Archinect - News

FEMA is getting tough on property managers with the hopes of preventing another Bronx fire tragedy

2023-01-12T17:05:00-05:00

On the first anniversary of the Twin Parks fire in the Bronx that killed 17 people, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will announce a new national plan to combat “America’s fire problem” using investigatory muscle granted by federal legislation that President Biden signed last month. The legislation will give the United States Fire Administration the power to identify the causes of fires like the one at the Twin Parks North West housing complex.

A year removed from the tragic blaze that took the lives of 17 people in the Bronx apartment complex once lauded by Paul Goldberger for its trend-bucking design, lawmakers in Washington have finally heeded the desperate pleas of public housing advocates who appealed for stricter safety measures in response to the Twin Parks fire and another incident in Philadelphia just days prior.

Biden appointee Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, the head of the U.S. Fire Administration, said the lack of adequate fire data will also be addressed for the first time. The results will hopefully benefit the estimated 1.3 million Americans who live in public housing. Last year alone, there were more than 1.2 million reported structure fires (of all types), resulting in the deaths of some 2,500 people nationwide.

Related Feature on Archinect: America’s Public Housing is Burning, Fueled by Cold Indifference

“It’s always in our neighborhood,” one former Twin Parks resident told the Times, referring to the deadly di...

AECOM awarded FEMA contract to lead flood-risk response in 17 U.S. states

2022-02-16T17:19:00-05:00

AECOM has announced that its Compass Production and Technical Services Joint Venture (Compass PTS JV) has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide production and technical architectural and engineering services for the Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (RISK MAP) Program.

The contract has a combined program ceiling of $300 million for a one-year base period with four, one-year option years. Compass PTS JV will deliver a range of services related to flood risk analyses, hazard mapping, disaster response, and risk reduction. AECOM will also utilize its engineering and mapping capabilities to provide high-quality local flood hazard and risk data and information at state-level scales.

The contract covers regions that face the most frequent and severe flooding in the country. The states included in the contract’s scope are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Car...

Tsunami Towers are about to spring up along the Pacific Northwest shorelines

2022-02-08T12:37:00-05:00

“The fact of the matter is that if a tsunami occurs tomorrow, we are going to lose all of our children,” said Andrew Kelly, the superintendent of the North Beach School District, which includes Ocean Shores. Mr. Kelly is one of a growing number of local officials who are calling for a network of elevated buildings and platforms along the Northwest coast that could provide an escape for thousands of people who might otherwise be doomed in the event of a tsunami.

Voters in the Washington state community of Ocean Shores will decide today on a measure that would install a pair of tsunami towers that can hold up to 800 people. Residents in the immediate shoreline region would have only ten minutes to escape potentially 100-foot waves propelled by a quake in the shallow offshore Cascadia subduction zone. The state estimates that around 70,000 people would be trapped in low-lying areas that have no bluffs or tall buildings which can be used as an escape.

The elevated steel platforms can be placed on top of parking garages, schools, and other structures to achieve a safe vertical distance from the inundation, although many such buildings in the area are not sufficiently seismic-ready to withstand magnitude 9.0 tremors. Washington has proposed 58 such towers, which cost around $3 million each to construct. To date, only two structures have been completed: one at a facility operated by Oregon State University, and the other, at Ocosta Elementary Sc...

Having endured two major hurricanes, Puerto Rico's museums begin to reopen

2017-10-05T15:11:00-04:00

Three weeks after the category four Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on 20 September, devastating the US Island, knocking out power and killing an as yet undetermined number of residents, local museums are back to work and helping with community relief efforts.

While the U.S. President spent his visit in double-hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico tossing rolls of paper towels into the crowd like t-shirts at a Knicks game, the island's museums are busy assessing the damage and getting their institutions reopened to the public.

Florida museums prepare to reopen in wake of Hurricane Irma

2017-09-13T19:12:00-04:00

Hurricane Irma, now downgraded to a tropical depression, wrecked havoc across the Caribbean this weekend and killed at least 42 people, but museums in Florida were mostly spared from any large-scale destruction, according to early reports. Following evacuations ordered last week, residents are slowly returning to their homes and some institutions plan to reopen this week.

