Construction of Residental Buildings on Columns as an Alternative to Construction in Areas Exposed to Floods

Abstract

Floods that have in recent years become a constant in developed areas are raising the issue of how to adapt to nature when constructing housing. The construction of retarding basins and high dikes are the most frequently used alternatives of protecting the urban environment. Such a practice is most commonly found in Europe where it however, has unfortunately shown itself on several times, not to be the most effective. People from North America who live in areas often affected by floods, build their housing on columns. In Slovenia, not much thought is given to this, which is probably the result of the traditional mentality that promotes the building of massive residential houses and the issue of structural engineering that involves the so-called soft ground floor. New materials and new structural principles make construction on columns possible, which has been proven by the example of the residential building on low bearing soil in the seismic and flood risk area of the Ljubljana Marshes.