Erik Ghenoiu, introduces the discussion as an opportunity for Angelenos impacted by the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires to learn about Australian efforts to manage fires, provide emergency shelter and rebuild.

At 0:02:39, Mathew Aitchison, CEO of the Building 4.0 Cooperative Research Centre, provides background information. He characterizes Australia as the “most bushfire-prone country in the world”. During the 2019-2020 bushfire season, known as Black Summer”, fires burnt more than 70,000 square miles.

He describes how Building 4.0 coordinates collaborative research projects on design and construction innovation, specifically industrialization; digitalization; and sustainability – with an emphasis on off-site manufacturing, which is highly relevant for emergency shelter and rebuilding after fires.

He shares links to relevant design guidelines and policies

0:12:10. Mel Dodd (via Zoom), Dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Monash University, discusses Project #35, a project coordinated by Building 4.0, to investigate prefabrication and advanced manufacturing as an alternative to traditional construction for both short-term and long-term housing for those affected by bushfires and other disasters.
After acknowledging that fires are a permanent feature of the Australian landscape, she reviews some of the challenges of deploying prefabricated or modular construction for disaster relief. The logistics of transport are complicated by the fire-prone areas being remote and difficult to access. She notes that short-term shelter tends to become long-term shelter because permanent solutions take years to be implemented. While Australia’s Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) rating system provides a guide for fire-safe rebuilding, the system is too complicated for most non-experts to navigate. She proposes the implementation, with careful siting and planning, of expandable modular systems, that can grow incrementally, from short- to long-term.

0:38:03. Ghenoiu and Aitchison join Dodd to discuss issues relevant to both the Australian and Southern California fires, such as survivor expectations, speed of response, the capacity of local builders, regulatory structures, rezoning, changing the character of affected areas.

Aitchison argues that their experience shows that rebuilding is not just a design and construction problem, but a problem of understanding and navigated a variety of disparate systems – for which architects have the relevant experience.

Dodd illustrates the problem of rebuilding by focusing on one detail – fire-resistant windows – which are expensive and complicated to install. She notes that fire zone regulations are about protecting human life, not preventing structures from burning. Given the constraints and the costs, is it any surprise that many fire survivors decide not to rebuild?

Aitchison argues that a completely fire-proof structure would be aesthetically and socially unacceptable. He asserts that the Palisades and Eaton fires should be understood not so much as wilderness fires but as urban fires, – closer to the catastrophic fires in London (1666) or Tokyo (1647).

Ghenoiu describes SCI-Arc’s current research into the structures that survived the Eaton fire, collecting data that can inform rebuilding efforts.

1:05:28. The panelists respond to audience questions and comments.