A Review on Building Design as a Biomedical System for Preventing COVID-19 Pandemic

Evaluating the resilience of residential buildings during a pandemic with a sustainable construction approach

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catastrophic event that has affected all aspects of human life worldwide. Due to the high genetic mutations of the virus, there has been a prolonged search for definitive therapeutic discovery, leading to extended periods of home quarantine. As a result, homes have become multipurpose spaces for work, education, sports, and other daily activities. Given the importance of residential buildings as the first line of defense against possible future pandemics, a model has been proposed to assess their readiness to handle pandemics using a sustainable development approach. This study investigates the most crucial criteria for evaluating residential buildings and applies them in a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) process. The final evaluation model is presented using the SWARA and COCOSO methods, along with a set of criteria selected and weighted by experts. The study shows that the criteria related to health and safety are more critical than other sectors. Buildings that meet the standards of this group better are likely to have a higher score.

Improving the Effectiveness of Anti-COVID Measures in Buildings: Learning from Users’ Perception

The COVID-19 spread abruptly changed the fruition of indoor environments, where necessary adaptive measures have since been implemented. Buildings open to the public were suddenly equipped with physical devices aiming to encourage users’ appropriate behaviors, such as hand sanitizing, social distancing, and temperature monitoring. Through a twofold architectural-psychological perspective, the paper presents a research aiming to understand how users perceive these devices in the Italian context and to identify the design features that could improve their effectiveness in enhancing individuals’ awareness. With an interdisciplinary approach, four methods were adopted: observational field surveys, background and normative framework analysis, survey research through an online questionnaire, and case studies survey research. The results confirm the overall effectiveness of the implemented anti-COVID strategies, their suitability in encouraging individuals’ appropriate behaviors, and the importance of regulating the users’ flow indoors. The research allowed defining the devices (hand-sanitizing devices and temperature-measurement instruments) and wayfinding systems more suited to be included in the prevention strategy and identified their more appropriate design features in relation to the users’ feedback. Operational suggestions are presented as well. The adopted experimental approach can be useful in supporting decision making in managing of the built environment in both the current and future contexts.

Prophylactic Architecture: Formulating the Concept of Pandemic-Resilient Homes

The lockdown instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn the world’s attention to the importance of homes as integrated structures for practicing all aspects of life. The home has been transformed from a mere place to live into a complete piece of infrastructure accommodating all activities of life, including study, work, shopping, exercise, entertainment, and even telehealth. Although quarantines were necessary to protect against viral infection, we have faced social and psychological challenges due to the failure of the current home design to accommodate the new lockdown lifestyle during the pandemic. Thus, this study aims to set a foundation for the development and design of resilient homes in a post-quarantine world by establishing a comprehensive framework for quarantine-resilient homes. The framework was established on the basis of the relevant literature and proposals from architects and experts. It brings a perspective to the future requirements of homes so as to provide architects, stakeholders, and policymakers with the appropriate knowledge to mitigate the impact of lockdowns on mental health and well-being in residential buildings by focusing on the physical and architectural environment.

Refurbishing Classrooms for Hybrid Learning: Balancing between Infrastructure and Technology Improvements

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to all facets of education. As students are slowly repopulating university campuses after lockdowns and online learning, universities are looking into ways to ensure social distancing can be maintained in learning spaces and capitalize on the benefits of online-learning modalities without compromising educational quality. One option that has gained attention is hybrid or dual-delivery learning. In this model, some students are present in classrooms, while others join the class through online platforms. However, most university classrooms are not designed to deliver the voice of instructors and classroom students to online platforms. This change in modality requires universities to invest in infrastructure and technology. This research studies the optimum setup for dual-delivery classrooms, investigating a range of infrastructural and technology improvements that can be made to traditional classrooms to help optimize the perceived sound quality for remote learners. The investigation entails a qualitative study to assess the improvement in perceived sound quality (clarity, ability to recognize words, and perceived echo) for remote students vis-a-vis the improvement in the room (such as sound-absorbing padding or carpets) and its technology (such as ceiling and lapel microphones). Specifically, it investigates the degrees of room and the technology improvements needed to ensure that the voice of instructors and the classroom students’ interactions, such as questions and discussions, are heard and comprehended by remote students. We collected responses for nine experiment conditions through 39 tests addressing both instruction and students’ interactions. We formulate a matrix of recommendations for higher education institutions to follow. The suggestions proposed also have other environmental benefits beyond sound quality.