Swedens unique strategy to deal with coronavirus will ensure it has only a small second wave of cases unlike other countries that could be forced to return to lockdown, according to the architect of the contentious policy.

Anders Tegnell, Swedens state epidemiologist who devised the no-lockdown approach, estimated that 40 per cent of people in the capital, Stockholm, would be immune to Covid-19 by the end of May, giving the country an advantage against a virus that were going to have to live with for a very long time.

In the autumn there will be a second wave. Sweden will have a high level of immunity and the number of cases will probably be quite low, Mr Tegnell told the Financial Times. But Finland will have a very low level of immunity. Will Finland have to go into a complete lockdown again?

Sweden and Mr Tegnell are under the global spotlight as their response to the pandemic has made them a global outlier.

Primary and secondary schools, restaurants, cafs and shops are mostly open as normal in Sweden, with health authorities relying on voluntary social distancing and people opting to work from home. Schools for over-16s and universities are closed and gatherings of more than 50 people are banned, but it is still the most relaxed approach of any EU country.

Swedens virus-related death toll on Thursday reached 3,040. This is significantly higher than Nordic neighbours Denmark, Norway and Finland, which have registered fewer than 1,000 between them.

Mr Tegnell said it would take about one to two years to know whose strategy had worked best and at what cost to society. He stressed that Swedens approach was to look at the wide public health matter in which an important consideration was that people should be able to keep a reasonably normal life.

The epidemiologist has become something of a cult figure in Sweden, with reports of people having tattoos done of him.

Public trust in Swedens public health agency has increased during the crisis, which Mr Tegnell in part attributed to his efforts to communicate openly, answering the same questions hundreds of times. He said he found the attention on himself rather absurd, such as his daughters laughing hilariously about a fashion magazine analysing his dress sense.

Mr Tegnell argued that nothing [to do with lockdowns] had a scientific basis, particularly decisions to close schools, because there was no evidence that children were a major cause of transmission.

He believes European leaders, fearful that their health systems would be overwhelmed, felt they needed to copy Chinas approach, the first country to lock down because of the disease.

About a quarter of people in Stockholm had the virus at the start of May, according to a mathematical model by Swedens public health agency, which Mr Tegnell said was part of the reason the number of cases in the capital had fallen recently.By contrast, tests this week in Norways capital Oslo suggested that under 2 per cent of the population had been infected.

But Mr Tegnell said uncertainty about how long virus immunity would last meant it was unlikely Sweden would reach herd immunity, a level of the disease where so many people are infected usually about 80 per cent that it stops spreading. I dont think we or any country in the world will reach herd immunity in the sense that the disease goes away because I dont think this is a disease that goes away, he added.

Many countries hope is that they can keep the virus at bay until a vaccine is found. But Mr Tegnell said that, even in the best-case scenario, it was likely to take years to develop one, before it could be administered to an entire population.

Its a big mistake to sit down and say we should just wait for a vaccine. It will take much longer than we think. And in the end, we dont know how good a vaccine it will be. Its another reason to have a sustainable policy in place.

Swedens approach has been to have a strategy that could last for months, if not years, without the need for big changes. That contrasts with nearly all other European countries, which are grappling with how to reopen their societies without sparking an increase in transmission.

This has led to some criticism from those who say Sweden should be trying much harder to curb the number of Covid-19 deaths. Per-capita death statistics show that Sweden is behind only the UK, Italy, Belgium and Spain at this stage of the pandemic.

The Financial Times is making key coronavirus coverage free to read to help everyone stay informed.Find the latest here.

One area where Sweden has done poorly is in trying to keep the virus out of care homes. Mr Tegnell, who suggests the higher infection rate in such homes in Sweden is the main reason why it has had more deaths than its neighbours, said: Its something that we deeply regret.

He made the point that care homes in Sweden like in the rest of the Nordic region were for the very old and the very sick, as most elderly people live at home, and that there were known quality problems with care providers, often private companies.

Unfortunately those quality problems have proven to make the elderly very vulnerable to infection, Mr Tegnell said, adding that an investigation had begun.

