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.

About the Author
Blaine Brownell-an architect, educator, researcher, and former Fulbright scholar to Japan-has authored eight books on advanced and sustainable materials for architecture and design. He has written the Mind & Matter column for Architect magazine since 2009, and his work has been published in more than 70 architecture, design, science, and news journals including the New York Times, the London Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Nature. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he is Director of the David R. Ravin School of Architecture at UNC Charlotte.


Book Information
ISBN 9781648961649
Author Blaine Brownell
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint Princeton Architectural Press
Publisher Princeton Architectural Press
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 6mm