In its latest edition, the magazine District Office, specialising in showcasing trends in workspace design, has given us the opportunity to explain how we envision the post-COVID office. In this article, we explain the set of protocols and physical adaptations applicable to workspaces that have proven effective in ensuring the health of workers in the current context. In the final paragraphs, we also call for using the current circumstances of crisis as a lever for change, ushering in a new architectural era in which sustainability and health take centre stage.
I am writing these lines at a time when coronavirus-related deaths appear to be falling worldwide. The pandemic's peak has passed, but the threat remains, at the very least, latent. We have entered a new era: the post-pandemic era. While we await the arrival of a vaccine or an effective treatment for Covid-19, it is a given that our day-to-day lives will be affected by the global health situation.
Regarding our workspaces, this will involve a series of changes aimed at preventing the spread of the virus, which will affect both the configuration of buildings and how we use them. Companies that do not react to this new scenario could be affected by an outbreak of the disease, which could impact their economic future and even their survival. While some of these changes will disappear over time, many will remain in the post-COVID office.
Company Protocols
The post-pandemic era will bring with it a series of protocols to regulate how we interact with and within buildings. To begin with, we will encourage working from home. Not the kind of mandatory remote working we experienced during lockdown, but a form of remote working that allows us to balance our professional and personal lives and maximise our productivity. Offices will need to reflect this change: the new spaces will be more flexible and will be sized according to this percentage of workers in attendance, which, with the return to offices, is expected to grow gradually until it stabilises at around 60–70 per cent on average. Occupancy in meeting and social interaction areas will also be significantly reduced.
Teleworking will be encouraged to allow us to balance our professional and personal lives and maximise our productivity.
is expected assignment fixed job vacancies continue to decline, and that the workers themselves, through an application, choose the place that conveys the most tranquility and allows them to guarantee minimum distancing. In high-traffic areas, transit directions will be established to avoid crowds. Likewise, it will be incorporated as a usual practice temperature measurement at building entrances. Temperature measuring devices at the entrances will be accompanied by sanitation kiosks dispensing masks and sanitiser gel to visitors. Regarding cleaning, a Cleaning procedure disinfectant that guarantees the hygiene of surfaces, especially those with high contact, such as worktables, handles, or commonly used appliances.
Building usage protocols for the post-COVID return to office will be accompanied by Corporate wellness policies. These initiatives, which have proliferated in recent years, are integrated into the company's culture and manifest in the form of workshops, online training, and audio or video snippets. The objective of these tools will continue to be to promote and protect the health, safety, and well-being of teams, but in this case, their content will be adapted to the current health context, helping us to lead healthier lives and strengthen our immune systems. To this end, special attention will be paid to the areas of stress management in times of uncertainty, healthy eating at home and in the office, and resuming and maintaining an active life after confinement.
Image: weforum.org
PHYSICAL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE POST-COVID OFFICE SPACE
Technology will play a fundamental role in shaping post-Covid spaces. The presence of Sensors to control capacity of spaces or the use of facial recognition systems, replacing fingerprints for access, will be some innovations. The proliferation of Systems Contactless via infrared for bins, taps or vending machines and via voice recognition, especially in lifts.
Following recent demonstrations that some microparticles of the virus can remain in the air for hours, the Correct ventilation and the Air quality monitoring will play a fundamental role. Although it is not possible to measure the concentration of coronavirus in the air, parameters such as CO2 concentration, related to human presence, can guide us. Therefore, ventilation systems will be integrated with CO2 measurement systems. Likewise, the visual presence of screens informing us about the quality of the air we breathe will be common. In fact, as in this case, many of the measures that will be implemented will be aimed at generating confidence among the users of our buildings.
proper ventilation and air quality monitoring will play a fundamental role
Optimised building ventilation will be supplemented by the installation of purification systems, both in the mechanical climate and ventilation systems themselves, and independently within the rooms themselves. These Purifying and disinfecting devices capable of eliminating the virus from the air and surfaces can be of different types: ultraviolet light systems, plasma technology or ozone technology (caution with the latter, as ozone is a potentially toxic substance for health; Evalore is advising against its use in all its projects). Ventilation, air quality monitoring and the use of purifiers are measures that must work together and will therefore be integrated into control systems by means of the IoT technology (Internet of Things).
New considerations will arise when physically configuring spaces to ensure minimum distancing in the post-COVID office. vestibules, up to now often undervalued and categorised as residual spaces, will gain new value and reach much greater dimensions. With reference to workstations, codes will be included in the form of delimiting furniture or paint on ceilings and floors that determine how far our safety zone extends. They will also be arranged Partitions and dividers, which in addition to protecting us will provide spaces with greater acoustic comfort, giving us greater privacy and reducing reverberation time. Partitions will be especially useful in meeting rooms and spaces where interaction between people occurs, especially in those intended for receiving external visitors.
The selection of Virucidal finishes and furniture It can also play a fundamental role in combating the spread of coronavirus. There are paints and furniture, with silver ion technology and antimicrobial additives respectively, that have the ability to eliminate the virus from their surface and whose use will become more common in the post-COVID office.
Image: evalore.es
PERCEPTION OF VALUE, HEALTH AND SUSTAINABILITY
Many of the changes will be aimed at improving value perception of space by users. This measure is driven by two fundamental reasons. Firstly, it aims to guarantee users' perception of security, which contributes to their productivity and sense of belonging. Both factors have a positive impact on the company's competitiveness. Secondly, this range of physical and procedural changes will help to increase user awareness of a global issue, which has an effect on collective responsibility. This has a positive impact not only on the company but also on society as a whole.
Therefore, the usual international sustainability and health standards in construction are expected to LEED, BREEAM and especially the WELL Certification they are becoming increasingly important, as they have the ability to enhance the quality of a constructed space. The WELL standard, for example, has already begun to adapt its usual global building health parameters to incorporate measures aimed at preventing the spread of the virus.
The WELL Certification has already begun adapting its usual global building health parameters to incorporate measures aimed at preventing the spread of the virus.
In any case, what seems clear is that post-pandemic architecture in general, and office architecture in particular, will present substantial changes with respect to the previous era. Much has been said about the opportunity for improvement arising from the heart of a crisis. While the changes should not focus exclusively on combating the spread of the current virus or preparing for a potential future pandemic, we have an opportunity to make structural changes that will lead to long-term global improvement. At the architectural level, authorities, developers, and architects must take the initiative and focus their efforts on building better. This means building with a focus on people's health, but also on the environment. We must not forget that it is man's hand on nature that causes most global crises. Environmental responsibility, in the form of radical building sustainability, must dominate the efforts for change. If not, nature itself, with all its force, will knock on our door again.
Pablo Muñoz, CPHD, LEED GA, BPI MFBA
Co-founder and CEO of Espacios Evalore SLP
