ARCHITECTURE AFTER COVID : the new alliance of science, architecture, and society

"In 2020, the COVID pandemic unfolded and transformed the lives of billions across the world. As the invisible killer marched across continents, causing unprecedented disruption worldwide, architects and designers began rethinking how to design cities and adapt their practice so that we might continue to live together in the future. Architecture after COVID is the first book to explore the pandemic's transformative impacts upon the architectural profession. It raises new questions about the intertwined natures of architectural production, science, society, and spatial practice -- questions which had lain latent in the profession for years, but which the COVID pandemic brought to the fore. The book explores how the pandemic modified the spatial conventions of everyday life in the city, and looks in detail at how it has transformed building typologies including public squares, retail spaces, transport facilities, museums, and universities. It also shows how the continuing risk of pandemics leads us to rethink the social dimension of architecture and urban design; and ultimately proposes a radical re-evaluation of the conditions of architectural practice -- making a compelling argument about the changing agency of architectural design and the importance of designers in re-ordering the post-pandemic world. Packed with interviews and case-studies from a wide range of contemporary design practices, Architecture after COVID will inspire debates among architectural practitioners and theorists alike. The broad view of the approach and the depth of the professional issues at stake mean that this book will offer key insights for the discipline long beyond the scope of the COVID pandemic -- as it explores the long-lasting bond between city, science and society as the 'new normal' begins to emerge."-- Provided by publisher Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: The return of Dr Rieux Responses to the pandemic ‘Distant’ as a new form of knowledge Architecture after Covid-19 Chapter 1: A ‘parasite’ in the city Occupying space Architecture and illness Virus, lab, city The laboratorization of space Chapter 2: The laboratorization of urban space Deserted cities, empty buildings Counting bodies Spacing, distancing Contactless lives Sanitizing, face covering The new ‘modulor’ Pandemic pictograms De-centring the disease The power of entrapment Urban metamorphosis: The new technologies of containment and visibility Chapter 3: Pandemic variations of design practice Routines: The ‘magic’ of the office space Slowing down: The return to the verbal, the written and the sketch Stepping aside and speeding up: Technological developments New compositions: Reconnecting with the ‘others’ Innovation in practice Conclusion: Architectural research extended to things Historicity and virus New reflexivity, new methods Notes Bibliography INDEX