Southern California has experienced such devastation caused by wildfires that I wonder why homes burn down only to be rebuilt exactly the same way?! Same principle applies to dwellings and earthquakes.
I started thinking about this especially after I met the late Nader Khalali (calearth.org), an Persian-born architect, writer, and humanitarian who received his philosophical and architectural education in Iran, Turkey, and the United States.
Take Nader’s approach to building for example. He built super adobe, geodesic structures with building materials you can find anywhere. From my studies I’ve learned that the geodesic architectural design/structure offers the following benefits: