For Archinect's After the Storm mini series, we had reached out to various architecture schools in Puerto Rico to get a better understanding how the recent Hurricanes Irma and Maria — and the devastation they left behind all over the region — had impacted school facilities, academic infrastructure, and student life.

In Part 1, we interviewed Mayra Jiménez-Montano, Interim Architecture Dean at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan.

In this second installment, we're talking with Luis V. Badillo-Lozano, Dean of the School of Architecture at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, the island's second largest city.

Archinect: How have the recent hurricanes Maria and Irma impacted the school's daily operations and student life? Have school facilities and infrastructure been affected?

Luis V. Badillo-Lozano: Neither Hurricane Irma nor Maria had a big impact on our School's facilities. Some water infiltration through the roof and a crack on a glass door (some floor carpets need to be replaced).

Nonetheless, with Maria, we did lose electrical power service for about three weeks, and that had the consequence that all our computers' individual power backups (battery packs) were totally discharged; coming down to zero charge, damaging almost all of them (over 320 computer battery packs need to be replaced). Other than that, we are in good shape.

Has the topic of resilient design been a prominent part of the curriculum in the past and how will the experience from the recent hurricanes shape the teachings in this field going forward?

Located in the tropics, right on the path of the hurricanes and also on a seismic zone, our technology courses and our design studio professors always emphasize the need and techniques of designing buildings able to resist strong lateral forces, not only in their structural system but also in their envelope among other building components. 

Having said that, a Category 5 hurricane is a unique experience, and if you are hit by two of them (back to back) in a 14 day period, this is a totally unexpected, historical traumatic event. None of us were prepared for this kind of a situation and there is a lot to learn from it.  

None of us were prepared for this kind of a situation and there is a lot to learn from it.

We all have to keep in mind that, aside from Puerto Rico's particular experience, this hurricane season alone (and still active until November) had already produced in our region four (4) hurricane of maximum strength. If this is the result of "global warming," it means that quite probably we could expect it could happen again next year, or at least with more frequency.

As of today, nobody knows if we were witness of a one in a hundred years event or if this will become the new norm. If the latter is true, we all should review and adapt our curricula and train future generations of architects to properly design for this new reality. We will have to review our materials and methods and learn how to design, not only buildings but cities, infrastructure systems, and even landscape able to withstand atmospheric events of great magnitude.

Have the storms shaped the school's approach towards architectural education and its specific application to Puerto Rico?

(Please refer to previous answer) But I should add that we are planning to organize "round table" sessions including not only our faculty and students but also inviting other professionals and community members.  

This crisis cannot be wasted — we all have to learn from this.

What are the school's greatest challenges in the short and long term?

We are all recovering from a deeply traumatic experience, as an individual and as a community. We have many members of our School in great need. My biggest challenge as a Dean is to get to them, and the help they need on time (time is of the essence).

We are all going to be different; let's try to be different good, different stronger, different better.

Are there personal stories you would like to share with our readers?

Our School is located in Ponce, which is the second largest city of Puerto Rico, on the southern coast, 1.5 hrs driving distance from San Juan, the Island's Capital city where I live.

That day, I also realized that this is an opportunity not to re-build but to build a new, a better, and a stronger Puerto Rico.

We were hit by Maria on a Wednesday. On Thursday, after the hurricane when I inspected and walked our neighborhood, I thought we had been devastated. We had no communications, no power, no water. Listening to the only radio station still transmitting for the entire Island, I was informed of the roads blocked by trees, poles, mudslides etc.

I took my chance, and on Sunday (5:30am), I decided to drive to Ponce and check the School. It was a humbling experience, when I really saw the devastation. I saw a different Island: what used to be an exuberant lush landscape is now brown and like a desert. A typical 1.5-hr drive became a 3-hr journey.

Nobody else, not even a soul, was on the expressway. I was totally alone, avoiding debris — using the opposite lanes that morning, I was doing things I had never imagined. That day, I realized the immense magnitude of this catastrophic historical event. That morning, I realized it will be a long recovery process. That day, I also realized that this is an opportunity not to re-build but to build a new, a better, and a stronger Puerto Rico.