Meet the Florida architect who lost his roof at 12 — and now builds for the next Andrew

Jeffrey Huber, a landscape architect and professor at Florida Atlantic University, lost his childhood home to Hurricane Andrew in 1992 when he was just 12 years old. He remembers how his family lived in a trailer for over a year and relied on food donations during the aftermath. Today, Huber designs buildings that can withstand extreme storms and rising sea levels, as Florida is experiencing more frequent and intense hurricanes due to climate change.

The state is leading the way in creating adaptive infrastructure that merges climate resilience with urban design, such as elevated buildings, innovative seawalls, and public spaces that serve both recreational and flood mitigation purposes.