Raised Structures: Reclaiming the Interstital as a Means of Acclimization

One of the most common strategies for flood resilience in residential structures is to raise the enclosed building and all horizontal structure above the projected 100-year flood elevation. In some coastal areas this can be as much as an entire story above grade. Typically this space is treated as an elongated crawl space – relegated to partially enclosed storage and parking garages – a gap that must be traversed for entry to the building. But what if this space was given its own architectural expression – reclaimed and realigned as part of the residence itself while still maintaining the interstitial condition that allows the structure to adapt to changes over time? By its requirement that it not be conditioned or fully enclosed does it have the potential to give us back the transitional social space of the front porch? This paper will examine a series of residential projects in coastal South Carolina that present an evolving redefinition of ground floor spaces and their relationship to the structure above and the site itself. Collectively these projects might offer a model for a new space of acclimatization between both indoors and outdoors and public and private – a space that has the potential to act as both a frame and a filter for changes in the surrounding landscape and context.

Volume Editors
Anthony Abbate, Francis Lyn & Rosemary Kennedy

ISBN
978-0-935502-90-9