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Alex Wilson, founder of the Resilient Design Institute, was the featured speaker at 鈥淭he Green Champion Summit: From Sustainability to Resilience,鈥� an event sponsored by the American Institute of Architects鈥� Portland chapter. Wilson, who has extensive experience in the rebuilding efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, answered a few questions from the 91视频 before Wednesday鈥檚 event. Here is what he had to say.

91视频: We know that Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy caused loss of life and major damage. What are some of the lessons learned that might apply to a major Cascadia fault earthquake?

Wilson: One of the important lessons with resilience is that resilience isn鈥檛 about the particular event. It鈥檚 about the aftermath of the event. I saw with both Sandy and Katrina an extended period of time where people were without power over a much larger area than the area heavily impacted by the storm itself. Our whole society depends on electricity. When electricity goes down there are ramifications that apply pretty widely. With Sandy we saw cascading impacts. Without electricity people couldn鈥檛 pump gasoline. Some stations ran out of fuel, but others didn鈥檛 have backup generators and they couldn鈥檛 pump so people were having trouble getting around.

Resilient design looks at how we design buildings and communities to maintain functionality after an event as well as protecting people during an event. With buildings we look at designing them and building them so that they will maintain 鈥榩assive survivability鈥� without electricity and will maintain safe conditions for the occupants. It鈥檚 fascinating and really informed a lot of what I鈥檓 currently thinking about this.

91视频: How did building design affect 鈥榩assive survivability鈥� in New Orleans after Katrina?

Wilson: With Katrina we saw buildings in the French Quarter of New Orleans that weren鈥檛 flooded but nonetheless lost power, but the older buildings were still habitable. But the newer buildings designed since the advent of air conditioning weren鈥檛 habitable.

The older buildings were designed with what we call vernacular architecture 鈥� architecture that made sense for that environment. With Katrina we found that (among) buildings that lost power, the older homes tended to maintain livable conditions. They weren鈥檛 convenient without electricity, but people could be in there and be safe. They had high ceilings that were designed for natural ventilation and they had wrap-around porches that shaded direct sun. So those were ideas that made sense 100 years ago as bioclimatic design. Since advent of air conditioning, we design buildings the same pretty much everywhere for the comfort we desire. Part of passive survivability and resilience is re-examining that paradigm and saying, 鈥淟et鈥檚 go back to vernacular design.鈥�

91视频: How does Portland compare with other West Coast cities as far as being prepared for a major seismic event?

Wilson: My sense is that San Francisco is ahead of Portland in terms of seismic issues. They had a pretty radical measure that was adopted a few years ago to mandate building retrofits. One of the things they did in San Francisco, as a result of the 1906 earthquake, is they put in an entire redundant water system for fire suppression. They have some dedicated reservoirs just for these fire suppression systems, they鈥檝e got cisterns buried under street intersections around the city 鈥� about 50 or 60 of them 鈥� and different hydrants that are served by the reservoirs. One of the big impacts of 1906 earthquake was fires because the water mains were all breached. So they鈥檝e got this redundant system to get fire suppression water and (they) are maintaining that and recently added a whole other reservoir to that system.

91视频: You talk about biomimicry in building design on your website. Please expand on that concept.

Wilson: Applying lessons from nature and the whole concept of biomimicry is important. It鈥檚 looking at building systems that mimic nature and learning from nature. A great example is termite mounds in Africa. They鈥檙e sometimes 10 or 15 feet tall, in a very hot climate, where inside those termite mounds they are maintaining temperatures within a degree or two Celsius (about 35 degrees Fahrenheit)聽 and they do that through passive ventilation that flows through. Those concepts have actually been applied in some architecture in the Middle East to learn from passive cooling strategies in those termite mounds. That鈥檚 a neat example of looking to nature for design innovation.

91视频: Your website says that design as well as building practices can affect resiliency and that 鈥渂eautiful buildings last longer.鈥� Could you please expound on that?

Wilson: Part of resilience is about durability and constructing buildings that last a long time. Part of that is those buildings have to be maintained, and to be maintained, they have to be loved. We need to look at architectural design and be careful not to jump on board the latest bandwagon, whether it鈥檚 brutalism or whatever, and think about designs that pass muster with long-term likes and attraction. It鈥檚 an interesting issue, but not a key element.