The changing climate has made it more difficult to predict weather patterns that could either be damaging to life and property.

Countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines suffered from devastating floods in the last 12 months wrecking havoc to commercial and residential property.

Billions of dollars in estimated losses were recorded for this year alone brought by the flooding in countries lying in the Asia Pacific rim led by Australia, which earlier this year was hit by torrential rains.

With no escaping the wrath of Mother Nature some architectural designs for both homes and offices were made to withstand flooding in the North American Region.

Property developers in the Asia-Pacific can learn from the various designs proposed and actually constructed by some U.S.-based architectural firms and individuals wanting to survive some apocalyptic water world scenario. One of these emerging house boat designs was even funded by Hollywood actor Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation for the people of New Orleans.

Made for survival

In August 2005, the havoc brought about by Hurricane Kartina has changed the priorities in the towns of New Orleans submerged by floods.

Efforts to restore homes and communities in the New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward has opened doors for innovative designs including that of a floating house by Morphosis Architects, which actually is a mix of the ecologically-sound and can withstand flooding rising up to 12 feet high.

Thom Mayne, founder of Morphosis and winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, wanted to build a home that could survive through hurricane flooding, described by Inhabitat.com

By creating simulations, Morphosis Architects designed the float house, which can actually break away from its moorings and be a raft with battery power able to sustain a family for three days.

With the funding from Make It Right Foundation, Morphosis Architects designed a house that was essentially built on a chassis of polystyrene foam and covered with glass-reinforced concrete.

"During hurricane flooding conditions, the home could break away from its electrical lines, gas and plumbing and rise with the flood waters. Anchored to its site by two guideposts the home could sustain 12 foot high flood waters," the company said in its website.

The worst flooding in Bangkok, Thailand in 69 years and other Southeast Asian countries prompted some developers to come up with the house structures that can withstand floods. In Thailand, the local daily Bangkok Post featured the home design made by the Property Perfect Plc for the country's submerged suburbs of the future.

House Design for Flood Protection

"This flood protection design will add to the construction cost of a house, raising the unit price. But we believe homebuyers will agree to the expense," said chief executive Chainid Ngowsirimanee of Property Perfect Plc in a report by the Bangkok Post.

Property Perfect Plc came up with a design with three protective layers from the project location to the house itself.

Water can enter a house from visible entrances such as doors and windows or hidden openings like water drains.

To prevent outside water from backing up through water pipes, valves will be installed that can be closed anytime.

Parking spaces will be raised to 60 centimetres above the level of the public road, meaning if floodwater is one metre deep, then the parking area would be under only 40cm.

The ground floor of the house in previous designs was usually 45cm higher than the public road. In the new design, the floor is raised by another 1.1 metres, keeping it dry in one-metre floods.

The ground floor interior features a new design. All electrical switches and sockets will be installed 1.2 metres above the floor, while circuit breakers will be moved to stair landings.

Concrete panels will be run 50cm deep along underground beams on all four sides of the house to keep water from seeping underneath.

At the fence, the main gate will hang from a C-shaped cement post in which a cement board can be inserted to prevent outside water from entering the grounds. Silicone can be applied to seal the gap between the cement board and the post.

At the project level, land will be raised up another 30cm. The main entrance to the development will be lifted another 1.1 metres onto a small hill.

Below the hill will be a water retention pond with a water gate to prevent reversal through the drainage system.

Fences surrounding the entire project will be designed to prevent water from flowing above and below the ground.

A pump station and mobile pumps will be on hand, operating on electricity or diesel in case of power cuts.

The company said in a related Bangkok Post report that larger permanent measures such as a warning system, expansion of canals, permanent dykes in at-risk areas and a floodway to help drain water into the sea should also be in place.

The Chao Phraya River should have a permanent dyke in Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi to help prevent flooding.

"Times are a changing," according to Bob Dylan. And so is the climate and our ecological habitats.