Structural changes: How the pandemic could

influence architecture

June 1 2020, by Avishay Artsy

The open-plan office may continue to exist — but employers may need to adapt
by letting portions of their workforce work at home. Credit: Alex
Kotliarskyi/Unsplash

Disease has often driven change in architecture and design. Cities

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cleared slums and opened up public spaces in response to the bubonic
plague, and widened boulevards and added indoor plumbing due to
yellow fever and cholera. The open-air sanitariums designed to treat
tuberculosis and other pandemics inspired the streamlined look of
modernist buildings and minimalist furniture, which leaves few places
for dirt and germs to hide.

Now, as the COVID-19 crisis forces us to adapt where we live, work,

eat, exercise and unwind, architects are pondering how those changes
might influence the next generation of homes, offices and other
buildings.

"The world will change," says Natasha Sandmeier, an adjunct assistant

professor of architecture and urban design at the UCLA School of the
Arts and Architecture. "What we have to try to preserve in the face of
this transformation, increased isolation and reduced contact, is
community and humanity."

In a virtual roundtable discussion, Sandmeier and professors Dana Cuff

and Greg Lynn weigh in on how the practice may evolve in the aftermath
of the pandemic. Some of their answers have been edited slightly.

How might architecture and design change as a result

of people's heightened fear of infection?

Cuff: Historian Beatriz Colomina wrote about how tuberculosis shaped a

clean, white, sun-filled, open-air modern architecture. With the current
pandemic, a renewed emphasis on ventilation will be visible in the
architectural form but also hidden in its mechanical systems.

All kind of questions about density are being raised now, particularly for
places where people are most vulnerable: those living in nursing homes,
on the streets, in overcrowded households or in shelters, and people

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working in essential industries like the food supply chain. With public
sector support, their well-being can be prioritized. That would start with
safe outdoor spaces and adequate internal space.

Sandmeier: Health and wellness have often been sacrificed in the face of
personal, political, economic or social desires. The Grenfell Tower [the
London residential high rise that was destroyed in a 2017 fire] is proof
of the worst of these sacrifices, and as dense housing blocks become
potential virus hotspots, it's clear that broad planning policies will be
crucial to address the vastly under-acknowledged needs to curtail the
spread of illness, loneliness and ghettoization.

One can only hope that solutions will embrace the spirit of Moretti's
quirky and inventive Il Girasole ("The Sunflower"), an utterly bonkers
house that literally rotates with the sun on giant tracks, or the empathetic
design of many Maggie's Centre projects around the world that support
the work of delivering free emotional, practical and social support to
those with cancer.

Lynn: Hygiene certainly has an aesthetic and it could be that a new

hygienic style could emerge. Often, fear and crisis shines a light on
things that already exist and suddenly gives them a reason to be broadly
adopted.

People will be more willing to give away their location, health state,
activities, movements and data more than they already are. So sharing
data and information on the healthiness of places we move through and
dwell in may be more prevalent. We will want to know when we are in
spaces that have higher and lower risk. The way we wear masks in
"public" but not in "safe" spaces already can be informed by data and
statistics.

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Sandmeier hopes that architecture takes a cue from Maggie’s Centre projects,
like this one by Zaha Hadid, in the post–COVID-19 world. Credit: Duncan
Cumming

How will our workplaces adapt to this new reality? Is

the open-plan office dead?

Lynn: Open plan may be healthier than we expect—I do not know the
data that would tell us—but co-working spaces are dying rapidly. Their
business model had fundamental business flaws and now, under the
stress of fear of sharing, these companies are in trouble and many will

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not survive.

Will the freedom from ownership and maintenance and the cost savings
be worth sharing an environment with a much higher volume of
strangers? This has yet to be seen. We are closing the "communal"
kitchen, carbonated beverage station, espresso machine and all places
where food and drinks are shared in the short term as we get ready to get
back to work in the near future.

Cuff: The open-plan office is not dead by any means. It will be more
flexibly used in the future: Rather than packing people shoulder to
shoulder, a good portion of people will work from home. Those who
intermittently come to the office will have enough space to work and
meet with a feeling of safety.

I think the small conference rooms that lined the periphery of the open
plan office are more likely to need transformation, like better ventilation
or the ability to enlarge any meeting space by opening up flexible room
dividers or sliding partition walls. The size of the room will be critically
linked to the size of the meeting.

