As climate change, the pandemic, and rising fuel and energy costs have combined to adversely affect homeowners, developers, and businesses recently, the possibility of architecture as a kind of bulwark against the unpredictability of tomorrow has become a critical issue. That concept—future-proofing—is a significant, if underrated, aspect of high-performance architecture.
Future-proofing a building minimizes negative forthcoming events, whether climate-related or cost-related. Using resilient materials, improving air quality, incorporating solar power, and providing safe water can help buildings ride out potential catastrophes and unexpected fluctuations in the availability or costs of energy and fuel.
Future-proofing focuses on two major issues. The first is from the perspective of the construction industry. For owners and developers, a high-performance upgrade promises substantial benefits, including raising property valuations. In addition, by using clean technology, installing advanced HVAC systems, and minimizing utility costs through energy efficiency, these progressive developers are not only responding to the demands of sustainability-conscious clients, but they are also adapting to trends that may become mandatory someday, either through municipal legislation that targets climate change or through overwhelming changes in the market.
It has been an increasingly accepted idea that the health benefits of high-performance design are now considered coveted amenities; in a few years, structures that feature future-proofing elements will likely follow suit. Resilient buildings, designed to cushion the impact of fluctuating energy costs and climate-related catastrophes, stand out among the countless examples of traditional construction.
The second and most important focus of future-proofing is lessening the impact of climate-related events. While architects grapple with the root causes of climate change—i.e., carbon emissions—they are still lagging behind its everyday effects. Storms, heat waves, and unexpected cold spells can cause severe damage to structures built without acknowledgment of environmental factors. Wildfires, increasingly prominent in the West, can pollute the air for hundreds of miles. Finally, the side effects of these events can leave residents suffering without necessities for days, if not weeks. “In today’s environment, climate-resilient design has taken on huge significance, as we’ve seen more and more severe weather-induced catastrophes, such as the historic flooding in New York City, or the hurricanes that have battered the East Coast,” Sara Neff, head of sustainability at Lendlease in the Americas, told Forbes.
A recent Yahoo News article outlines the growing trend of power-grid failures, highlighting how poor infrastructure combined with extreme weather all but guarantee blackouts of varying degrees across the United States: “From 2000 to 2021, 1,542 weather-related major power outages were reported by U.S. utilities, roughly 83% of them attributed to weather-related events. Those blackouts have become more frequent in recent years …. The rate of failures is speeding up: There have been about 73 power outages annually on average in this century, but there were 150 — more than twice the annual average — in 2021.”
High-performance design principles, which include airtight interiors, advanced HVAC systems, triple-glazed windows, solar panels, durable materials, and continuous insulation, are uniquely qualified to prevent the worst from happening. (The unpredictability of disasters, however, cannot be understated.) “These buildings with solar panels and batteries, that have natural light, and passive heating and cooling — all these things they need to be zero energy also make them a lot less vulnerable to extreme events,” Alexi Miller, an associate director of the New Buildings Institute, told Grist.
Predicting harsh weather events is nearly impossible, but the recent heatwaves in states with moderate temperatures (such as Oregon and Washington) underscore the importance of planning for the unexpected. Existing structures, historically designed without fear of 110-degree temperatures, are inadequate for adverse events, and, in some cases, adding air conditioners to drafty, aged homes can have a counterproductive effect, such as overtaxing the energy grid and further contributing to global warming. A relatively simple solution to these issues is a targeted retrofit. Upgrading a space to Passivhaus EnerPHit standards can offset some of the most catastrophic effects of extreme weather.
Another instance of future-proofing, one that is proceeding in several states, is the retrofitting of office spaces and schools, providing advanced HVAC systems, installing air quality monitors, and improving ventilation to diminish the transmission of pathogens. Indeed, the Covid era has made clear how design can work for the public good and reduce risk. In future-proofing, architecture can do the same on a much larger scale, preparing us for the challenges of today and tomorrow.