Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Christopher Meyer
Despite mounting evidence of environmental uncertainty, South Florida communities continue to record steadily increasing growth, with Miami Dade County’s [MDC] population expanding by approximately 3.5% between 2014 and 2018.1 Currently, any concern of building insurance affordability/ availability, long-term financial investment risks and health/safety concerns have not significantly altered the short-term future of the construction and real-estate markets.2 The south Florida community’s commitment to urban development is ever present; but the question on the minds of community leaders, policy makers and the general public is, how do we create urban resilience? The architectural profession must address the agenda–how do buildings and policies anticipate an evolving environment and sustain longterm, safe occupation? And what are they made of? An abundant battery of raw material timber resource, a distributed network of mills, processing plants, and mass timber manufacturing facilities affords an opportunity for the Southeastern United States to focus on implementing wood fibre into the construction ecology. However, a critical hurdle to the successful implementation of mass timber wood products in Florida, and specifically in MDC, is within the policy and permitting process. The required certified product testing by the Florida Administrative Code3 and the Miami-Dade County Product Approvals and Notice of Acceptance4 is one of two jurisdictions in the United States implementing the stringent High Velocity Hurricane Zone [HVHZ]5 as an overlay to the Florida Building Code6-which must be successfully navigated for project realization. The focus of this paper engages the question how do we build as a regional inquiry to Southern Florida through a case study on a partnership forged between academics and practice at the University of Miami School of Architecture and Atelier Mey Architects. This collaboration is established with the shared objective of implementing an innovative path to the design and building permitting of cross-laminated timber [CLT] in MDC, specifically the qualitative and quantitative methods required for CLT case study’s success. Empirical methodologies used to understand building applications of mass timber products, specifically PRG-320 certified Cross Laminated Timber Panels7 in Florida is through the design, engineering and submission of drawings to the Miami-Dade building permitting office for review.
https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.110.2
Volume Editors
Robert Gonzalez, Milton Curry & Monica Ponce de Leon
ISBN
978-1-944214-40-1
