POST COVID – The Shape of Things to Come in the Workplace

Believe it or not, our cities have always been shaped by disease. It was cholera that influence the modern street grid, as the 19th century epidemics prompted the introduction of sewage systems that required the roads above them to be wider and straighter. What does the future hold? Antibacterial brass door knobs to well ventilated, non-stuffy working environments?

The third plague pandemic, a bubonic outbreak that began in China also in 1855, changed the design of everything from drainpipes to door thresholds and building foundations as we waged war against the rat. Form has always followed the fear of infection, just as much as function.

As social distancing and remote working becomes the norm, will homes need a to adapt to accommodate work? Will pavements widen to we can maintain some distance? Will staff want to work in an open plan office and cram into lifts? 

Many design agencies have turned their attention to imaging the different ways buildings could help fight future epidemics, including public spaces to surface coatings. “How we think about the workplace will be the biggest change” comments the CEO of Design Research Unit. He states, “We’ve seen a huge boom in co-working spaces. But after this, are companies really going to want to put their entire team in one place, mingling with other businesses? The co-working dream was sold on the vary basis on social interaction – but proximity may no longer seem so tempting…I think we will see a move away from open-plan layouts, as well as better ventilation and more openable windows.”

Zaha Hadid Architects have stated that furniture may also change, “Office desks have shrunk over the years, from 1.8 metres to 1.6 metres to now 1.4 metres and less…we will see a reversal of that as people won’t want to sit so close together. He states that post COVID-19 workplace will see “contactless pathways”, meaning employees will rarely have to touch surface with their hands to navigate through the building. Lifts can be called from a smart phone, and office doors open automatically using motion and facial recognition.