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Architect of Sweden's no-lockdown strategy insists it will pay off - Financial Times

You can always find light in the darkest of places, but it can be depressing to search for it when you are working from home and realise that yours is a gloomy, chilly house. The point of recognition can hit you like a cold wind on a sunny day, when the light leaves the home office if it was ever there in the first place and you have to pop on an extra layer of clothing or turn on the heating. If Ciara Murray and Sinad Bourke, of Newmark architects in Dublin, have one mission, it is to bring as much light into Irish homes as possible.

A well-placed mirror brings light into a courtyard

MARIE-LOUISE HALPENNY

The pair have been in business together since 2017 and, recently, one of their projects reached

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Ciara Murray and Sinad Bourke, the architects who make light work of dark homes - The Times

A patchwork of wood shingles and stone form this Toronto home that local practice Batay-Csorba Architects has extended and renovated.

Located in Toronto's residential neighbourhood Baby Point, the two-storey house was built in the early 1900s with stones from the city's Humber river, stucco and wood. The homeowners sought to preserve the characteristics of the home, and enlisted Batay-Csorba Architects for the renovation.

The original house was a mixture of Arts and Crafts-style and Tudor Revival, as seen in the exterior details that Batay-Csorba Architects left intact.

When developer Robert Home Smith created the garden suburb of Baby Point in 1912, he had many of the homes designed in this aesthetic, the studio explained.

"The Baby Point district is currently under study as a heritage conservation district in Toronto," said the studio. "The clients for Baby Point Residence had an interest in the Arts and Crafts movement, and preserving neighbourhood character."

The team cut a large, double-height slice in the west side of the home and added a gabled roofline on the back facade that features ample glazing and views of the back garden's ravine.

The result is a home that has three pitched rooflines of similar proportions, two of which run alongside one another on the back facade and a third that cuts across them. The home's front facade showcases new windows, wood shingles and masonry.

In addition to building the extension, Batay-Csorba Architects renewed the existing home structurally, reorganised the layout by tearing down walls and refurbished the interiors.The team sought to understand the underlying principles of the Arts and Crafts movement to design the house.

"Beyond medieval motifs, ornamentation and nostalgia for hand craftsmanship, we also interpreted the Arts and Crafts movement spatially," the studio added.

The ground floor is centred around a built-in storage volume that provides a pantry and a coffee bar in the new kitchen, and a bar nook in the adjacent dining room. A living room and separate sitting area round out the main level.

Custom furniture was built by local designer Heidi Earnshawand includes a wood banquette in the kitchen whose aesthetic is designed to be reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts movement. Minimal, built-in cabinets in pale and dark wood feature throughout the home for added storage.

A stairwell with glass railings cuts through one of the home's pitched rooflines and accesses three bedrooms with ensuites. Measuring 5,200 square feet (483 square metres), Baby Point Residence is square-shaped in plan and is complete with a bedroom, living room, and two bathrooms in the basement.

Walls are white in sharp contrast to the existing stone fireplaces, and pale wood covers the floors.

Batay-Csorba Architects was founded in 2010 by Andrew Batay-Csorba and Jodi Batay-Csorba.

The studio has designed several apartment complexes in Toronto, including a building with a brick screen exterior and two townhouses linked together, as well as Milky's coffee shop.

Photography is by Doublespace Photography.

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Batay-Csorba Architects expands Arts and Crafts-style house in Toronto - Dezeen

As life under the COVID-19 becomes an experience measured in months, designers and architects are finding new ways to adapt. Interior Design, as part of our continuing series of dispatches documenting our communities resilience under unmeasurable stress, checks in with three designers who have found ways to keep themselves and their industry as healthy as possible.

Editor's note: This storyis the eighth installment in a series of conversations with designers, industry leaders, and architects around the globe, examining how our community is staying connected, inspired, and proactive about solutions during the current pandemic.

Hagy Belzberg, Belzberg Architects, Los Angeles, U.S.

The office is doing really well, considering the situation. Im saying that with a tremendous amount of apprehension, humility, and empathy. Its not doing well in the sense of this is a great time to be an architect. Given those circumstances, Ive been really blessed to work with a group of professionals who have come around and helped each other to really make this transition. Its been extraordinary, the energy we get from each other.

