Resilience has become a central idea for assessing how our social, economic, technical, constructed, engineered, and ecological systems can withstand and bounce back from a man-made or weather- and climate-related disaster. Globally, wildfires, hurricanes, tornados, typhoons, high winds, hail, coastal and valley flooding, sea level rise, heat waves, seismic activity, extreme cold, ice storms, and snow melt have destroyed ecosystems, caused loss of life, damaged property, disrupted healthcare and financial networks, and in some cases, brought essential services to a halt. During this presentation, we’ll discuss the composition, performance, and application of engineered polymer siding and trim and capped polymer cladding to illustrate the benefits to home and building owners when construction materials are selected with resilience and sustainability in mind.
Learning Objectives
- Define resilience, discuss what it means to design with resilience in mind, and show how it shares the same sustainable design objectives as a climate-responsive design strategy.
- Examine the relationship between a building’s resilience and the safety of the occupants and a community.
- Discuss materials selection considerations for facilitating resilient construction to ensure a structure maintains livable conditions in the event of a destructive weather event.
- Examine the physical properties and performance attributes of polymer siding and trim and capped polymer cladding and discuss why polymers can create resilient exteriors, safeguarding a building against natural and man-made events.
- Explain how polymer siding and trim and capped polymer cladding is installed and demonstrate how it can be used to create an array of exterior designs.
Pre-requisite: Basic knowledge of building best practices.