The year 2020 has been right out of the pages of a dystopian fiction. Our lives changed in so many different ways; from our work to home, everything had flipped on its head. While our living rooms turned into our offices; dining tables became the kids’ activity centres. From Zoom meetings to virtual birthday parties; technology took us to wherever we needed to be, while it kept us safe in our homes.

While we continued to work, study, play and socialize at home; all our office spaces, malls and other community spaces wore a forlorn look. Air-conditioned closed spaces where people used to flock in hordes became ghost towns. The COVID-19 pandemic affected our community areas like cafes, restaurants, shopping center’s, malls, office suites complexes, fitness centres, movie theatres the most.

On the flip side, the most sought-after places became the outdoors. Think about it: have we ever appreciated or used our lawns, community playgrounds, parks and various other green spaces as much as we have in the last year? Being trapped in their homes thanks to strict lockdowns, we started converting our balconies and terraces into flourishing gardens. Gardening became one of the most popular hobbies around the world during the pandemic. It was almost as if we felt an urgent need to connect with nature to escape from the daunting reality of this pandemic.

It’s time to accept the stark truth that things may never be as they were. Our world has changed in many ways, but are we prepared for this new normal?

Our first priority should be to reconsider how we use our existing resources to adapt to these changes. Our infrastructure, our facilities, our public spaces, our homes – we can’t let everything we’ve built just go to waste. This means that retrofitting our buildings to future-proof is a burning need of the hour. These changes can be thought about by addressing each facet of our lives. Thinking about what alterations in our existing commercial spaces, can raise the standard of our lives in the given circumstances

Individual workspaces:

Firstly, now that we are having conversations about working from home, we need to address the challenges that come with it. People need to access quiet time away from the bustle of homes if they have to maintain their productivity levels. To address this, we can re-design big retail spaces larger open offices and strip mall centres to smaller individual offices.

Bringing Outdoors Indoors:

Another critical point to consider would be our need for more open green spaces. If we can’t add them horizontally, we should consider going vertical. We can look at creating open floor plans in existing buildings, increasing air quality and green areas through vertical gardens. We could even look at using them as cafes, play areas or even work spaces.

New Age Eateries:

One of the things people miss the most is dining out, but safety is going to be big concern in the future. We can use the extended areas like large atriums, lobby spaces, terraces and the likes to increase the floor space of bars, eateries and restaurants so that social distancing is maintained and people can enjoy dining out safely.

Classrooms for Future:

For the education sector, vacant office spaces can be used for bigger classrooms, ensuring each student maintains a safe distance. Open atrium areas can be used as play areas, while we can convert dead walls and facades into recreational activity areas like rock climbing to encourage physical activity.

Warehouses:

The large vacant Big box retail spaces can be used as self-storage and warehouse spaces to accommodate companies like Amazon etc.

Why should we waste our resources in building new spaces, when we can save on so much by just altering and retrofitting our existing buildings?

Burhani Design believes in the Re-use of our existing buildings and making them more energy-efficient, carbon neutral and sustainable. We see that as the only way to build a new world that makes our present safer and our future better for the generations to come.