The Pandemic Effect

Leading architects, designers, materials scientists, and health officials reflect on the influence of COVID-19 on buildings and cities—and propose solutions to safeguard the built environment from future pandemics.

COVID-19 caused a significant global disruption of human activities with striking consequences for the built environment, causing an abrupt fear as it relates to architecture and building design. Buildings became magnifiers of contagion instead of shelters for protection. 

Immunizing the built environment against contagion is a monumental task requiring a variety of approaches and disciplinary expertise at multiple scales of inquiry. In this book, 60 of the world’s leading architects, designers, engineers, materials scientists, and public health experts contribute to an expansive overview of inoculation strategies for today’s world. 

These approaches are organized according to the primary sites of exposure, generally arranged by scale: surface (materials and tactile interfaces), system (mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and lighting assemblies), space (interior and exterior environments), and society (cities, regions, and the general public). This broad collection of perspectives elucidates the transformations underway in the built environment— and offers design strategies to limit the severity of subsequent pandemics. In this way, the book aims to serve both as a multidisciplinary snapshot of COVID-19’s effects and a guidebook for future-proofing architecture against widespread disease.