Just like museums in the greater Houston area rushed to reopen again last week after Hurricane Harvey to reestablish a certain sense of civic normalcy, now institutions in Florida are busy assessing damage from Hurricane Irma, getting started on repairs, and reopening to the public.

The Pérez Art Museum Miami announced that it will offer free admission on Thursday, September 14 and Friday, September 15 and host a variety of activities to "relieve some of the stress from Hurricane Irma."

Post-Harvey Houston reopens its museums

2017-09-06T14:22:00-04:00

As aid workers and Texans begin to take stock of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey, museums across Houston, the fourth biggest city in the country and one of the areas hardest hit by the storm, are starting to reopen. Gary Tinterow, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), announced Friday that the institution would partially reopen on Tuesday 5 September with free admission through Thursday, 7 September. He offered the museum “as a place for reflection and renewal.”

While a leisurely visit to the museum may not be on the minds right now of Houston residents hit the hardest by Hurricane Harvey, reopening its cultural institutions is an important first step for the city to start the long process of recovery and breathe new life into the civic spirit.

U.S. House approves bill that will make it easier for smaller communities to get FEMA relief

2016-03-01T17:14:00-05:00

the federal government’s disaster declaration formula has been broken for years, making it nearly impossible for smaller communities to get help. [...] The FEMA Disaster Assistance Reform Act requires the feds give greater consideration to the localized impact of a disaster [...] rural parts of the state ... must meet an arbitrarily high threshold in order to qualify for a disaster declaration. Enacting this language into law will level the playing field

Known as HR 1471, the FEMA Disaster Assistance Reform Act of 2015 (passed by the House on February 29 of 2016) includes input from architects and members of the building industry to review and update FEMA's policies. In a press release issued earlier today, AIA President Russell Davidson FAIA expressed his gratification that legislation included architects: "HR 1471 represents a major opportunity for our profession to have a say in developing proposals which could have an immediate impact on federal resilience policy.”

More on the difficulties of disaster relief funding:

The Hurricane Katrina Cottages: where are they now?

2015-08-13T14:49:00-04:00

‘"It’s hard to think about ways to drain the swamp when alligators are biting your ass.’”

Immediately after a natural disaster, most residents want to get things back to normal, even if that "normal" wasn't particularly ideal. The story of the Katrina Cottages, a series of 400 to 800 square foot residences that would provide temporary relief housing in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina and also act as "seed" housing for safer, long-term neighborhoods, is a nuanced and occasionally frustrating look into the political dimensions of recovery.

For more on disaster and recovery efforts:

Residents of NYC Adult Home Asked to Repay FEMA Aid From Hurricane Sandy

2014-11-10T14:21:00-05:00

The residents of Belle Harbor Manor spent four miserable months in emergency shelters after Superstorm Sandy's floodwaters surged through their assisted-living center on New York City's Rockaway peninsula. Now, the home's disabled, elderly and mostly poor residents have a new headache: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked at least a dozen of them to pay back thousands of dollars in disaster aid.

Post-Katrina: Will New Orleans still be New Orleans?

2014-04-25T19:33:00-04:00

With billions in federal, charity and insurance dollars flowing in after [Hurricane Katrina], there were suddenly resources for change. “The city essentially got the opportunity to do a do-over,” said Carol Bebelle, a lifelong New Orleanian and executive director of Ashé Cultural Arts Center. [...] In many ways, it was a top-to-bottom re-imagining of the cityscape. So, is the city in a better place than it was nearly nine years ago? It depends on how closely you look.

For many post-Sandy "lifting a house has become the go-to solution"

2013-10-27T23:36:00-04:00

"what is unprecedented here is the capacity...people are going to have to wait...there is going to be contractor backlog" - Sammy Chu

Charles Lane of WSHU in Long Island reports the rush to lift houses has regulators scurrying to catch up.