Only 18 months ago, everyone around the globe had their life upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost immediately, architects and designers began to speculate on how they could design for a better world that would be flexible, functional, and healthy. While the pandemic is far from over, with many scientific advancements and public health policies still needed to truly allow us to live out our “new normal”, perhaps its time to reflect on our predictions and examine what aspects of the pandemic were short-term reactions, and which aspects of life might be permanently reflected in how we think about the built environment.
At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a belief that the social distancing measures and masking mandates that became a part of our lives almost overnight would become habits that we would adopt for the next decade. We needed to quickly rethink how to make people comfortable when returning to the office, as workers funneled into meeting rooms. We needed to plan for the reuse and reinvention of outdoor spaces. And we needed to design our homes to incorporate outdoor spaces and home offices. But has this held true in how architects are designing for the long term?
HOUSING
One of the most notable trends that happened almost overnight was the immense migration of city dwellers into the suburbs, searching for more space away from an overcrowded life. While undoubtedly, many people won’t return to a hyper-dense metropolis, the initial data that was shown across multiple housing sites, including Zillow, showed that the percentage of people leaving urban areas for other urban areas was actually higher than the percentage of people leaving urban areas for the suburb or rural areas. Although data on real estate is slow to report large-scale trends, by the time the pandemic slowed down, many people were moving back into cities faster than they had once left them. This has caused rental rates across many cities have reached a new high, especially in warm weather areas like Miami.
Another aspect of housing that was reconsidered included the space types, and sizes of those spaces, that we want in our homes. When much of the workforce was sent to work from home, people began to realize that maybe their existing spaces weren’t quite adept for this major adjustment. In a time where the concept of a home office had faded, many scrambled to set up workstations and technology that would be needed for an unknown length of time. As many people continue to work from home, it’s brought back the trend of incorporating a dedicated space for a home office, whether its own room or an isolated niche that allows workers to take zoom calls away from their living rooms and bedrooms. The pandemic also brought about the desire for more outdoor space, both public and private. Many new apartments are incorporating balconies and rooftop amenity spaces so that residents have access to fresh air and ample natural light.
OFFICES
The future of the office and general workplace trends are always reinventing themselves. Even long before the pandemic, the debate between the open office plan, a workplace with mostly offices and cubicles, was always a popular point of contention. The pandemic only accelerated this and was one of the first tangible results of the impacts that COVID-19 would have on shared space. Almost immediately, designers were planning for a workplace that would socially distance all employees by 6 feet, introduce hands-free appliances and fixtures, and in some cases, place plexiglass dividers between workstations.
While some companies are beginning to send people back, Twitter has said employees can work remotely infinitely if they so choose and Uber and Google have stated that a majority of their workforce will stay home, at least in the short term. Designers are now looking towards the long term and identifying new opportunities to enhance the hybrid workplace, where employees will be able to choose when they come to the office, and when they work from home. Offices of the future might see more specialized conference rooms, enhanced work cafes, and elevated amenity experiences that can be used to draw in employees and attract future talent. For the most part, this doesn’t mean that companies are looking to shed real estate, but many are making a strong commitment to the future of the workplace, signaling a belief that in-person collaboration and mentorship is still a cornerstone of the employee experience. TikTok signed a lease in Times Square of New York City only a couple of months after the pandemic began and Google purchased their currently leased space of St. John’s Terminal Building for more than two billion dollars. Those who once proclaimed the death of the office are now being proven wrong by companies who are bullish on cities and communal workplace environments.
DINING
While for some, the al fresco dining option feels like a long-desired resemblance of the European lifestyle, for others, it raised immediate questions around safety and responsibility. Is it safe to put tables and chairs on sidewalks and streets, especially as many are becoming more and more crowded? Cities have begun to think about how to make these elaborate “temporary” structures into something more permanent that gives something back to all users of public space- restaurants, customers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and automobile drivers. While outdoor dining creates an opportunity for restaurants to generate revenue that they lost in the early days of the pandemic, public officials are calling for guidelines around the safety and maintenance of these setups. Many are also raising questions if restaurants can be taxed for hosting outdoor diners, and if so, could this tax go back into refunding improvements for public infrastructure? Regardless, it seems like outdoor dining is here to stay.
We invite you to check out ArchDaily's coverage related to COVID-19, read our tips and articles on Productivity When Working from Home and learn about technical recommendations for Healthy Design in your future projects. Also, remember to review the latest advice and information on COVID-19 from the World Health Organization (WHO) website.
