COVID-19, design and social needs: an investigation of emerging issues (original) (raw)

Rethinking housing design in post COVID-19 pandemic

Universite Abou Bekr Belkaid, 2021

2019 has been identified as a year of an outbreak that causes respiratory illness and leads to death. The COVID-19 pandemic originated from Wuhan, China, and it has spread to other parts of the world in a short period of time. The pandemic has crippled the world economy and it has brought a catastrophic effect on the world health care systems and our way of life. With the society, politics, culture and the economy turned upside down because of the pandemic, the idea of reforming architectural production has escalated. Due to the effects of covid-19 pandemic, People are now looking for answers and solutions from architects so that they can feel safe in their own homes and environments. As we try to understand the role of architecture in a post pandemic era. We need to first comprehend how we inhabit our dwellings, make use of our buildings and how we traverse through our belt space. Architects have been given the role to rethink about the future we desire now. This will equip our society to prepare for any future pandemics. In this thesis, we look at the effects of Covid-19 on -architecture, interior design and the built environment- and provide design solutions for a healthier living space in the post pandemic era. The idea of the project is to design a residential complex that is affordable and incorporated with design solutions that reduce the risk of infection of any virus in the future.

The Importance of Domestic Space in the Times of COVID-19

Challenges, 2021

This essay discusses a deep malaise of contemporary architecture, made more obvious by experiencing COVID-19 lockdowns for several months. Evidence-based arguments urge society to improve human health and well-being by re-considering the design of interior and exterior spaces. So far, predictions of how design will “improve” after COVID-19 just continue business-as-usual, ignoring accumulated evidence. Yet, the negative emotional experience of families cooped up during the pandemic reveals the failure of the standard approach to designing spaces. An architecture that adapts to human biology and psychology starts with the relatively new understanding of people interacting unconsciously with their environment and broadens it. A traditional design toolkit, augmented by the latest technology, can generate healing spaces as judged by their ability to enhance users’ subjective well-being. We recommend implementing specific design innovations to achieve this goal—replacing industrial-minim...

Housing and urban design for COVID-19 pandemic; design for prevention of virus spread

Journal of Preventive Epidemiology

The new COVID-19 disease, which is affecting the world and has infected and killed many people, has rapidly changed people’s lifestyles and, accordingly, changed people’s needs, including their demands on their living environment. As the disease progressed, people were forced to stay at home to escape the disease. Even cities and public spaces could no longer be used. These situations, as well as the anxiety caused by this unknown disease, quickly led to mental health problems such as depression, isolation, aggression, stress, and physical illnesses due to inactivity. Given that the living environment of people, and above all, their homes, has a direct impact on the physical and mental health of people, profound and fundamental changes and decisions in the design and construction of houses are necessary for this situation where people have to spend most of their time in their homes. On the other hand, people need to socialize with each other and do their daily and essential tasks ea...

. Covid-19’s Impact on Architecture, Urbanism and Health

International Journal Water Sciences and Environment Technologies (IJWSET). ISNN (On line): 1737-9350; ISSN (Print): 1737-6688; Volume VII - Issue 1 – March 2022., pp 5-17. , 2022

This paper aims to assess the Covid-19’s impact on Architecture, Urbanism and Health in the prevention and mitigation of pandemics and the place it may occupy in future international strategies. This paper examines how architecture can make communities and urban environments more resilient to disease and how healing design can support a global war on pandemics. This literature review paper aims to discuss the impacts and measures taken on Covid-19 with respect to architecture, built form and its allied fields along with observations from around the world with the end results of its implementation. Various research Internationals Journals from Science Direct and Taylor and Francis among others were referred and reviewed to learn more on Covid-19 along with its impacts on people and their built environment. Keywords that aligned with the topic of interest like pandemic, Covid-19, coronavirus, urban spaces, built environment and built-up space were identified. Space, Structures, and Design in a Post-Pandemic World will influence anyone interested in how design thinking can transform how we see the world and those looking for new ways to understand what the COVID-19 pandemic means and what opportunities it creates for our environments. The paper is a review article that seeks to provide a summary of recent writings that speculate on the possible futures of the post-COVID on architectural urbanism and health.

Connecting the Dots between Housing Design and COVID-19

Architecture, 2023

This article has aimed to analyze the intellectual structure associated with the contributions made by academics and practitioners of architecture in the association between housing and COVID- 19 in the years 2019–2021. The main results reveal the possibility of establishing a classification, by topics that suggest the necessary interdisciplinary collaboration for housing, to meet the needs and desires of its users in the wake of this pandemic. The network analysis has allowed the identification of overlapping communities through interconnection concepts to other groups or clusters. Thus, it has been possible to explore the multidimensionality of the housing–COVID connection and the interrelationships for future research and its possible extension. In this sense, the importance of the specific concepts associated with very detailed elements, sensations and spaces in buildings has been identified, including concepts such as the air quality and the need for green spaces, the presence or not of balconies, the need for natural light, the existence of cross ventilation or the possibility of incorporating technology or home automation to facilitate and save resources in daily life.

