Why Resilient Design Can’t Be Optional on the Gulf Coast

Steve Rome on Accountability, Resilience, and Building for the Gulf Coast

Resilience is easy to talk about. It is much harder to prove.

In this episode of The Comms Exchange, architect Steve Rome, partner at VergesRome Architects, walks through what happens when resilient design is not just theorized but tested under real conditions. His project, Les Maisons de Bayou Lafourche, a $9.5 million affordable housing development in Lockport, Louisiana, was nearly complete when Hurricane Ida made landfall with sustained winds near 150 miles per hour.

Surrounding neighborhoods were devastated. Les Maisons de Bayou Lafourche was not.

“That didn’t happen by accident,” Steve said. “We had to make a commitment.”

A Commitment With Consequences

From the start, the project required more than standard design services. The developer, Gulf Coast Housing Corporation, mandated Fortified Gold, Enterprise Green, and Energy Star certifications as a condition of financing. Agreeing to those standards meant risk.

“We kind of put our neck on the line,” Steve explained. “If we didn’t achieve these qualifications, the project wouldn’t be financed.”

Those certifications were not box-checking exercises. They demanded rigorous documentation, continuous inspection, and relentless quality control from foundation to roof. Steve was candid about what that meant on the ground.

“We were very hard on the contractor,” he said. “And I apologized for being a pain in the butt. And he said, ‘You were a pain in the butt.’”

That tension, Steve noted, was the point.

Where Resilience Is Actually Won

For Steve, resilience is not defined by a label or a plaque. It is defined by how a building is assembled.

“The most important part is how the decking of the roof is put together to avoid uplift,” he said. “It’s not just hurricane clips. It’s everything.”

That meant scrutinizing how walls tied into foundations, roofs were fastened, windows performed under missile-impact standards, and systems worked together as a whole. Every decision had to balance cost, performance, and long-term durability.

“We were looking at every nickel,” Steve said. “At the same time we were tracking design, tracking costs, and tracking certifications.”

The result was not theoretical. After Hurricane Ida, total damage came in under $4,000, most of it cleanup.

“That becomes a no-brainer,” Steve said. “You have a $9 million project with less than $4,000 in damage.”

Resilience Is a Human Issue

What mattered most to Steve was not the technical success, but what it meant for people.

“These buildings weren’t occupied yet,” he said. “But if they had been, residents could have stayed. They had generator hookups. Power. Air conditioning. They wouldn’t have had to leave.”

That detail reframes resilience as something more than survival. It is about continuity.

“When storms come through and communities are uprooted, jobs are lost,” Steve said. “People scatter. It takes years to rebuild that social fabric.”

By allowing residents to shelter in place and return immediately, resilient housing preserves more than structures. It preserves lives, routines, and neighborhoods.

Why This Should Be the Standard

Steve is clear that Les Maisons de Bayou Lafourche should not be an exception.

“It should be a standard,” he said. “FEMA’s not going to be here forever. Insurance companies aren’t always going to back you up.”

The project’s national attention surprised him, but also confirmed something he had long believed. Certifications only matter when they reflect real performance.

“Before, it was just a certification,” he said. “After Ida, it became a necessity.”

Steve also pushed back on the idea that resilient buildings must sacrifice beauty or cultural context.

“You don’t have to build something that looks like a fort,” he said. “This is vernacular Louisiana architecture. Front porches. Community. It fits.”

Designing With Foresight

Throughout the conversation, Steve returned to the idea that architecture carries responsibility beyond aesthetics or code compliance. It requires empathy, foresight, and a willingness to slow down when it matters.

“Quality control is where resilience is won or lost,” he said.

That mindset extends to how he mentors younger designers. Read widely. Travel often. See how buildings shape culture and community across time and place.

“You can never read enough,” Steve said. “Reading keeps creativity alive.”

The Takeaway

Les Maisons de Bayou Lafourche stands as proof that resilient design works when teams commit fully, document relentlessly, and hold one another accountable. It shows that affordable housing can be strong, dignified, and culturally rooted. And it makes the economic and human case for building better in regions where failure is not an option.

And listen to the latest episode of The Comms Exchange, When Architecture Works: Les Maisons de Bayou Lafourche and the Future of Resilient Housing, to hear more about resilience, design responsibility, and community impact in action.

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