Sandmeier: A priority should be securing the safety and health of those

workers and students who don't have the luxury of working comfortably
from home, or their choice of work environments. My hope is that we,
as architects, insert ourselves as authors of the less glamorous, less
photogenic, but no-less-essential spaces and narratives of the kitchens,
abattoirs, factory-line environments, medical and science labs, prisons
and social-work spaces that are the true drivers of our reality.

Imagine a world in which those spaces are foregrounded in our culture

and media landscapes! It would fundamentally transform the ways in
which architecture is talked about, taught and practiced.

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And how might home design change?

Cuff: Home design for most people would best change by becoming
more easily ventilated, with some private outdoor space like a garden or
balcony, and to include features that allow the occupant to transform it
over the course of a day.

In the 40s, architects like Gregory Ain made small houses flexible so
that spaces could adapt to the different needs of different households at
different times of the day. If you look at his Modernique Homes in Mar
Vista, Los Angeles, you'll find a room adjacent to the living room that
can be converted with a sliding partition into a bedroom at night, or
opened as a home office in the day. The kitchen also has a sliding
partition that blocked views from the living room or opened to make a
breakfast counter. It would help, especially in small apartments and
houses, to have nooks where kids can study or attend online classes
during the day that could be used for other purposes on the weekends
and evenings.

Sandmeier: We are running four Zoom sessions on any given day in our
household. Acoustic isolation has become a real issue—I've found
myself wanting to mute the humans in my space rather than on my
screen. But the thought of maintaining privacy and acoustic isolation in a
two-bed apartment occupied by more than four people is a very real
situation shared by many today, and one that will require innovative
responses by both architects and furniture designers.

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In post-pandemic society, sports stadiums and other entertainment venues may
need to allow for new physical distancing measures. Credit: University of
California, Los Angeles

It's the denser and less privileged spaces where our attention and
innovation should be directed to address the need for temporary office
and learning environments. My son's response of building a new fort
every day for his classroom is likely not a long-term solution to many,
but that desire to appropriate and quickly pivot is where we all want to
be headed in order to support as broad a population as possible. More
home offices, outdoor spaces, privacy, community? Yes, yes, yes, yes!
But keep in mind the privilege involved in asking for and receiving those
things.

Lynn: Home design has changed radically with the emergence of

Airbnb—but like co-working spaces, this is another social and financial

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experiment that is being tested by pandemic times.

Home improvement is the only in-store retail sector that has been
growing the last couple of years, and the time and investment in a
primary residence will likely continue to increase and accelerate. People
will travel less for pleasure and focus more on their local quality of life
with a focus on dwellings. Outdoor space and fresh air with daylight are
perceived as lifestyle-enhancing and may become more desirable.

Will we see design changes that help people avoid

transmitting germs—for example on high-touch
surfaces in public spaces?

Sandmeier: Absolutely. That need to be hands-free first became obvious

to me in March, when I watched five people use the self-serve checkouts
at a CVS. Watching the contact chain from machine to bank card to
phone to pocket to eyeglasses to machine to bag to car was to see the
broader urban implications of these contact moments.

In workspaces, the bottlenecks of the elevator, stairs, entryways,

bathrooms and door handles are where we encounter so many
opportunities for germ transmission. How we address those contact
points is going to be crucial.

Cuff: Anything with a public "hands-on" feature, from door handles to

crosswalk buttons, is going to be redesigned to avoid contact. Digital
solutions are already available that will work in many cases, though it
will require civic investment. But this is certain to run into conflict with
accessibility features, like the grab-bar that helps someone get into a bus.

Do you expect changes in how movie theaters, concert

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 venues, sports stadiums and other large venues are
designed?

Cuff: That is one of the most important but most difficult design and
community issues we'll face. If, as proposed by some epidemiologists,
we are facing a new normal that requires living with viral threats that
will rise and subside, our collective sphere and shared public life are
endangered. Large enclosed gathering spaces, like theaters, airplanes or
sports arenas may not feel safe unless there is adequate social distancing,
personal protective gear and thermal testing.

If we are all sitting six feet apart with masks, it is going to be tough to
maintain that cosmopolitan atmosphere of casual interaction with
strangers. I see this as the most important challenge facing designers,
who will need to collaborate with civic leaders, community partners and
planners to build spaces and events where our common ground is
foremost. In a pandemic, it's our collective sense of shared interests that
will get us through, and our built environment can help make that
possible.

Provided by University of California, Los Angeles

Citation: Structural changes: How the pandemic could influence architecture (2020, June 1)
retrieved 22 February 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2020-06-pandemic-architecture.html

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