Redefining the Role of Architecture during the Pandemic Crisis

Proceedings - 3rd Valencia International Biennial of Research in Architecture, VIBRArch

This paper focuses on the two-way relationship between a pandemic and architecture. Architecture serves human needs, adapts to them and evolves because of them. This study aims to investigate the issues and challenges that arose in modern housing during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. A historical review of the pandemics which have plagued humanity is briefly described. Pandemics, as global emergencies, affect human life, the places where the individual is active, and, consequently, the architectural structures. For this reason, the main tool of the study was a questionnaire that was developed and distributed to young people aged between 18 to 35, living in European cities with a population of more than one million. In this way, an initial study was conducted to find out about ways of living during the pandemic and to question how modern architecture will be affected by the current pandemic. In a big part, World War II has formed the current complex housing structures in the mo...

Editorial: Design quality: what we learned from evidence-based design and post-occupancy evaluation research during the COVID-19 pandemic

Frontiers in Built Environment, 2023

Editorial on the Research Topic Design quality: what we learned from evidence-based design and postoccupancy evaluation research during the COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in 6.8 million deaths worldwide, and millions more have been infected, suffered symptomatic illnesses or hospitalizations (WHO, 2023). The pandemic required, and still requires, massive societal and organizational shifts to prevent or reduce the further spreading of the virus. Lockdowns and mandatory remote work and study at home greatly impacted people's daily lives. "Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, most workers had limited familiarity with remote working" (Battisti et al., 2022, p.1). According to (Wang et al., 2021), before COVID-19, only 2.9% of the total US workforce and around 2% of that in Europe engaged in emergency remote working. As a result, "the pandemic abruptly upset normal work routines and accelerated previously ongoing trends relating to the migration of work to online or virtual environments (Kniffin et al., 2021; Battisti et al., 2022, p. 1). Remote working and online education are not new, but previously were mainly done voluntarily. Due to COVID-19, the development and adoption of digital and information and communication technologies (ICTs) have increased dramatically. As such, the pandemic can be perceived as a giant real-life human experiment, from which many lessons can be learned about the impact of a pandemic on people's quality of life, wellbeing, performance, sense of belonging to a particular community or organization, and social cohesion. Organizations and governments now ask themselves what measures are needed in a post-pandemic period and how to cope with future pandemics. For Frontiers in Built Environment, a particular question is what policymakers, designers, corporate real estate and facility managers can or should do to design and manage a built environment that supports people's wellbeing, performance and quality of life during a pandemic and in a post-pandemic context. Relevant challenges for practitioners and related research questions are:

AN ASSESSMENT OF PARADIGM SHIFT IN PEOPLE'S PRIORITIES TOWARD INTERIOR DESIGNING OF SPACE DURING THE PANDEMIC OUTBREAK

Granthaalayah Publications and Printers, 2024

This investigation surfaces a thought of change in peoples' priorities toward Interior design of space during the Pandemic outbreak. It reexamines the issues that influenced the change in the overall arrangement of a physical space. Five constructs were identified to validate the paradigm shift in peoples' approach to dealing with spatial areas specifically in housing during the pandemic outbreak. The research study has shown a strong paradigm shift in the resident's approach to the interior design of housing. The research study also discusses about the issues faced while stay at home during COVID-19, spatial layout during the pandemic, the utility of space during the pandemic, and targeting to achieve the required resilience through design implications. There were 404 participants considered in the structured questionnaire survey where the snowball sample technique to distribute among the policymakers, planners, architects, interior designers, and general citizens, from various residential areas in the Chandigarh Capital Region (CCR) i.e., Chandigarh, Mohali, and Panchkula who responded on varied issues faced during COVID-19. The outlook of people's approach and interior design community to post-COVID has offered a new opportunity to re-look at the spatial arrangement of interior space. The residential dwelling units that were earlier considered for relaxation, safety, and storage are now considered for online classes, office work, play areas, recreation, and exercise areas. The post-COVID-19 era has changed the outlook of habitable space by providing a new thought process to visualize a spatial layout uniquely, which may further full-fill multiple interests at the same time.

The covid-19 pandemic in relation to built environment design characteristics

XIX ENCONTRO NACIONAL DE TECNOLOGIA DO AMBIENTE CONSTRUÍDO

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the built environment impacted the health and safety of the population. In Brazil, the pandemic impacted the ways of life of families, through housing and neighbourhood designs. This research identified built environment design factors that impacted life during the pandemic. A Systematic Literature Review was carried out to evaluate the impacts of the pandemic on the built environment and identify recommendations and actions to reduce those impacts. As a result, we recommend changes to the built environment and especially housing. Improvements are pointed out to ensure the well-being of dwellers, in present and future scenarios.

Post-Pandemic Home Design Adaptations: Lessons Learnt for Future Theory and Practice

Civil Engineering and Architecture, 2021

During the widespread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the year 2020, "staying home" became one of the crucial means of survival. Being an architect and educator during this crucial time raised many questions of whether our current practice and pedagogy place homes in their adequate socio-psychological status. Thus, this research aims to document, analyze and compare selected examples of home adaptations in 2020. The methodology adopted in the research depended on deductive qualitative methods. Analysis of the spaces was conducted by the researcher based on first-hand data. Surveys were distributed among a wide sample, among whom were the in-depth study sample. And finally, interviews were conducted to assess the level of comfort and tools of adaptations made by the residents during the lockdown. The study concludes with lessons learned from the pandemic outbreak to enhance architectural practice as well as pedagogy while addressing the future of home designs.