Architecture After the Virus

COVID-19 has changed our lives beyond what many of us could have expected. Some of these changes are bound to stay for the post-lockdown new normal.

Every now and then an event comes along whose consequences surpass itself. Like an earthquake in the middle of the ocean whose effects are so different from the source that they become phenomena in their own right.

Like an earthquake in the middle of the ocean they become phenomena in their own right

We are now living that tremor; history in the making. That is not to say that, like the earthquake, coronavirus will have only negative, tsunami-like effects. But it is important to realise that, however much our lives have changed in the past few months or weeks, there will be changes that remain post-lockdown, post-vaccine, and post-quarantine.

We have all heard with little excitement the reports of an impending economic recession, but the economy rises and falls, and markets do go back to normal, always, eventually. There are some things, however, that remain after an event of such global and far-reaching consequences as the coronavirus outbreak. Things that fall under the category of what sociologists call “historic memory”- things our society remembers even after generations as if the experience was also theirs, because they have lived it through tales and lessons.

The potential ways of expressing the “historic memory” of the coronavirus are more difficult to foresee than the loops, falls, and soars of the market. But they involve, mostly, good things. Painful things, sometimes, because our wonderful but stubborn human race seldom course-corrects without some pain, but good things nonetheless because they will be lessons learned. As an example, it is almost certain that important revisions will be made to most countries’ healthcare systems; probably leaning toward strengthening and prioritising them. If nothing else comes out of this situation, I would personally be quite happy with just that.

There will be also subtler changes that will prevail in our lives. Some have suggested that the handshake has already become one more victim of the coronavirus, and that it will not make it to post-lockdown life. Others suggest we will see the prevailing quantity-over-quality marketing strategy inverted, with companies producing more long-lasting objects or clothes, and less single use trinkets as a way to adapt to the desire to feel self-sufficient with the things we own and can use indefinitely. Bulk buying and home-deliveries of groceries are unlikely to go out of style quickly even after it is perfectly safe to go to the supermarket. Public workers may keep a mask on indefinitely while on duty. And so on.

But, perhaps, the most important change that has come with the coronavirus to stay is the way we perceive our spaces and the built environment. Crowded plazas have suddenly turned from featuring in desirable soirees to being the stuff of nightmares; lifts have changed from objects unworthy of any attention to generators of anxiety at the thought of pressing that button the entire building has already touched; cute little alley-streets make us think more about how we could keep our distance from an oncoming fellow walker than about Instagram frames and followers. The feeling of apprehension will not last forever, of course, but certain habits will remain. And, like we always do, we will adapt ourselves and our environment to soothe us.

The built world we have so masterfully perfected could reflect these new habits in small but powerful ways. Wider pavements, bigger establishments, less street-markets, or voice-controlled lifts are just some of the changes that could become the new norm.

Our homes, too, will likely inherit some ideas from the pandemic. Built-in apartments within family homes have become the go-to alternative for many to give their elders independence without the need of a now-feared care home, and many have already sworn by never living in a flat without a balcony again -understandably.

As working from home has been normalised by the lockdown, many people are bound to contemplate the possibility after restrictions are lifted; in fact, many architectural offices are already receiving enquiries about renovation projects that focus on creating a more suitable home-office within existing dwellings.

While some of these ideas may sound like new-years resolutions -genuine but easily forgettable-, in a world ruled by customer demand, these initiatives are likely to be taken into account by developers and planners. The coronavirus has come and will leave, but the new way of seeing life that it has brought along will make it into our realities, as the world moves past this crisis and into the new normal of uncrowded spaces and sanctuary-like homes.