Architecture in a COVID-19 world

For most of this year 2020, we have and continued to witness the effects of the coronavirus on the whole world.

We have withdrawn from the public realm as homes have become a haven. COVID-19 has claimed so far over a million lives across the world. Mitigation measures require social distancing or the use of face masks to limit its spread through tiny droplets from one's mouth or nose.

Many countries have been forced to adopt even harsher measures such as a complete lockdown limiting people's movement or a modification of the social distancing measures.

In Paris, France, for example, advised that a combination of pollution and congestion with coronavirus would be horrific leading to higher rates of fatalities, mayor Anne Hidalgo has introduced changes to city infrastructure creating separate cycling pathways from Paris to the city's outskirts away from vehicles with the effect of reducing congestion. All measures currently used to fight COVID-19 are anti-social, and at the extreme, have had devastating effects not only on the health of communities (for example, increasing cases of depression have been reported) but also on the health of the economy.

Architecture, being at the centre of spaces we live in, has to respond. Its response has got to be to redress these distortions to provide alternatives to compensate for these losses so that community livelihood can be restored even as countries continue to fight this horrible virus. Early innovations in Lithuania have involved greater use of outer spaces such as by restaurants or gastro businesses as extensions of their interior spaces whilst promoting safety measures for both clients and staff.

Some new internal space designs have adopted the use of plexi glass to separate people, employing more automated systems, working from home, and social distancing.

Behaviour change is also being forced, supported by advances in technology (for example online shopping) enabling people to obtain services they need without physical movements.

These measures are all being introduced to reduce the spread of COVID-19 while still allowing people to go back to their ‘normal' routines. As architects, we have to rethink or redesign spaces that keep us further apart but also draw us closer in some ways.

Fortunately, we have previous experiences to learn from. In the early 20th century, the outbreak of tuberculosis gave birth to tuberculosis-shaped architecture, an experience which provided a precedent on how to reshape architecture during and after the pandemic. In his article, "How coronavirus will reshape architecture", Kyle Chayka points out the design principles used by some influential architects to create spaces that accommodate patients suffering from tuberculosis in Europe to limit its spread.

We can draw from the tactics used to curb the spread of tuberculosis in modern times to change architecture today to control or stop COVID-19 to bring back the "normal".

The Paimio Sanatorium, a facility designed by Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto in 1933 for tuberculosis patients, is a perfect example.

Some of its relevant design principles include designing homes or structures with long vertical windows that can allow a sufficient amount of light into homes. This will provide them with daylight that they may miss out from staying indoors in dark spaces, thereby lessening the movements of people thus reducing the spread of the virus. Terraces, first widely used in Europe can also act as private indoor spaces for patients. These can promote safe ways of interacting with others without visiting people's homes.

This may also lessen the need for people to go to outdoor areas such as parks hence reducing the spread of coronavirus due to minimal contact between people. Therefore, though the pandemic may be seen as an unprecedented time for architecture, drawing from past experiences can help architects today design spaces that promote the health and safety of people to control or stop the spread of the virus and which give people a sense of normality and social connection in their daily lives.

The writer is an architect