A century ago, the southwest Florida coast was mostly swamps and shoals, prone to frequent flooding and almost impossible to navigate by boat.
Since then, real estate developers manipulated coastal and riverine ecosystems through dredging and filling to create valuable, buildable land. The results of their efforts created coastal communities that were home to more than 2 million people when Hurricane Ian struck.
Many of the homes in the region sit just a few feet from the ocean, surrounded by canals that flow to the Gulf of Mexico. The devastating storm’s 150-mile-per-hour winds and massive storm surge smashed hundreds of buildings to pieces, flooded houses, and tossed around boats and mobile homes. Vast portions of cities including Fort Myers and Port Charlotte were destroyed in a few hours.
The extensive land tracts formed by tearing out mangroves and draining swamps damaged natural wetland marshes that would have protected properties further inland from the storm surge. Thus, the damaging impacts of Hurricane Ian were catastrophic for a vast swath of southwest Florida.
Only three hurricanes had made landfall in the region since 1960, and none of them caused catastrophic flooding. Ian broke that streak, and those who rebuild in destroyed areas will continue to be at high risk from storms.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
New hospital expands Idaho healthcare options
Ascension Group Architects, Arlington, Texas, is designing a $150 million replacement hospital for Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, Idaho. An existing facility will be renovated as part of the project. The new six-story, 320-000-sf complex will house 187 beds, along with an intensive care unit, a cardiovascular care unit, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgical suites, rehabilitation clinic, and ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Green HQ going up in Miami
Formgroup, Coral Gables, Fla., has been commissioned by communications company CIMA Telecom to design its 24,000-sf headquarters in Miami. The nine-story, LEED Gold pre-certified office building will get 25% of its power from solar panels and will minimize energy usage with the help of automated window shades and occupancy sensors.
| Aug 11, 2010
Aloft hotel opens at Washington National Harbor
A partnership of five developers, including the John Hardy Group and Peterson Companies, have completed a 190-room aloft hotel at Washington National Harbor, a mixed-use retail/entertainment development in Oxon Hill, Md., near Washington, D.C. Designed in conjunction with David Rockwell and the Rockwell Group, the aloft prototype offers atmospheric public spaces designed to draw guests from the...
| Aug 11, 2010
Perkins Eastman awarded Indian School of Business campus
The New York office of Perkins Eastman has been commissioned by the Indian School of Business for a 70-acre, 1.5 million-sf new business school campus as part of a 300-acre “Knowledge City” in Chandigarh, Mohali, India. The sustainable campus will accommodate four centers of excellence: healthcare management, public policy, manufacturing/operations, and physical infrastructure manag...
| Aug 11, 2010
Colonnade fixes setback problem in Brooklyn condo project
The New York firm Scarano Architects was brought in by the developers of Olive Park condominiums in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn to bring the facility up to code after frame out was completed. The architects designed colonnades along the building's perimeter to create the 15-foot setback required by the New York City Planning Commission.
| Aug 11, 2010
Wisconsin becomes the first state to require BIM on public projects
As of July 1, the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities will require all state projects with a total budget of $5 million or more and all new construction with a budget of $2.5 million or more to have their designs begin with a Building Information Model. The new guidelines and standards require A/E services in a design-bid-build project delivery format to use BIM and 3D software from initial ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Manhattan's Pier 57 to be transformed into $210 million cultural center
LOT-EK, Beyer Blinder Belle, and West 8 have been selected as the design team for Hudson River Park's $210 million Pier 57 redevelopment, headed by local developer Young Woo & Associates. The 375,000-sf vacant passenger ship terminal will be transformed into a cultural center, small business incubator, and public park, including a rooftop venue for the Tribeca Film Festival.
| Aug 11, 2010
Opening night close for Kent State performing arts center
The curtain opens on the Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center at Kent State University in early 2010, giving the New Philadelphia, Ohio, school a 1,100-seat multipurpose theater. The team of Legat & Kingscott of Columbus, Ohio, and Schorr Architects of Dublin, Ohio, designed the 50,000-sf facility with a curving metal and glass façade to create a sense of movement and activity.
