How IoT and Data-Driven Design Can Protect Buildings from Natural Disasters

Key Takeaways:

• Smart tech enables early warnings. IoT-powered sensors can monitor structural integrity, track environmental conditions, and trigger early warnings to prevent catastrophic damage.
• Building envelopes play a critical role. Fire-resistant materials, flood-proof barriers, and strategic ventilation choices significantly impact a building’s ability to withstand disasters.
• Scaling solutions for urban resilience. Widespread adoption of smart building technology can protect entire city blocks, improving disaster preparedness on a large scale.

The urgency required to address natural disasters and extreme weather within the building and construction sector cannot be overstated. With each passing year, these events become increasingly frequent and severe. The sooner industry professionals and stakeholders act, the more structures they preserve—and the more lives they save. 

Smart building technology offers the industry a reliable shortcut. Internet-enabled technology could inform resilient design changes, enable infrastructure integrity monitoring, and act as an early warning system. In short, it could equip buildings to handle natural calamities, helping prevent significant damage and preserve nonrenewable construction materials.

Natural Calamities Will Soon Be an Everyday Occurrence

Urbanization contributes to climate change. As urban sprawl worsens, heat islands expand and embodied carbon emissions originating from the production and utilization of materials like steel, aluminum, and cement increase exponentially.

According to a United Nations Environment Programme report, the buildings and construction sector is responsible for 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it the largest emitter by far. While the report estimates operational emissions will drop from 75% to 50% within the coming decades, its projections for embodied carbon emissions are not as optimistic. 

While climate researchers are seeking solutions, a timely, coordinated global effort to combat climate change is unlikely. Although regarding rising temperatures and sea levels as inevitable seems pessimistic, it is best to err on the side of caution. If current trends continue, the situation could become dire. Preparing for the worst will help minimize the loss of property and life. 

If things worsen, neither urban nor rural communities will be spared from the consequences. The United Nations 2022 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction projects that 560 natural calamities will occur annually by 2030. On average, that amounts to 1.5 disasters daily. 

Equipping infrastructure to withstand disaster events not only resolves the building sector’s increased need for resilience but addresses the root of the problem by mitigating the effects of climate change. It is in everyone’s best interests to streamline disaster-resistant infrastructure development with smart solutions.

Making Building Envelopes Resilient to Disasters

Making buildings more resilient through design and material choice is key. Weaving internet-enabled sensors, real-time data processing, and user-friendly dashboards into development and operation can help people mitigate damage from volcanic eruptions, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, landslides, and severe weather. 

The building envelope and exterior deserve prioritization. Professionals can design ventilation, windows, insulation, and landscaping to handle location-specific natural disasters. Preventing floodwaters or wildfires from entering the home mitigates most damage, increasing resiliency.

Proper construction is as vital as resilient design. Improper installation effectively creates an Achilles heel, making even the most robust structures vulnerable. For instance, freshly poured concrete can contain thousands of trapped air bubbles, which adversely affect structural integrity if not left unaddressed. Honeycombing creates weak spots, causing instability. 

Contractors can eliminate honeycombing with a concrete vibrator. For greater accuracy, they can submerse wireless, self-powered sensors to track temperature, humidity, and strength gain. The Internet of Things (IoT) provides granular, real-time insights, enabling structural integrity monitoring or early disaster warnings.

Case Studies Demonstrating the Value of Quality Design

In January 2025, a highly destructive fire dubbed the Palisades Fire spread in the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County. It ultimately destroyed over 16,000 structures, including 120 houses in the neighborhood where architect Greg Chasen had completed construction on a home just six months prior. 

Among the burnt wreckage stood a completely intact structure. Chasen’s building survived because he used fire-resistant landscaping. The double-paned windows kept the fire out, even when the neighbor’s car exploded and broke the outer pane. Crucially, Chasen did not use ventilation because rooftop entrances provide an easy way for embers to enter a structure. 

Kimiko Barret is a wildlife research and policy analyst for the independent nonprofit Headwaters Economics. Her doctorate in Forestry & Conservation Sciences informs her work in rural community development and climate change adaptation. 

On the topic of the LA wildfires, Barret said the embers that drift miles ahead of the fire are largely responsible for destructive structure fires, accounting for 90% of structural loss under these circumstances. 

Builders can further refine design with IoT-generated insights. Remote sensing technology can collect data on the frequency, extent, and severity of natural calamities, as well as the structural integrity of post-disaster infrastructure. Researchers can leverage this information to create digital twins or simulation models, enabling granular enhancements.

Smart Technology Can Exponentially Improve Defenses

Stakeholders should consider entire neighborhoods and city blocks. The more contractors use smart building technology to advance the building and construction sector’s natural disaster defenses, the more resilient entire swaths of residences, commercial structures and infrastructure will be. 

Whether they leverage swing mass dampeners or early warning IoT systems, exponential improvements are possible.

Next Steps for Building Owners and Smart Tech Integrators:

1. Integrate IoT for disaster resilience. Deploy sensors within your building to monitor temperature, humidity, seismic activity, and flood levels in real time.
2. Prioritize resilient building materials. There are many products on the market that can protect your building from natural disasters today, such as fire-resistant landscaping, reinforced windows, and advanced insulation to mitigate damage.
3. Invest in structural health monitoring. While initial costs may be prohibitive, leveraging wireless, self-powered sensors to assess and predict infrastructure weaknesses can save money in the long run.
4. Adopt digital twin technology. Data-driven simulation models can help facilities teams optimize building performance and disaster response strategies.
5. Promote resiliency policy and collaboration. Get involved with municipalities, architects, and technology providers to help create smart, disaster-resilient communities.