During this very strange turn
of events in 2020, that in 2019 no one would have guessed, we find ourselves
“locked” in our homes, the streets are empty and the supermarkets full of
anxious people in need of toilet paper. At this point many questions have
risen: “When is this lockdown going to end?”, “Will we be able to go back to
our normal lives once it’s over?”, “What will the economic impacts be ,not only
to ourselves but also worldwide?”. These, and many more, are the most
frequently asked ones, but we can’t help but wonder, how is covid19 going to
affect architecture?
Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the
streets are almost completely empty. The consequence of that is that all this
effort and time spent by many engineers of all professions to create the
optimal living situation by organizing the streets, creating beautiful facades
and making systems in order to make our lives easier, are almost completely
useless, because right now all that matters is the indoors organization of the
space and how not only ergonomic it is but also aesthetically pleasing.
As of this moment, the people
who are considered lucky are the ones who really love their homes. They’ve
probably put a lot of effort creating a beautiful space that they cannot just
relax in, but also be productive in. Lucky in a similar way are the people who
live in huge mansions with multiple floors, a swimming pool, a pool house and a
big yard, that cannot compare with living in a tiny studio apartment.
During that global lockdown,
we start getting too comfortable in the space we live in and even though we
have that urge to go out, we don’t, because we know we can’t. At this point,
the line of the boundaries between our “personal space” and “public space”
starts getting thinner and thinner. For example, by working or attending
lessons while staying home we allow to others to digitally “intrude” in our
personal space. Because of our need to socialize and communicate, we are using
digital spaces as a substitute to real ones that allow us to do so, in consequence,
subconsciously, real public places have turned into digital ones. The sense of
time and space becomes much more pliable, because at this moment it doesn’t
really matter whether it is 2a.m. or 2p.m., since there is no actual schedule
to follow, we start losing track of time.
With all these being said,
there are also some very honorable things to mention. In Wuhan a 1,600-bed coronavirus hospital
that was built in a few days and was full and completely functioning as soon as
it opened. It is very interesting to see how the architectural community reacts
to this situation, as many worldwide known architects have expressed their opinions
and presented options that could possibly help overcome this pandemic faster.
In conclusion, when we’re
done with this pandemic, we’re very curious to see what the architectural
community is going to focus on. Maybe more attention will be focused on
creating better indoors spaces, or -as a reaction to this self-distancing- to
optimize the outdoors space and increase the amount of public spaces where
people can interact with each other. Another possibility is the increase of
perfectly functioning health facilities, where similar situations to this will
be handled better and quicker, without creating a global redefinition of
normality and everyday life.
Ομάδα 09:
Τζούλη Αλεξάνδρα,
Χαζίρη Ελένη
Comments
Post a Comment