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art, museums, & climate risk | the Pérez Art Museum Miami

Museums, as stewards of cultural heritage, are in it for the long term. To safeguard the artistic, historic and scientific resources they hold in trust for the public, museums need to adapt to a world where change—and water—are the new normal.

Designing for Resilience, Elizabeth Merritt, founding director, Center for the Future of Museums, an initiative of the American Alliance of Museums

The Swiss architectural firm of Herzog & de Meuron designed what is now called the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). The museum is anchor for a 30-acre museum park on Biscayne Bay in downtown Miami. The Biscayne Bay location was provided by the City of Miami. Construction of the building cost $220 million. $100 million was provided by Miami-Dade voters in general obligation bond funding. $120 million came from private donors.

The museum of modern and contemporary art is dedicated to collecting and exhibiting international art of the 20th and 21st centuries. The museum holds the largest collection of contemporary Cuban art in the United States.

The National Climate Assessment of 2014 named Miami one of the U.S. cities most vulnerable to severe damage as a result of rising sea levels. According to the report, sea levels have risen eight inches since 1870. The report projects a further rise of one to four feet by the end of the century.

The National Climate Assessment of 2014 found that while melting Arctic and Antarctic ice and rising sea levels are threatening the entire American coastline, Miami is exceptionally vulnerable due to its natural geology.

The city of Miami is built on top of porous limestone. The limestone absorbs seawater. The rising sea waters are being absorbed into the city’s foundation. The water bubbles up through pipes and drains, encroaches on fresh water supplies and saturates infrastructure. County governments estimate that the damages could rise to billions or even trillions of dollars.

In such circumstances and given Miami’s geology, how is the Pérez Art Museum Miami designed to fulfill its responsibilities as a steward of art and cultural heritage?

The architecture has been designed to adapt to the climate of Miami. The new building, opened in 2013, was specifically designed to withstand hurricanes. The museum is raised on an elevated platform above the flood plain. The museum features the largest sheets of hurricane-resistant glass in the U.S. Art storage facilities are situated more than 46 feet above sea level. The museum’s backup-electricity system runs on generators. The generators are located on the third floor.

  • The first floor of the museum was elevated by Herzog & de Meuron above the 18-foot high-water mark left by Category 5 Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The elevation acts as a safety cushion for projected effects of climate change.
  • Gaps in the floors of the patio surrounding the museum allow water from rain, storm surge or flooding to drain into the parking garage, located underneath the museum.
  • A power generator is located on the third floor of the museum. Electricity to the building is ensured even if lower floors are affected by flooding. The generator has enough fuel for three days of use, and can be refueled by truck or barge (in case the roads are blocked).
  • Second-floor windows feature the largest panels of hurricane-resistant glass in the US (17.5 feet tall by seven feet wide, each weighing 2,500 pounds).
  • The teak entrance doors weigh 550 pounds each. They each feature a multi-prong pin system. The pin system locks the doors in several places to secure them against category-five hurricane winds.
  • The hanging gardens, inclusive of the mechanical system and irrigation system, are designed to withstand a category five hurricane.
  • Should a major hurricane head towards Miami, the museum maintains plans to de-install and place in storage as much of the art as possible, starting with the most sensitive works, such as particularly rare works on paper that are sensitive to humidity and temperature fluctuations.
  • The museum’s art storage facility is situated 46 feet above sea level. This is to ensure security from flooding and water damage. Storage HVAC is designed to handle humidity levels that might follow a storm event.

See:

“Jorge Pérez Donates $15 Million in Cash and Art to Miami Museum” | Hili Perlson, Artnet, 30 November 2016

“Designing for Resilience” | Elizabeth Merritt, Center for the Future of Museums, an initiative of the American Alliance of Museums, 11 August 2015

“Protecting Priceless Art from Natural Disasters” | John Whitaker, The Atlantic, 27 May 2015

“Trendswatch 2015” | Elizabeth Merritt, Center for the Future of Museums, an initiative of the American Alliance of Museums“

“Miami Finds Itself Ankle-Deep in Climate Change Debate” | Carol Davenport, The New York Times, 7 May 2014

“Pérez Art Museum” | Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering

National Climate Assessment

Pérez Art Museum | Wikipedia

 

#PérezArtMuseumMiami #Miami #Herzog&deMeuron #JorgePérez #art #artcollections #climaterisk #resilience #realestate #artstorage #electricity #powergeneration #carbondioxide #CO2 #risingsealevels

 

 

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the luxury market is driving LEED & green building tech

The use of  advances in green building technology and LEED (USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) by U.S. developers and architects is increasingly market driven.

Such initiatives have oftentimes been borne out of environmental regulations and tax subsidies initiated at local, state and federal levels.

It appears, however, that such environmental regulations and tax subsidies are no longer sole primary drivers.

Rather, market demand is also driving the adoption of green building technology and LEED in the design and development of luxury buildings.

People understand the need for and benefits of green building technologies and carbon neutral energy programs. Developers, architects, and designers are beginning to follow suit.

Here are some examples:

  • Marcos Corti, CEO, Consultatio, the developer of Oceana, the first building on Bal Harbour, Florida to be LEED certified:

“The trend is to go LEED and to continue that path. It is on everybody. If the government or the leader is not going that way, I think the entire population is going that way, so it isn’t going to change.”

  • Stephen Glascock, President and Managing Partner, founded New York-based Anbau in 1998 based on the vision that “good design makes good business.” The Anbau focus is on residential condominium development in New York City, seeking value and appropriate risk-adjusted returns.

“We don’t get any subsidies for LEED stuff. All the sustainable stuff comes from what we feel is the right thing to do.”

