A new architectural approach to living with wildfire is required in the interior of British Columbia, where increasing temperatures and a legacy of fire suppression have intensified wildfire risk. Framed within the Pyrocene, this project argues that fire must be understood not only as a destructive force, but as a fundamental ecological process and element in architecture and the landscape. As such, architecture must shift from resisting fire toward accepting and integrating it within the built environment. Drawing on wildfire ecology, cultural burning practices, and firsthand experience with prescribed fire, this research combines material experimentation and design exploration to develop a new model for habitation in fire-adapted landscapes. Rammed earth is used as the primary construction material due to its fire resistance, low embodied carbon, and capacity to integrate with natural fire cycles. Incorporating wood ash into rammed earth as a stabilizer establish a connection between forest management practices and construction, positioning the act of building as part of a broader process of landscape regeneration. The design proposal is situated in Lytton, a site emblematic of extreme heat and wildfire vulnerability. Through iterative massing studies informed by fire behavior, a triangular courtyard-centered dwelling is envisioned. This form enables fire to move across the landscape while creating sheltered zones that protect occupants from fire. The design offers ideas of adaptability to other sites in fire adapted landscape, spreading fire resilient design beyond the current site. The home recenters the hearth as a spatial and social focus, reconnecting inhabitants with fire as an essential element of daily life and ecology. This thesis proposes a new resilient model for living with wildfire one that reframes fire as a key element to design and live with, rather than defend against, in the Pyrocene.
Andrew Merkens (Thu,) studied this question.