Architecture in The Midst of a Pandemic By Architect Fatema

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently living through a pivotal moment in contemporary history. Everyday life has come to a screeching halt, with the virus forcing people to maintain social distancing, abandon public places, and work from home. Because of these containment measures, we are seeing a drastic change in how our built environment is being used, and we must wonder: Can architecture play a role in the spread or containment of an infectious disease?

Architecture as Response

During the course of history, major events have changed the course of art and architecture. The devastating Black Death which spread through Europe in the 14th century is said to have a hand in spawning the Renaissance in Italy. After the World Wars, the world was exposed to a new and sudden wave of ‘post-war’ architecture. The extensive redesigning of Paris in the nineteenth century was a direct result of the rapid spread of disease in the over-crowded streets of the city. From antiquity, there has been a need to alter our built spaces to facilitate the demands of the time and situation.
Thus, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected that we will be seeing a shift in our architectural fabric, with the revamping of hospitals, possible construction of new quarantine centers, and the repurposing of other structures into quarantine facilities. We will be forced to see our public spaces through a new lens. Places like gyms, public hubs, and airports, which we never used to give extra thought to, will come under greater scrutiny. Should airports have built-in quarantine areas? Even the unaffected, when shuttered inside their homes, will be forced to wonder if their homes can provide a healthy social environment for long periods of time.

Temporary Architecture

To deal with the effects of the pandemic, affected countries have been forced to quickly develop treatment and quarantine centers. On the forefront of this fight is China, where a hospital with the capacity to house 1,000 patients was developed in a mere 9 days. The Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan was constructed with prefabricated rooms arranged together over concrete foundations, and it stands as a testament to the advancements of modern time where the construction of such a facility was possible in less than ten days.
Through example, China set a high bar for how quick and effective facilities can be created to deal with the pandemic, and how cheap, prefabricated materials can be efficiently utilized to create a facility of this magnitude. In the future, this will definitely herald the conversation of dealing with infectious diseases in a new direction.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-03-13/Huawei-builds-5G-network-at-Wuhan-Huoshenshan-Hospital-OP6qhHRc1G/index.html

Multi-Use Architecture

In the crisis efforts, we are also seeing many existing buildings being repurposed into quarantine centers. On 19th March, the Sindh government announced the directive to turn the Karachi Expo Center into a Coronavirus field hospital. Similarly, in other countries, people are being quarantined in military bases, motels, resorts and even cruise ships.
In the architectural world, this poses an interesting question of the flexibility of different spaces. In the future, can we pre-design buildings that are determined emergency centers? A building that will function as an art gallery up until the first moment of disaster? Such a measure might go a long way towards efficient disaster-preparedness.

The Oakland Municipal Auditorium being used as a temporary hospital during the influenza pandemic of 1918, in Oakland, California. | https://time.com/5797629/health-1918-flu-epidemic/

After the Pandemic

Finally, the big question arises: In the future, what can we do to be more prepared? After social-distancing and self-isolation have become such buzz-words, designers might reevaluate their design decisions. Encouraging people to spread out in public spaces. Designing homes that are more communicable with their neighbors. Making streets that promote visual and verbal communication but don’t allow physical contact.
The pandemic will also promote research on materials and finishes that prevent the spread of disease, especially on surfaces like doors and railings. In fact, it could inspire a completely hands-free approach, making automatic doors, motion-sensors, or voice-controlled switches more common.
The future of shared workspaces can also be put into question. With many people now working from home, employees and designers alike will wonder: are shared workspaces an ideal model for the office environment? Or did they feel more productive working in isolation with limited communication with their office-mates?
Only time will reveal what really changes and what stays the same.