  • Christopher Gandolfo, vice president of development, Swire Properties. Swire Properties is active globally. Brickell City Centre is 9.1-acre city-within-a-city, a retail-led mixed complex of luxury condo towers, class-A office buildings, a five-star hotel, and an open-air shopping center, engineered and built on platforms over the street level that link shops, restaurants, hotel and the other buildings.

“We are pioneer for the time. I’d like to believe other good developers will follow suit. It is up to the public to demand it to some degree as well.”

LEED “helps keep the very large team of designers, specialist consultants, and contractors who work on a project like 520 W 28th Street focused on the project’s performance and indoor air quality goals, and it gives our buyers an extra level of comfort that we achieved these goals.”

  • Brandon Specketer, partner at COOKFOX Architects, “architectural studio dedicated to a vision of integrated, environmentally responsive design. We believe good design is sustainable and we are committed to being wise stewards of our shared natural and cultural resources.”

COOKFOX project 550 Vanderbilt in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn utilizes Biophilic Design principles throughout the building to connect residents to the natural world for enhanced creativity, clarity of thought, and improved well being.

“LEED isn’t a checklist. It is a standard of quality that helps everyone meet a certain standard.”

See:

“Green Building in U.S. Luxury Developments Continues to Flourish” | Ariel Ramchandani, Mansion Global, 29 May 2017

“City in a city: Brickell City Centre set to transform downtown Miami” | Debora Lima, Miami Herald, 15 May 2016

550 Vanderbilt | COOKFOX

#realestate #luxury #smartluxury #LEED #greentech #Consultatio #Anbau #SwireProperties #RelatedCompanies #COOKFOX #realestatedevelopment #architecture #design #NewYork #Miami #climaterisk #urbanliving

 

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real estate investment & climate change futures ・ the next dry neighborhood

If there’s anything more complicated than the global forces of thermal expansion, ice sheet melt and ocean circulation that contribute to worldwide sea-level rise, it might be the forces of real estate speculation.

Real estate investment may no longer be just about the next hot neighborhood, it may also now be about the next dry neighborhood.

“‘That’s it, it’s that simple. To be on the beach and to be on the water costs a lot more money, and the cheaper parts of town were furthest from the beach — but it just turns out that the cheapest parts of town farthest from the beach are the highest elevation, and now they’re worth a lot more than they used to be.'”

Jesse M. Keenan, Harvard Graduate School of Design

“‘The real issue is: Are people making real estate decisions based on climate change futures, rather than sort of normal speculation?'” observes Hugh Gladwin, an anthropologist at Florida International University in Miami. Gladwin’s specialty is using geographic information system mapping to understand large, diverse urban settings.

Jesse M. Keenan is a lawyer who teaches climate change adaptation at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Mr. Keenan formerly served as the co-founder and research director of Columbia University’s Center for Urban Real Estate (CURE). His family roots are in Miami and he owns a house and has an office and parking space in Miami. He thinks people are making real estate decisions based on climate change futures.

Using survey data, Mr. Keenan is beginning to see see evidence that middle-income people are leaving Miami Beach and other places with nuisance flooding. Such flooding makes  it difficult to get around at high tides or insure a car.

Mr. Keenan observes, “‘Everybody I know that is a small owner of real estate that isn’t within the billionaire class — average middle-class, upper-middle-class Miamians who have real estate on the beach — is in the process of selling their properties and moving to the mainland.'”

Sea-level rise is exacerbating the effects of coastal flooding in South Florida. A 2016 University of Miami study finds that coastal flooding is accelerating. The coastal flooding is coinciding with an accelerated rate of sea-level rise in South Florida. The average rate of sea-level rise jumped from an increase of 3 millimeters a year before 2006 to an increase of 9 millimeters a year on average after 2006. Over the course of one decade, from 2006 to 2016, that’s about 3.5 inches of sea-level rise.

Sam Purkis, a marine geologist at the University of Miami, observes,

“‘What will happen, more than likely, is that you’ll have one big hurricane, and you’ll get a big inundation into the city. And that will serve to rot out the infrastructure — the sewer lines, the electricity, the telecoms. Everything that’s under the road. That becomes very costly to keep replacing every time this happens.'”

“‘That’s it, it’s that simple,'” says Harvard’s Jesse Keenan.

“‘To be on the beach and to be on the water costs a lot more money, and the cheaper parts of town were furthest from the beach — but it just turns out that the cheapest parts of town farthest from the beach are the highest elevation, and now they’re worth a lot more than they used to be.'”

Local governments are considering  what sea-level rise means for all those mortgage holders who pay taxes.

Coral Gables released an analysis of how it would pay for infrastructure investment in the face of a shrinking tax base if people leave.

“We’re concerned about it, we’re planning for it, we’re spending money on vulnerability studies trying to know what our vulnerabilities are in terms of our essential infrastructure, and planning to build up and save our communities as long as we can,” Jim Cason, Mayor of Coral Gables, said.

See:

“High Ground Is Becoming Hot Property As Sea Level Rises” | Erika Bolstad, ClimateWire, 1 May 2017, re-printed from ClimateWire by Scientific American with permission from E&E News

Hugh Gladwin, Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs, Florida International University

Jesse M. Keenan, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Center for Urban Real Estate, Columbia University GSAPP

Sam Purkis, Professor & Chair, Department of Marine Geosciences, Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, University of Miami

#realestate #realestatedevelopment #realestatespeculation #art  #ArtBaselMiamiBeach #Miami #MiamiBeach #climatechange #sealevelrise #resilience #Harvard #Columbia #FloridaInternationalUniversity #UniversityofMiami