Learning From Historic Architecture

"As we look at the vast rebuilding that must take place after Katrina ... we would be well advised to look at elements of historic architecture that harness nature rather than defy it. By and large, they work because they were honed by time, experience -- and tragedy.

...Some years ago I wrote about a distinctly modern house built not far from Charleston, South Carolina, to replace one swept away by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. The design, by Charleston architect Ray Huff, had tall ceilings and high windows but a contemporary informality. An elegant wood latticework protects those windows from storm-driven debris, while dappling a wraparound porch with shade...

By contrast, other rebuilt houses nearby looked traditional, but it was all show. The picturesque gables didn't ventilate. The houses had high-end kitchens and lifestyle bathrooms, but their designers deemed real shutters an extravagance. They teetered ridiculously on high stilts, like dowagers with hiked skirts, because their designers couldn't figure out how to gracefully get the houses above destructive storm-driven waves. "