Storm season is upon us, and with climate change bringing us more severe and more frequent storms. Flooding is happening more often. Everytime there's flooding someone talks about the insanity of building on a flood plane. Usually with a picture of a sign announcing a development of executive homes, sat in a field of water. The thing is. The problem isn't building in flood planes. The problem is building shitty buildings in flood planes. Naturally the Dutch have a thing or tow to say on this 1/n

This is Maasbommel. A small city on the banks of the Maas river in the Netherlands. The settlement has existed here for best part of a millennia. Most of the old city is built on the inside of the dijks, which protect it from the water levels of the Maas river (aka the Meuse). But these homes. They are built on the "wrong" side of the dijk. They have nothing between them and the flood waters of the Maas. On the face of it they look like pretty normal modern homes. 2/n

What's special about these homes tho, is they are built to deal with the flood. Each home is built with a hollow concrete base. They are anchored to a large steel pillar that is driven into the ground. The hollow base provides buoyancy, and when the water level rises. So do the homes. The garden might not be too happy. And you probably want to move the car before the flooding happens. But the home is protected. Rising and falling with the water level.

3/n

Some of the homes appear more like they are on dry land, some look more like they are floating all the time.

These are not normal homes, they aren't as easy to roll out as the copy pasta rabbit hutches many developers like these days. But by adapting our design. By embracing new ideas we can build homes on flood planes. We can build resilient buildings that cope with climate change (heat pumps, solar power, Braise soleii etc...)

4/n