Post-Pandemic Alternative Architectural Design

Architecture is known to gather people and encourage shared spaces in our buildings and homes, while the Corona virus, aka COVID-19 has refrained us from our usual face to face communication and meetups. For some, work and social life has been reduced and limited to a screen, virtual meetings for studies, work, social events and so forth. Architecture has its impact on us more than ever before. It can and should provide us safety, infection control and prevention from getting sick. The materials we choose to design our home with is also crucial in a pandemic situation as we should be looking for disinfectant material properties. Copper have been shown to perform better than other common materials like steel, plastic, and wood. Air circulation and ventilation in inner spaces will also have stricter requirements where the air should be changed every hour and checking the air quality – that could be improved with the ratio of greenery and open spaces. Designing a home that can stimulate the productivity, flexibility, comfort, happiness, and health in its dwellers is the ultimate goal for this study. The target audience for the thesis are architects, interior designers and laymen who are interested in this field or those that are seeking a design which promotes healthy, safe and adequate living spaces and homes. The methods used in this study where both quantitative and qualitative methods through an international online survey as well as conducting local interviews with residential buildings’ dwellers in Berlin. On one hand, poor design can lead to both higher expenses in the long term as well as leading to bad physical and mental health, which is felt through the responses from both the survey and interviews. The biophilic design on the other hand, can have a huge positive impact on the dwellers both physically and mentally and should be tested and used more as a solid base for designing interior spaces