i + D - May/June 2020 - 39

Brave New World - By Jessica Goldbogen Harlan

Flexible Spaces
Elaine Mahoney, a senior resilience project manager with the New York
City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, agrees that
the post-pandemic world will spark a conversation about adaptive reuse.
"We'll see an increase in creating spaces that are more nimble," she says.
"The concept of using conference centers like Javits in other ways is great,
because they're raw spaces and can become anything. Public buildings,
office spaces, hotels... how can they be retrofitted based on need?"

A sign outside of the Jacob K. Javits
Convention Center in New York, which
was transformed into a medical center
during the pandemic, sends a message
of inspiration to the city.

Permanent safety measures will likely also be a standard in public spaces.
As businesses prepare to reopen, they're implementing new measures to
keep guests and staff safe. For instance, the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas
reported plans to install thermal cameras, electrostatic disinfectant sprayers
to clean high-touch surfaces, UV lights to kill bacteria in loading docks and
warehouses, and on-staff EMT teams.
Mahoney thinks that many buildings will be retrofitted to conform to the
social-distancing protocol that we've become accustomed to. Schools
will need to overcome their overcrowding issues, and companies might
incorporate more teleworking. And Steel agrees, envisioning that a meeting
room once intended for 100 people might only house 50.
Regina Yang,
MASS Design Group

Paraphrasing a quote from Maya Angelou, Kuklok-Waldman says,
"'When you know better, you do better.'" She explains, "We now have
a framework for where the gaps are-such as adequate internet and
computer access, remote login access, PPE [personal protective equipment]
for employees, and other issues related to this pandemic. Bigger picture,
I would expect more attention to remote and online service provision by
cities and counties, a more global acceptance that internet access is a basic
right and not a privilege, and continued recognition in the zoning codes that
use-based Euclidean zoning [whereby a town or community is divided into
areas in which specific uses of land are permitted] does not reflect in the
current social environment."

(Image: Courtesy of MASS
Design Group)

While MASS Design Group is currently focused on the battle
against COVID-19, the lessons learned may have relevance for
years to come. "Our hypothesis is that this is as significant a
moment as 9/11 was in terms of how we approach new spaces
and operate within them," says Regina Yang, a senior director at
MASS Design Group. "I can't imagine there will be no impact,
but we might not know what [the impact] will be. It will certainly
change as we continue to learn about the biology of coronavirus."

She adds that zoning based on use misses the opportunity for governments
to be flexible and nimble when necessary. Cities like Los Angeles are
operating under systems established decades ago-"Our zoning code
was last revised in 1946 after World War II," says LA-based KuklokWaldman-and COVID-19 has revealed the need to update this code as
soon as possible.

"The human dimension is also so important," adds Marsh. "PreCOVID we already saw the duality and multipurpose of buildings in
society. The more dense our society becomes, the more pressure
there is for each building to do more than one thing." For instance,
a school building that sits empty after 5:00 p.m. could be used in
the evenings for a community meeting space.
"We're going to see a critical mass of innovation post-peak,"
predicts Marsh. "COVID-19 is doing what any major shift would
do: highlighting or illuminating some of the changes that were
already brewing."

MASS Design Group's
COVID Design Response
page on its website includes
documents on how to
design spaces for infection
control, how to limit
contagion in makeshift
facilities, and how to
redesign hospital spaces
to protect healthcare
workers, with more
documents in the works.

The ICC's Pfeiffer says, "We cannot make predictions about future code
changes; however, the Code Council is open, and transparent code
development processes would allow for such proposals to be considered
and potentially included in future editions of the codes. The building
safety community takes the health and welfare of building occupants
very seriously and pays close attention to the reports and information that
impact building science. If new sanitation standards for buildings were
recommended by health experts, it is likely that code-change proposals
would be submitted to incorporate the new standards into the
international codes."

(Image: Courtesy of MASS
Design Group and Ariadne Labs)

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