The mythical Phoenix was reborn out of fire.
Paradise California has been through the fires of Hell this fall, virtually destroying the town. The last count I saw was that the Camp Fire had destroyed some 9700 homes.
The city now has an ash-colored blank slate on which to rebuild.
What if the city is rebuilt with conservation in mind. Energy efficient homes and water-saving principles.
Could this be an opportunity to revisit building codes, discarding low value, or old thinking requirements, in favor of environmentally friendly guidelines? New thinking that kept cost down and environmental awareness up.
How about gray water systems that treasure and reuse precious water?
I’d love to see university architectural departments fall on this opportunity to shape homes and communities of the future.
Think tanks could come up with model building codes. Foundations might underwrite some of the costs, incentivizing citizens and local governments to undertake something bold.
A tour of Chicago’s magnificent cityscape attributes the innovation in building seen there to the influx on talent drawn by the opportunity of rebuilding the city after its cataclysmic fire.
Perhaps Paradise could be regained and rebuilt in the same fashion.