1. Biz Network June 2021 1-38.qxp_Chamberlink 01/06/2021 08:57 Page 26
PATRONS
How the pandemic has changed our living spaces Lockdown has meant we’ve arguably never spent more time in our homes than over the past 15 months, giving us food for thought on how we’d like our living spaces to look in the future. Dr Alan Cuong Nguyen (pictured), associate at Leicester-based Chamber patron Design Studio Architects, offers some insights into incorporating sustainable and healthy living into building designs. Previously, the need to adopt sustainable design principles was optional as investors and construction contractors weighed up the benefits and costs. But in the context of the pandemic and the thirst for greater sustainable living, the urgency to consider people’s health and wellbeing within building design requirements has increased. In the future, building standards might not only be limited to reducing carbon emissions or using environmentally-friendly materials, but also include requirements to prevent and treat both disease and mental illness.
MORE NATURAL LIGHT AND LESS CLUTTER IMPROVES OUR HEALTH Eco-designer Oliver Heath’s observes that people spend 90% of their lives indoors and two-thirds of this time in our homes. He discusses the ideas of how we can improve our mood, health and relationships through changing our homes in eight simple ways. His ideas comprise creating more social spaces while retaining the private areas; setting up a dedicated workspace; letting more natural light into our homes; using healthy materials to reduce dust and toxin levels; getting the right heating; reducing noise and clutter; and ensuring the quality of our sleep.
BACK TO THE FUTURE Looking into how our houses can help to cope with the pandemic, such as lockdown and working from home, Sonia Solicari, the director of London's Museum of the Home, believes our future could be informed by the past. She points out that working from home was not a recent phenomenon, but a normal practice until the 19th century Industrial Revolution. Houses in the past were also where people carried out their jobs, such as skilled craft, food production and schooling. Furthermore, the indoor and outdoor socially-networked living 26
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spaces were also intriguing features of both the historical and the future dwellings. She suggests we could learn from the past to find inspiration for our future homes, through the following six ideas: 1 The hybrid hall was a flexible and agile site of hybrid activities across different generations 2 The co-working coffee house created opportunities for both work and pleasure 3 Communal living was inspired by charitable housing from the 1700s 4 The Victorian bay windows can help boost people's interaction every day during the lockdown 5 The cosy corner, another Victorian idea that offered the solution to create privacy in a shared home 6 Pod living might be a potential solution for the current home/work crisis
PANDEMIC-PROOF HOMES Recognising the crucial role of our homes in mitigating coronavirus, writer, design consultant and TV presenter Michelle Ogundehin outlines 11 ways the pandemic will impact the design of our house in the future.
‘We need an interdisciplinary approach in design, integrating the knowledge from different experts’ To create future-proof and pandemic-proof homes, she says we should design them to boost our immunity, reduce indoor pollutants, have a flexible and adaptable layout, keep indoor hygiene by leaving shoes at the porch, keep our home smart but not sterile, and make the living room multifunctional for rest and play. As the kitchen should be the engine of the home – not the heart
– it must be a very hygienic food preparation area. Other ideas include the revival of forgotten rooms and the design ethos of biophilia – meaning love of nature – to make our homes human-centric and a true space for living.
TRANSLATING THESE IDEAS INTO REALITY Being an architect, I found all these ideas to be very thought-provoking given the unprecedented challenges we have faced throughout the pandemic, and possibly future ones. Just like the notion of sustainability, for healthier, futureproof and pandemic-proof dwellings, we need an interdisciplinary approach in design, integrating the knowledge from different experts. This is also the main approach of Design Studio Architects; we listen, we think, we design – and we will hope to invite further insights from a broader audience.
