design, build, learn. repeat.

Designing for Hurricanes and Floods

A general overview of some of the things we do here in Biloxi to mitigate the risk of building houses in a hurricane-prone area. By no means a comprehensive guide. Elevation. The house’s finished floor should be above the expected flood elevation. The building codes here currently go by the city’s maps, but FEMA has issued new Base Flood Elevation maps which are typically higher than the city’s. So, if your property is 12 feet above sea level, and FEMA’s maps show a flood elevation on your property of 17 feet, you would need to elevate approximately 5 feet to …

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A (Typical?) Biloxi Week

Today (Monday) : Rode my new bike to work for the first time — very exciting. Then I spent all day trying to finish up a drawing set to take in for a building permit, although I didn’t make it. After a late Oak Street steering committee meeting, I went for a very fun first judo class in Ocean Springs with Will. Sunday: It being sunny and warm, we played Sunday football on the beach, the definite highlight of the day. Got lots of laundry done and sorted through most of my old receipts and bills and things. Also, luck …

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WLOX on the Oak Street Community Meeting

Rebuilding Infrastructure & Culture on Biloxi’s Oak Street February 27, 2008 by Elise Roberts, WLOX It was a meeting of the minds for some people who live in East Biloxi. Wednesday night people came together to give their feedback on plans to revitalize the Oak Street community. “We lost so much of the face of our community, and that’s something we cannot reclaim,” said Thao Vu with the Boat People SOS. Vu says after Hurricane Katrina, very few homes and businesses returned to the area. Instead, many relocated to D’Iberville and Ocean Springs. That’s why her organization, as well as …

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Custom Cabinets at Rosetti

Jason spent several days last week building some sweet kitchen cabinets over at Patti’s house. They’re very simple and elegant pine cabinets that we will probably stain to keep a natural color. (Below left) The kitchen sink is ready to be installed as soon as work on the tile countertop is finished. (Right) The space for the refrigerator. All of the flooring is in as well, but I don’t have any good pictures of that because there is cardboard laid down everywhere to protect it. The electrician and plumber will be coming in and the Mississippi State students are working …

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UVA Visit – the Epic Tale

It’s Monday, February 18th, and I’m finishing up at work when I get a message from my friend Chris. He has a challenge for me: be at UVA for the club swim meet that weekend. The time has come to return, and that time is Vince O’Clock. Reason takes over, but is subsequently defeated, and by Tuesday night I have bought my plane tickets. I’ll be flying to North Carolina, where Chris works, on Thursday night, then driving up for an epic three-day weekend in Charlottesville. Pictures and more after the break:

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Oak Street Townhall Meeting

Oak Street is the bookend for my mental map of East Biloxi, the last real stop of consequence before you head east to Ocean Springs. It’s not only because most of my projects are within a few blocks of the street, although (from east to west) Hoxie, Crawford, and Rosetti Streets are all ones I visit often. It’s the character of the street; even in its diminished state, you find the Vietnamese/French “Le Bakery”, the “Pho 777” restaurant, the Hong Kong Market with its (to me) exotic foods, several convenience stores, the Vietnamese church and Buddhist temple, and more. Spanning …

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Going to UVA!

I am taking a few days off work to go back to UVA! The plan: flying into Greensboro on Thursday night and driving with Chris up to Charlottesville on Friday. Saturday is the Club Swim meet and party, and we’ll stay through Sunday afternoon. If you’ll be around, give me a call! I want to catch up with everyone that I can. Excited!!

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Tiling with Sergio & Studio

Our friend Sergio Palleroni and his design/build studio from the UT-Austin School of Architecture came into town on Friday to spend the weekend at Patty’s house, lending a hand with construction and studying the landscape in order to go back to Austin and build some structures to complement Patty’s garden. After getting oriented on Friday, everybody spent most of the day Saturday laying slate tile in the living room, bathroom, and laundry room. The tile is beautiful; it is also quite varied, both in coloration and thickness, which means we will need to chisel down the uneven joints. Sunday we …

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Framing Ridiculously Fast

Lendell’s house (my first design) is going up almost faster than I can follow. By now they’ve framed and sheathed almost everything and are preparing to start roofing. Thanks go to Hope Force, especially their construction supervisor Brent, and a group of young Pennsylvania framers (At risk of misidentifying them, I think they’re either Amish or Mennonite) who work together seamlessly and have nearly superhuman construction abilities. The house is looking good; I think the high ceilings and unusual kitchen windows should take a fairly ordinary plan and transform it into something special. Better photos to come when I get …

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Danny’s House Is (Almost) Done!

I visited Danny to check on the progress of his house. (Previous posts: one, two.) Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia brought it nearly to completion with impressive speed, and now Danny is putting the finishing touches on it himself. It looks great, thanks in part to Danny’s many improvements to the plan, such as the back porch, below: The front room and front door: The kitchen: Overall, it’s coming together very well, thanks to Danny’s ability to deal with our mistakes. He reduced the excessive number of windows I had specified (which left barely any room for things like …

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