By Julia Leong Hui Ling
The current global situation has no doubt affected the overall building industry in general, be it simply in terms of construction delay or the way architects must come up with new design solutions for their buildings. No one wants to walk into a building in fear of the possibility of getting sick or infected.
Slowly, as we begin to live with this pandemic, certain changes must be made to ease the public’s fear of going around places. Emphasis on physical distancing has been such a major topic. With that, buildings can be designed in such a way where it utilizes little to no physical contact.
Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
Generally, if buildings were designed without consideration of proper ventilation systems, it is considered a bad design. Even without the pandemic, users will feel uncomfortable just being in that setting. So, this has been a rising factor that needs to be tackled especially with new buildings being designed and constructed during this pandemic.
Managing Indoor Air Quality
In green building schemes, there are typically 3 ways to manage indoor air quality (IAQ).
1.Emission source control
2.Ventilation
3.Indoor air measurement
Emission source control would be to strategize and design with respect to materials. Each material you choose for the interior and exterior of your building is significant in regulating indoor air quality. Next, the goal of ventilation is to provide an appropriate air exchange rate for better IAQ. Meanwhile, indoor air measurement is used to check whether indoor concentrations comply with given thresholds and any pollutants in the indoor air can be detected and measured.
Physical distancing and Minimal contact
There are multiple ways to encourage physical distancing in public buildings. Simply having less capacity in rooms, increasing distance between public use facilities, tables, chairs, benches, etc. Although existing public buildings can just alter their interior layout, designing new buildings concerning social distancing measures can be much more space efficient. Open office plans encourage more flexible workspaces and comfortability for users even if they work in cubicles separated further away from one another.
Besides having a well-thought-out open plan for public spaces, other facilities that can be implemented into building design are as follows.
Increased number of automated doors to lessen contact with door handles
Touchless sink faucets
Powder rooms
Powder rooms were first introduced during the Spanish flu pandemic, to encourage people to practice hygiene and frequent handwashing.
Automated doors are usually common for main entrances of public buildings; however, they can be incorporated more in other openings inside the building to minimize the amount of necessary contact with surfaces especially door handles.
On the other hand, touchless sink faucets are an existing design of contactless sanitary fittings that should not be excluded in designs nowadays.
Introducing more open and green spaces
No doubt, natural ventilation is always better. And especially in a time like this, people feel more comfortable being in an open space for a longer period as compared to spending most of their time indoors.
Having an open space is not just for public buildings, it can also be beneficial in isolation centers where patients’ movements are restricted and are isolated or quarantined. It does not only affect people who are claustrophobic, but generally anyone who is confined to the same space for a long period, it can become very unpleasant.
So, especially for isolation centers or even other health-related buildings (e.g., hospitals, health centers), it is good to have a space where patients can go out for a breather within the restricted compound.
Although it may not seem ideal for covid-positive patients to be roaming around outdoors, designing an open space is crucial for the patient’s well-being throughout isolation. It could just be an open space inside the building itself, anything beats being confined to your bed all day.
To achieve that, bringing the green elements indoor would be the most reasonable design solution. Green walls or indoor vertical landscapes with sufficient natural light coming in (adding other design features like skylight/curtain walls) provide users with a more open feel as supposed to being trapped in the same space as others.
Greener spaces are typically more comfortable and of course, eco-friendly. Green walls improve air quality, which makes the space healthier and cozy for the building’s occupants. It mimics the experience of being outdoors for a breath of fresh air, and this can be a beneficial design solution especially for patients in an isolation center.
In conclusion, the pandemic has affected building design in many ways and has forced emphasis on multiple design aspects. However, even when this pandemic ends, all these considerations are equally important in any design or situation. The pandemic was just one encounter that encourages designers to design accordingly.
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