Drop the Hammer | Santa Fe Report May 18, 2022
B.PUBLIC Prefab is designing homes for a changing climate
by Julia Goldberg
Between 2014 and 2020, the running five-year average annual number of structures destroyed by wildfires rose from 2,873 to 12,255—a fourfold increase in just six years.
This sobering statistic appears in a January report from the federal government, produced by the US Agriculture Department and Forest Service. “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests” details some of the devastating impacts from recent wildfires to both human life and structures. Those stats include the fall-out from the 2021 Dixie Fire in California, which burned nearly one million acres, killed one person and destroyed 1,329 structures. Colorado’s Marshall Fire wasn’t included in the report, but Boulder County estimates in January said that fire had consumed more than 1,000 structures.
The threat to homes is only likely to increase, according to a report released this week by the nonprofit First Street Foundation, which forecasts close to 80 million structures—residential and commercial—could experience some level of destruction from wildfire in the next 30 years. New Mexico ranks among the top states (California is the top) with the highest proportion of properties at such risk.
B.PUBLIC Prefab co-founder and CEO Edie Dillman wasn’t necessarily envisioning a roster of clients whose homes had been lost to wildfire when she launched her company in January, 2020 after a year of business planning with partners Jonah Stanford—to whom Dillman is married—and Charlotte Lagarde, who serve as the company’s CTO and COO, respectively.
Dillman was, however, thinking about climate change.
B.PUBLIC provides panelized construction systems: standardized and prefabricated walls, floors and roofs, designed for low-energy use and high performance. The company describes the product as being “LEGO-like”—a tool architects and designers can use and customize—with 80% energy savings, 90% less construction waste, 30% faster construction and 90% carbon positive materials.
Dillman says the company initially identified New Mexico, as well as Northern California, Colorado, Utah and Arizona, as " big growth markets with really challenging…climate conditions to achieve a low energy, very comfortable house.”
