Post COVID-19 era: A gift or a curse for a new beginning?

Image Source: frameweb.com

Who would have imagined, that, for more than two years, the lives of people all over the planet would change so much. That words like overcrowding, full capacity and quarantine would gain so much weight and meaning in everyday speech, cutting off and isolating individuals for so long from both their work and social lives. It goes without saying, then, that this sudden change would bring the design industry into a dilemma: must we radically change the way we approach and implement design, or transform our practices a little bit -or not at all- believing that "it's a storm, it will pass"?

Most, admittedly, seem to agree that there’s a need for developing new designs, with the goal of ensuring people’s health status but also reinforcing socialization, which amid the pandemic has been at times almost completely prohibited.  

By changing the cities we are all protected

In cities, especially during winter, direct contact between residents is expected. At means of public transport -mainly during rush hours-, at the workplace, school, and even at various activities, like gyms and entertainment spaces, people come together and interact. Besides, most of our lives are spent within buildings, which, during the pandemic, got to be considered places of contagion and danger for the spreading of the virus. A virus that seems to be here to stay.

So, there is an urgent need to alter the daily life conditions of inhabitants, from the way a neighbourhood and its green spaces are designed, to the reinforcement of bicycle use as transportation and the installation of internet hotspots all over the city. The latter can contribute to informing the public about crowding in certain transport lines that are usually busy, while it can provide connectability for many users at the same time, for distance learning or for remote working.

Design by SOM studio| Image Source: theguardian.com

Surely, more general changes should always look towards the future and shouldn’t be considered ephemeral. Consequently, by aiming at the creation of open public spaces, where greenery is prominent, design accomplishes a dual endeavour: the aesthetic improvement of the surrounding space, with the goal of better interaction and socialisation of the neighbourhood’s residents, as well as the enhancement of cities with green spaces, necessary for a better future. Moreover, by transforming pavements and neighbourhoods into a continuous park, access to open spaces for entertainment and relaxation is given to all residents. 

However, just as it is our obligation to contribute to the redesign of public life, reintroducing the city to its residents - this time with a new face -, we must also make the reintegration of employees into their working environment as smooth as possible, while respecting health protocols.

However, how can this be accomplished in a world that can’t “start from the beginning”?

Redesign without isolation 

With the simultaneous imposition of a global quarantine, a paradox emerged. More and more workers wanted to go back to the office, resenting the mandatory remote work. This happened as the office is not just a workplace but also a place of socialisation for the majority of people. In addition, with the social distancing measures in place for everyone, remote work was not easy, due to insufficient equipment at home - after all, how many homes have as many computers as family members? - and limited space. Therefore, now more than ever, architects and designers have to face the problem of a new reality.

Image Source: rg-group.co.uk

The primary goal of configuring the new buildings, and by extension the spaces within them, is the design based on the spaciousness of the interior and the attempt to develop the illusion of unity in a fragmented space. This can be done perhaps by using transparent materials, which will separate the spaces, but without losing the visibility and permeability of the interior. Thus, the employees will feel proximity to others but also limit direct contact with them.

Of course, apart from configuring the space, its disinfection and its adequate ventilation are of great importance. The way this can be achieved in public and private buildings is through emulating hospital design. One of the first, in fact, to underline the necessity of including air circulation in architectural design, was the English architect and theorist Reyner Banham. According to him, doctors could - as they did in the 19th century - transfer their medical knowledge of the environmental management of air flows, to the field of architecture. "Illness is what modernized architecture, not just new materials and technologies.", Beatriz Colomina says in an interview with PIN-UP, making a reference to the catalytic effect that disease - specifically tuberculosis - had on the perception of the modern architecture of the early part of the previous century, with most modern architectural designs imitating sanatoriums. Therefore, this time too the collaboration of the two disciplines, with the introduction of sunbathing -which took place through specially designed spaces-, gave impetus to a new direction, which was medicinal but also constituted a breakthrough for the promotion of a new trend in architecture and the design.

Other suggestions that actually evoke hospital design are disinfection infrastructures, furniture covers and materials used on floors that can be easily cleaned, while changing the air conditioning system and dividing it into zones or floors could limit polluted air, preventing the spread of germs, always through the simultaneous use of the appropriate filters.

A proposal by CRETECH | Image Source: cretech.com

At the same time, and while the ultimate goal is to usher in a new era in the design and manufacturing industry, the new work environment should be safe and accessible for everyone. By working with technological advances, all places, such as schools, gyms, public services, etc., will enable easy access for people with mobility or vision difficulties. However, as correctly pointed out by Eddie Ndopu, Beyond Zero Ventures’s founder and CEO, “For all of its symbolic value as a gesture of accommodation, a ramp, does not make a space accessible […]. It may facilitate entry into a building for people who use mobility devices. What makes a space accessible is the empathy, connection, freedom, and possibility it engenders for people of all abilities and identities to come together.”. Ndopu’s words underline the complexity of developing a design that addresses everyone and is able to persevere adverse conditions, such as the global health crisis. 

