The New York Times recently published an article about how the flooding that accompanied Hurricane Sandy has changed building design in low-lying areas of New York City. Some of it seems familiar from our work: for example, we’ve participated in three separate projects where electric equipment rooms have been moved out of basements and up to a height where they can’t flood.
However, one item in the article jumped out at me as being familiar for a different reason. The new building at 540 West 26th Street* has its first floor raised above grade to put it above the design flood level. Where have I seen that idea before…oh yeah: stoops. Ordinary rowhouses in England typically have a couple of steps up from the sidewalk to the parlor floor, while Dutch stoops are much higher because of the history of flooding. I can’t prove that this is why rowhouses in Philadelphia and Boston** tend to have just a few steps up while rowhouses in New York*** have stoops of seven or eight steps, sometimes more, but I sure believe it.
If modern flood protection means a return to the use of stoops****, count me in.
* With structural engineering by our friends at DeSimone.
** Settled by the English.
*** Settled by the Dutch.
**** Accompanied, of course, by some adjacent form of universal access for people unable to climb stairs.
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