The Coronavirus pandemic has challenged communities in many ways, starting with the mandatory social divergence that forced us to communicate with the outside community through the use of technology changing our daily behavior.
Distances and requirements for physical distances have also changed the ways to interact with our built environment. Mainly, hospitals and grocery which are available around the clock period. At some point, life will return to normal and people will return to work in offices and companies. However, the questions started in my mind about the design of buildings, cities, transportation, and public places around us, were they prepared to adapt the pandemic? What are futuristic pandemic dimensions and how its impact on architects, planners, and engineers in the future?
It comes to my mind the various design terms that I dealt with, the most important terms are accessibility and universal design, and how can we utilize them to serve society?
First, we have to know the meaning of the universal design, “The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design” — The Center for Universal Design.
With this pandemic, the concept of design and architecture have been changed as a result of changing the universal design period. Starting with the old idea of a complex apartment that was designed relied on as many apartments as possible within the given space and room numbers which are available yet lacking basic needs such as offices, gyms, green spaces, and home ventilation methods. A person who relies on determining the aesthetic priorities of the home before serving the person himself, Since the quarantine was required people have known the impact of open spaces by directing to the home roof and using it to obtain fresh air and sufficient radiation. Also, people realized the importance of having a private space for sterilization which is used to clean everything that comes from the outside and keep it clean before using it.
To conclude, after the crisis, people have realized how a house should cover all their basic needs and how to arrange it based on their priority, not society. Moreover, the importance of having a gym, home office, roof gardens, and a decontamination room.
Founder and member of the Board of Trustees of Global Alliance on Accessible Technologies and Environments (GAATES) which located in Ottawa, Canada. Also, a past president between (2011- 2016), GAATES. Founder of AlModon Engineering Consultancy office in KSA (2007). The general supervisor of Dubai code project for eligible environment (2017) commissioned by supreme council of the Government of Dubai.
