58 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Fall 2018 TheCoastalBend.com 58 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Fall 2018 TheCoastalBend.com Surviving the Next Big One Building Methods that are Working In each installment of Port A Rebuild, we explore building methods that are successfully surviving Category 4+ hurricanes, like Harvey, and the technology behind their survivability. None of the companies featured here have paid for us to write about them—in fact, the probably have no idea that we have—but the lessons that came in August 2017 include the need for all of us to become educat- ed about the options that are out there for surviving the next big one. Deltec Homes—Asheville, North Carolina Clyde Kinser was self-employed selling insulation door-to-door in Asheville, and responding to customer needs, expanded his product line to include window coverings, aluminum doors and windows, vinyl products and others that improved the energy efficiency and comfort of homes. More than ten years in, he and his partners purchased designs for the“compression ring and tension collar”roofing system from another Asheville company that built resort cottages strictly for commercial, hospitality customers. Kinser and his team improved the circular building method, and created a structure that was naturally resistent to high winds. In 1968, Deltec Technolo- gies was formed with the purpose of producing component building struc- tures for resort companies across the U.S., North America and the Caribbean, as well as for other commercial uses. When you see a circular building on one of the islands, like JB’s German Bakery on North Padre, there is a good chance that it is a Deltec building. Above:Mexico Beach, Florida, following Hurricane Michael in October, where a Deltec home was one of the few surviving structures. Below:A round Deltec home in Rockport after Hurricane Harvey. Below:A three-story Deltec home built canal front along the coast of North Carolina. Left:High-end, stucco island home in the Deltec design, both homes with metal roofs.