The Kings Club Mixed-Use Residential development in Toronto, designed by Kasian, has incorporates balconies and rooftop amenities. Photo by doublespace photography
The current global pandemic has quickly transformed our spaces, affecting how people are living, working, and moving through their day-to-day lives. Kasian?s team has been working on redesigning these environments and proposing pilot projects to pivot for use in the pandemic and in a post-COVID world. Here are some of our team?s observations on how spaces are changing and how we must innovate for the built environment in a post-pandemic future.
Challenges for developers and commercial building owners and operators
Public and private meeting spaces of all sizes can be nestled within mixed-use, residential, and suburban neighbourhoods, occupying a variety of underutilized spaces. That said, there is pressure to return to commercial office workspaces?or at least to return with a hybrid of remote and office work. For new and existing commercial office developments, the use of elevators, washrooms, and lobbies needs to be reconsidered to respect physical distancing requirements. Localized use of stairs between floors should be encouraged, reducing the demand on elevators, particularly in offices that occupy multiple floors. We are working to analyze space plans for washrooms and other dedicated spaces with flexible solutions in mind. Consideration include provisions for single washrooms, two doors?in and out?flowing f...