Sand Palace

The greenest building is the one still standing after a disaster

<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/755772/original/file-20260824-50-qnvssj.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&rect=489%2C0%2C3345%2C2230&q=45&auto=format&w=1050&h=700&fit=crop" /><figcaption><span class="caption"> Construction choices are often the difference between a house surviving a hurricane or being torn apart.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/homes-and-businesses-along-us-98-are-left-in-devastation-by-news-photo/1051982264?adppopup=true">Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Hurricane Michael tore through the Florida Panhandle in 2018, a beach house called the <a href="https://icfmag.com/2019/09/mexico-beach-survivor/">Sand Palace was left standing</a>, while more than half the buildings around it were destroyed. </p> <p>Its owners had built it to withstand roughly double the wind speed that Florida’s code required, with reinforced concrete walls