ITERATIVE RESILIENCE
COASTAL SUSTAINABILITY STUDIO - GRAND ISLE, LA
MOBILE MODULAR UNIT CONSTRUCTION
Units are typically grouped into 3-packs or 6-packs. A 3-pack is designed for a couple or single and contains one kitchen, one living/bath, and one bedroom unit. A 6-pack is designed for a larger family and can be configured according to the individual family’s needs. The 6-pack unit includes a large common deck space between the two rows of units. Additional platform-deck and stair units can easily be added into the system, increasing living space, circulation, and connection to the outdoors
GRAND ISLE; A DYNAMIC LANDSCAPE
After hurricanes Gustav and Ike (picture above) the boundaries of land and water dissolve as water and sand penetrate into the interior of Grand Isle. This is a typical sight of the effects caused by this repetitive event which is also experienced at many other coastal locattions. Although FEMA building regulations have been implemented to prevent damages on the existing infrastructure, a Disaster-Rebuild-Disaster cycle has become the norm. In addition to the ever changing built environment on the Island, Grand Isle's physical morphology continually shifts as it experiences land loss (east) and land gain (west) causing an apparent rotation of the landmass due to repetitive flooding and steadily increasing sea levels.
DESIGN GUIDELINES AREAS SUBJECT TO INUNDATION
The building design guidelines that were implemented respond to the highest level of flood water elevation that may occur in 100 year. This information is utilized to decifer the DFE which is the Design Flood Elevation to which buildings in the regulatory floodplain are built.The DFE is usually 1, 2 or 3 more feet above a calculated base flood elevation (FEMA 100yr still- water elevation). Designing buildings to withstand the impacts of storm surge and waves is costly. Currently, it is not economically feasible to construct buildings to withstand these loads; the only viable alternative is to elevate buildings above the surge.
BREAKING THE DISASTER-REBUILD-DISASTER CYCLE
In response to these environmental changes, the built environment must also move; We developed a design that responds to these dynamic forces in the urban scale and challenges common methods of construction for places like Grand Isle. This new settlement pattern uses a Gantry Crane to allow for the free movement of Modular Units over a new system of piles
BREAKING THE DISASTER-REBUILD-DISASTER CYCLE
The Gantry Crane delivers the units, one by one, and attaches them to the grid at the appropriate height. When out of hurricane season, the units are configured low to the ground, stair stepping up to take advantage of views and breezes, while still maintaining connection to the groundplane. At the beginning of hurricane season, the Gantry Crane lifts the units into their storm ready position, well above the BFE, and in-line. There are three unit types which can be configured in various ways: kitchen, living/bath, and bedroom. Each is sandwiched between decks which increase square footage and provide additional circulation
BUNKER VS. MOBILE NODULAR UNIT
After hurricane season, traditional house is rebuilt as a bunker. During hurricane season, the bunker may resist all the damages that may come with the forces of wind and water, however, the everlasting nature of a bunker wont allow it to survive a hurricane in 100 years when the Design Floor Elevation level changes. In contrast, when the DFE levels go up the Mobile Modular Units may adjust to these changes or, in the worst case scenario, the units may also be moved to a new location.
TRADITIONAL COASTAL CONSTRUCTION VS. MOBILE MODULAR UNITS
Traditional coastal buildings are built above the DFE, however, current wood framing construction alone isn't able to withstand unpredictable wind loads and tend to fail at the roof joint, ultimately being destroyed. Instead, from the moment of delivery and assembly, the Mobile Modular Units are set below the DFE until hurricane season, when they are raised above the DFE. During a hurricane, the side decks are raised to further protect the modular unit. In addition, the protective ferro-cement layer acts as a wind/water proof shell that protects the overall structure from suffering damages. After the hurricane the intact structure may then open back up and be lowered below the DFE.
The residential units are timber framed shells, built in compliance with the latest hurricane wind code standards, and sheathed in ferrocement, which is inexpensive and highly durable in coastal conditions. This structural shell is analogous to a ferrocement boat hull, rotated one hundred and eighty degrees along the z-axis, and sealed onto the unit floorplate-deck; essentially creating an up-side-down boat. It is highly resistant to transferring wind and water to the interior and tends to buckle, not crack or tear apart, when put under failure inducing stresses. The shell shape is that of a simple gabled roof house (without overhangs that catch wind updrafts that lead to roof uplift) which reference much of the current housing stock on the island.
Units are positioned into the twelve foot by twelve foot pile grid with the precise controls of the gantry crane, the height of the unit depends on the season and the site’s DFE. The units are attached to the pile grid via an adapted mast-clamp friction style connector with a steel pin that runs through the pile. These customized adjustable connectors, in combination with the folding apertures and decks, constitute the soft-adaptable components of the system which contrast the hard-fixed shell component.
MOBILE MODULAR UNIT CONSTRUCTION
LSU COASTAL SUSTAINABILITY STUDIO
Project Team:
Meredith Sattler
Carolina Rodriguez
Elsy Interiano