BSA guests for Lawbrief Podcast on Covid in Architecture
Partners Michael Goldblum and John Field were recently invited to be guests on Tarter, Krinsky, & Drogin‘s podcast, “Lawbrief.” The episode entitled “Urban living after Covid,” hosted by Laurie Stanziale and Richard Shoenstein, raised important questions and posed many workable solutions for how people living in shared spaces will change during the Covid-19 pandemic and after it has subsided.
John: “One of the greatest challenges we have here in the city is density, with all of us sharing common spaces, elevators, lobbies, laundry rooms: high frequency and high touch areas.”
Michael: “We’ve all gotten to know our homes a lot better… and the function of the home has changed for a lot of people from a place where you just crash after the workday and on the weekends to a place where you’re spending all of your time.”
What are some solutions for minimizing transmission risk?
Michael: “[We will see] more touchless, frictionless passage from outside to inside … automatic doors … elevators shifted to a demand-type with a keycard or fob, where the elevator automatically knows you’re going to the 8th floor.”
John: “The accessibility controls that were put into place for the Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA], like door openers, now have an added use in that they can reduce contact reduce touch to some of these (high contact) areas.”
Laurie: “Laundry rooms and gyms in buildings are probably still going to exist, but maybe we’re going to see a mechanism where you have to sign up, where you have to reserve your time, as you see in conference rooms…”
How do we partition ourselves if we need to for health or work reasons? What do you see coming to address needs within existing spaces?
John: “I think there’s going to be a lot more flexible space that can transform, space that can be closed off, areas where people can isolate within the apartment both for health and for work: we can’t all share the same room and talk on different video conferences.”
Michael: “People through this experience have seen that you don’t necessarily need to go to the office every day to get your job done. Is that… going to bring about a shift in the workforce that lingers even after the pandemic’s most severe restrictions fade away?”
Among these, other topics discussed were: socially distancing in doormen buildings, the future of work and living habits in NYC, and a cost-benefit analysis of a landlord’s preference in retrofitting apartments post-Covid. For a more in-depth listen to these issues, click here: “Lawbrief – Urban Living after Covid”
In other exciting news, BSA has announced they will now be offering services in retrofitting existing spaces for better Covid prevention. To learn more about these and other services, please email: office@buildingstudio.com
