Hurricane proof condo garners attention for Canadian architect

The ability of a condo designed by Toronto-based architect Clifford Korman of Kirkor Architects to withstand the ravages of Hurricane Ike last month made it a standout amidst the damage inflicted on this island city just off the coast of Texas.

Design

GALVESTON, Texas

Shortly after residents starting moving into the luxury Palisade Palms towers last summer, Hurricane Ike came roaring ashore on Sept. 13 with 177 km/hr winds and a tidal surge of 4.1 metres. The storm caused several deaths before sweeping inland.

Homes, shops, restaurants, churches, yachts and large hotels were blown apart or irreparably damaged in the beach neighbourhood of Palisade Palms. But the two condo towers were left unscathed.

“We have been approached to design other large projects along the Gulf Coast because of the way Palisade Palms stood up to Ike,” Korman said recently.

“We’ve been commissioned to design a large mixed-use project with residential, commercial and retail in the devastated 9th ward of New Orleans.”

It’s planned to be a central feature in rebuilding that segment of the city following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“Of course we don’t expect to see it go forward until the overall economy starts to recover from the current recession,” added Korman.

Kirkor, which derives its name from blending Korman with his original partner Steven Kirshenblatt, has had several major design projects in Asia.

But Korman said the success story of Palisade Palms has been generating new business for his firm in China as well.

Arnold Tauch, the founder of Falcon Group of Houston, which developed Palisade Palms, lives in a 3,000-square-foot penthouse atop his new beach project.

However, Tauch, like thousands of other Galveston residents, complied with a mandatory order to evacuate the island the day before Ike hit.

About a dozen other families in the towers didn’t get away on time and got a close up view of a killer hurricane from their waterfront suites.

Terry Arterburn had to ride out the storm at Palisade Palms as well. He’s the condo’s general manager.

“We lost the wooden boardwalk that connects our buildings over the sand dunes to the beach, but we had no structural damage to the buildings,” said Arterburn.

“There was lots of damage up and down the beach, but none for us. There’s been lots of articles in the area media about how surprised people are that we came out so well.”

Arterburn said his own home several miles further inland lost its roof “and there were a couple yachts in my back yard when I got home eight days later.”

His principal job was security at the condo. “We got the furniture off all the balconies and cleaned out the fridges in 200 suites because there was no electricity on the island for more than a week.

“People up on the 17th floor felt the building swaying, but it’s designed to do that. And if you touched the windows you could feel them vibrating.”

Korman had his three-ply windows tested for a category 5 storm in a wind tunnel at University of Western Ontario in London by the school’s Alan G. Davenport Wind Engineering Group.

“They fired two-by-four studs at 70 mph (112.6 km) at the glass and couldn’t break it,” said Korman.

There’s glass galore in the tall, slender, radial point towers, because offering every suite a view of the Gulf of Mexico or the busy Galveston harbour was the principal concept in Korman’s design — not wind resistance.

“We wanted to give every suite a good view of the gulf or the Galveston Bay and that could only be done with a radiating floor plan. It eliminates long corridors and has the suites opening off a central service shaft in the middle of the building.”

Kirkor has designed a variety of condo landmarks in the Toronto market, such as The Waterclub, a three-tower project on Queen’s Quay overlooking Toronto harbour.

It was named community of the year by the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Association (now BILD) in 2005. NY Towers in North York is another Kirkor creation.

In Vancouver’s Chinatown, Kirkor designed the $100 million International Village, a mixed-use project on Pender St. near False Creek.

One of Calgary’s most luxurious condominium towers — The Astoria on Tenth — is a Kirkor design nearing completion. The penthouse on the 35th floor was listed at $10 million.