RECONSTRUCTING SANTA ROSA
The first question any victim who lost their house should ask themself about reconstructing; one could be a better construction system, and the other could be a larger or better-finished home their home is: should I build in wood or choose steel?
The answer is not very simple because other important factors are involved; many homeowners happened to be uninsured and now they find themselves short of funds to rebuild what they previously had. Some other homeowners find themselves to be overinsured and use this "opportunity" for an upgrade. The upgrade can come in different forms: one could be a better construction system, the other could be a larger home, or a home with better finishes.
For the least fortunate, the question is much different: should I rebuild my house smaller and better, or just rebuild it the same size and use a wood construction system again?
It must be noted that the majority of residences that caught on fire were non-sprinklered and quite often closely surrounded by vegetation that was already prone to ignite.
Building making use of a more affordable construction system like wood and have it protected with non-flammable finishes, combined with an effective sprinkler/fire protection system and mitigation measures may be the way to go.
With the premise that the major difference between families who struggle in the rebuild versus the ones who do not is the insurance coverage that they had, we can move forward with the next consideration.
After such a terrible disaster, we all try to improve for the future to prevent the same problem from repeating and fall on our feet this second round, if that ever happens; that combination of fear and consciousness is legitimate. Steel construction is not necessarily the only or the best answer - not to mention that steel also needs to be protected to provide fire rating, as much as wood does - so how about using wood, rebuild the large house for your family and have it properly fire protected? (besides, the Building Code will force you to do so anyway)
Here at Paolo Volpis Architects we advocate better systems for better living, so by default we would say "go for steel", but in this particular circumstance, the approach is much more sensitive and the otherwise most obvious logic may need a tweak.
Steel offers great indoor air quality, no termites (and no fumigations), doesnt rot or mold and has long term durability so if we look at it with humanism, yes it does make more sense, but when the emotional and financial factors are tied to the strong necessity of living at the same standards and space preceding the fire, we believe that the wood construction option is still a great alternative.