Widening the entrance width and the elevator cabin, not placing revolving doors at the entrances and limiting the staircase, are being considered by the experts as ways of catering to everyone. At the same time, the much-desired spaciousness of the interior will enable the site to be visited more easily by a person in a wheelchair, while at the same time preventing the crowding of many people. All this will obviously become feasible, applying today’s many technological means.

But how can the exceptionally developed technology of the last few years contribute to the fulfilment of those many new needs?

Technology for everything

With the development of technology, we have the ability, even before COVID, to virtually tour museums around the world, watch live concerts, communicate or even work from our homes. But now, all these have become parts of our daily lives and are treated as a normal ways of working and having fun.

In the same spirit of this new effort for a deeper integration of technology into the lifestyle of more and more people, the online exhibition GEO—DESIGN: COVID-19* is running. As a research effort of Design Academy Eindhoven, GEO-DESIGN aims to expand forms of research into fields that shape the work of designers today, such as those of geography, geopolitics, social and economic disciplines. Many names in the field, such as Colette Aliman, Mathilde Philipponnat, Colin Keays, Mar Ginot Blanco, etc., are participating in the whole effort with their work.

GEO—DESIGN: COVID-19 exhibition | Image Source: wearepaperjam.com

However, apart from the field of design, technology has also demonstrated innovative ideas for limiting the pandemic, with the most recent example being the launch of Dyson headphones. The -not so discreet- headphones of the well-known company promise to provide the user with the possibility of clear sound, at the same time closing, like a mask, the area of ​​the mouth, thus preventing the entry of germs through it. Chief designer Jake Dyson describes them: "[…]unlike face masks, it delivers a plume of fresh air without touching your face, using high-performance filters and two miniaturized air pumps". Finally, regarding the price of the headphones, it still remains unknown. However, it is expected to be high, predictably greatly limiting their buying audience.

Dyson headphones | Image Source: toppostblog.com

Is it all roses after all? 

It would be naive to think that change will come easily and smoothly, in a world ravaged by the interpersonal, social and economic impact of COVID-19. For example, it would be reasonable to ask whether this easy access to entertainment will be able to influence the sociability of individuals, and especially young people, who from now on will be able to easily and more economically watch an event from their rooms. In addition, the debate surrounding the decentralization of large companies, with the aim of distributing workers in more places, raises many questions, as a decrease in the number of companies still operating after the first and second waves of the pandemic was observed worldwide. A typical example is the number of American businesses forced to close, which amounts to 200,000 in the first year of the pandemic crisis.

Furthermore, through technology and the hybridity it offers, lurks the danger of developing a culture of design that may reinforce the feeling of surveillance. It is, after all, easy when working from home to lose the privacy and limitation of working outside the employee's personal space.

Obviously, there is no reason to scaremonger and so reduce efforts to redesign life as a whole. Everyone should aim at the correct use of technology and the entire range of design, in order to achieve the best result. However, we cannot fail to recognize that everyone responsible for this change is walking a tightrope, making any exaggeration or wrong decision detrimental to the future. We do not think, moreover, that the planet and our society can withstand any more unnecessary or wrong choices. So we have no choice but to remain cautiously optimistic about the future.

Sources/ Further Reading

 S. Brengarth, How Tech Companies Could Benefit from a Decentralized Approach to Real Estate (2020). Από: https://www.gensler.com/blog/how-tech-companies-could-benefit-from-a-decentralized.

 E. Pagliacolo, Local Projects Explores Museums Post-COVID (2020). Από: https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/local-projects-explores-museums-post-covid/.

 TOOLKIT: WHAT SHOULD POST-COVID-19 SPACES LOOK LIKE?. Από: https://www.frameweb.com/article/toolkit-frame-lab-135.

 Emerging Design Considerations in a Post Covid world (2021). Από: https://rg-group.co.uk/emerging-design-considerations-in-a-post-covid-world/#.

R. Simon, Covid-19’s Toll on U.S. Business? 200,000 Extra Closures in Pandemic’s First Year (2021). Από: https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19s-toll-on-u-s-business-200-000-extra-closures-in-pandemics-first-year-11618580619.

 A. Betsky, Design in a Post-COVID-19 World. Από: https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/design-in-a-post-covid-19-world_o.

L. Kallipoliti, BUBBLE PROBLEMS: AN ARCHEOLOGY OF INFECTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL (2020). Από: https://strelkamag.com/en/article/bubble-problems-an-archeology-of-infection-and-environmental-control.

J. Wakefield, Dyson headphones come with air vacuum for mouth. Από: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60927032.

C. Michael, L. McMullan & F. Hulley-Jones, From garden streets to bike highways: four ideas for post-Covid cities – visualised (2020). Από: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2020/sep/25/garden-streets-bike-superhighways-cities-future-coronavirus.

D. Zeiba, ARCHITECTURE AND ILLNESS: BEATRIZ COLOMINA ON TUBERCULOSIS, MODERNISM, AND COVID-19. Από: https://pinupmagazine.org/articles/interview-beatriz-colomina-x-ray-architecture-drew-zeiba#12.

* Για την online exhibition GEO—DESIGN: COVID-19, στο: https://covid.geodesign.online/.