-disaster-proof Josh Niland 2024-07-21T11:00:00-04:00 >2024-07-22T14:30:41-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/e1/e138899c60d6ccc8d621782bd8f5525f.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>Last year's devastating wildfires in California and <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150360298/aia-calls-for-donations-in-wake-of-hawaiian-wildfires" target="_blank">Hawaii</a> once again came into focus as part of a <em></em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/business/wildfires-home-insurance-building-standards.html" target="_blank"><em>New York Times</em> expos&eacute;</a> on the Insurance Institute for Business &amp; Home Safety (I.B.H.S.)-led movement towards the &ldquo;biggest overhaul of building standards in more than 30 years.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>Burn demonstrations help visualize protective interventions that best resemble moats in unison with better building materials. The <em>Times</em> says: &ldquo;The message to homebuilders is stark: Homes in certain parts of the United States must now be constructed with wildfires in mind, or they most likely will not be insured, which would mean they couldn&rsquo;t be bought with a mortgage.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>Landscape designers as well as architects working on private residences will be equally affected. The <em><a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150346853/designing-for-disaster-in-an-increasingly-fire-burdened-california" target="_blank">MIT Technology Review</a> </em>wrote more extensively on the subject of design and the disaster-proof home in California last April.</p>