The Art of Hardening

Some architects are designing homes to better withstand wildfires without giving up on style. In Los Angeles, architect Dan Brunn added fire-resistant features to his own home, Bridge House, including a fence made of Corten steel. Steel does melt at very high temperatures, but Brunn says it still holds up far better than wood as a barrier against fire. He also worked with a manufacturer to create a cement-based paver with a textured, terrazzo-like look for the areas around his house, combining durability with a designed appearance.

Another example comes from a stucco house on a concrete slab foundation in Pacific Palisades, designed by architects Harper Halprin and Aaron Leshtz. The home survived the fires that hit the area in January. Its builders point to several features that may have helped: a standing-seam steel roof, asphalt shingles, eaves sealed flush against the roofline to block embers, stone cladding on the exterior, and concrete hardscaping around the property.

For homeowners in fire-prone areas, these examples point to a mix of building choices that can add resistance without making a house look armored: metal roofing, sealed eaves, stone or concrete surfaces near the structure, and durable paving materials. None of these guarantee a home will survive a fire, but they illustrate ways architects are treating fire hardening as a design problem rather than just a structural one.