The site was too good to pass up, a property adjacent to the IYRS School of Technology and Trades that would allow the nonprofit to add a new building and consolidate its now-separated programs in a single campus.
But the property on Thames Street in Newport, overlooking Newport Harbor, also is in a velocity-rated flood zone. This means it will almost certainly sustain a direct hit from a significant storm or flooding event.
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Learn More“We had been looking around for a while,” said IYRS President Terry Nathan. “What was extraordinarily compelling was this property was adjacent to our campus, practically on the waterfront. That’s a rare opportunity.”
In searching for an architect and engineering team, the school sought professionals who had worked with similar challenges and had experience in building scientific and research buildings that function in an educational environment, Nathan said.
At IYRS, Wilson Architects and DiPrete Engineering designed the building, its site and its systems to create a structure that can withstand climate change and sea-level rise.
The challenge is an increasing concern in Rhode Island, which has 400 miles of coastline, and where 20 towns or cities have properties that lie below the floodplain.
A state commission this year spent six months studying flooding and sea-level rise, and the anticipated impacts on commercial and residential properties. Among its recommendations is a business and homeowner flood-audit program that would evaluate property risk and propose structure adaptations.
In new construction, individual towns have adopted new building codes that require adaptations in design and engineering.
Now under construction, the new IYRS building will house four programs, including 20,000 square feet of classroom space and technology-based teaching areas for marine systems, composites technology and digital manufacturing on two upper floors.
The ground level will feature parking and storage areas and a small entrance, all designed to withstand water.
The building will be 75 feet from the harbor, offering a sweeping view of the waterfront, but also of the reality of what can happen in a storm.
Like 50 percent of the properties in Newport, it is within or bordering the flood plain. The city has estimated $3.8 billion of property value is affected by the flood zones, according to the report submitted by the Special House Commission to Study Economic Risk Due to Flooding and Sea Level Rise, which looked at Newport, Westerly and Providence case studies.
The design for the IYRS building is compliant with local expectations and represented a challenge in engineering structures and systems that would withstand water impacts.
“This is a pretty heavy-duty flood zone,” said project architect Mark Allen, a principal at Wilson Architects.
The Boston-based firm designed a series of piers to hold up the two occupied floors and roof, to be constructed of steel and encased in cement to withstand waves. Each of the 20 piers will be clad in brick, to more closely resemble traditional building design.
“They’re very robust,” Allen said.
The foundations are designed to resist erosion in a storm surge. And while the building code for the Federal Emergency Management Agency VE flood zone prohibits traditional walls at ground level, to prevent heavy debris from dislodging in an event, the new school building will have a series of lightweight screens, or panels, designed to break away in a severe flood. They will screen parking from view and help to partition the storage areas, according to the architect.
In other engineering and design changes, the elevator and electrical and heating systems all are elevated in the building, getting them out of reach of expected flood waters.
The design was a challenge for Wilson Architects, which has a strong reputation for designing academic science buildings.
The existing buildings, which date to the 19th century, are historical and attractive, Allen said, made of brick and stone. The new structure is intended to be modern in design, yet fit in with its surroundings.
The new school addition will take the place of several smaller commercial structures that have been removed, said Nathan.
In Boston, waterfront buildings under construction now are being engineered with elevated systems, including emergency generators being placed on roofs.
This is more expensive but ensures that power systems are not disrupted by basement or lower-level flooding.
The school, which has undertaken a fundraising campaign for the new structure, had multiple concerns with the design for its new space. Because of the site, sustainability was an issue, Nathan said.
It needed to fit in with the existing campus and the Thames Street community. And its appearance from the water also mattered, because Newport Harbor is an active, vibrant space.
“We felt a responsibility to make sure we had synergy with what we were doing,” Nathan said. “It honors the historical part of our campus, but it has [modern] aspirations too.” •