We are thirty architects and designers who normally work in one large space, and now were constantly on conference calls and video chats. The excitement of physically solving a problem together is very different even with the best cameras and all the funny things we try to do to make it seem more natural. You miss that connection and Ive never known how much Ive relied on it until now.

Weve tried a few ways to help foster community. The first one is a virtual happy hour, which everyone is trying. Its been fun, weve played games. It lightens up the mood for people who feel disconnected. And it helps people who have families, who normally find relief in work, to have more focus when theyre juggling a lot of things. Its an outlet.

Another thing weve tried weve dubbed BANTER (B.A.-nter). Once a week we all get on a call and all we talk about are problems. The cocktail hour is about having fun, but this is an hour or two just to talk about problems and theres no limit. It doesnt have to be about technology or projects or clients or construction; it can be any kind of problem. Its basically group therapy and it works really well. Ive noticed that people are forced to listen attentively and theres very little interruption.

Whats come out of BANTER has been about strengthening our community and providing opportunities for problem-solving ideas to emergeincluding sharing ideas theyve heard from partners and family members. That kind of therapy really helps out. And its been gut-wrenching. Some people look at the camera and say: Ive never worked so hard in my life. I dont understand, its supposed to be work-from-home and yet I cant do anything but this. You hear them really struggle, and you hear somebody give them encouraging words of advice about what theyve been able to do, and it becomes a somber, very quiet, but supportive place. Ive got to tell you, its really interesting.

Overnight, weve transformed from thinking of the phrase our industry to our community. Its not an industry, though it was. The division between manufactured and design has been removed. We are all part of the same community. I am not saying that optimistically, Im saying that with quite a bit of assurance. It feels like we are doing this together versus being competitive about getting rates, etc.

Everyones starting their conversations with: Are you safe? Are you healthy? We start our emails with asking if everything is OK, and if it is, then we can move forward. We are a community now and it happened overnight and I love it. The recovery is not only going to be dependent on this, the recovery is not going to happen without it. I dont think we can go back to the way things were. This is our way of reimagining a humanity that should always be there.

Julio Braga, IA Interior Architects, New York City, U.S.

Were coping pretty well, with a few minor technical glitches due to the abrupt transition to total virtual work. Our teams were already working partially virtually for a while, so the transition to 100 percent remote was smooth. But among the hardest activities to transition were the brainstorming sessions. No software can match the experience of everyone in a room full of white boards to sketch on, and material samples to touch and smell.

A very small number of projects have been put on hold, but many of our clients are looking at the current environment as one in which to increase the volume of design work awarded to design firms, since the development of those phases can be easily monitored and directed virtually by the clients with their architects and designers. Everything seems a bit volatile. It will take some time for everything to even out.

Events of this nature highlight what our profession does, because so much is interconnected within the built environment and this is something that can be often underestimated. Its critical to consider how different the world will be. How are architects and urban planners going to think about how people move through indoor and outdoor spaces? This is going to impact tremendously the way places are shared and designed to be shared, not just in terms of cleaning processes but also air filtration, for example.

This is an inflection point in how companies use office space. We are going to have to design in ways that are conducive to including virtual participants in much more holistic ways. We are going to have to create a space for in-person interactions that are traditionally the center of the industry, and imagine environments, protocols, systems, and procedures by which we can still enjoy each others company in person as we did before the pandemic.

Our firm has been increasing our own virtual connections, and our offices have more frequent touchpoints which we feel give a greater sense of engagement. We participate in many charitable causes as a group, notably DIFFA, and this will be crucial to our psychological supportcontinuing our tradition of community-giving throughout this crisis and beyond. There is something in the nature of most architects and designers that makes us positive thinkers, even in the most difficult, scary, and unknown contexts.

Jun Aizaki, Crme/Jun Aizaki Architecture & Design, Brooklyn, U.S.

Our offices are closed temporarily, the team is working remotely, and we are all relying heavily on technology to stay connected with our clients and friends who have been affected the most. I see there is a communal effort to get things going in the design world. And yes, of course, we rely on video meetings, morning calls (and even night calls since were working with Asia), and were submerged by texting. Ultimately, were using Zoom to organize office Happy Hour and give ourselvesa momentof fun.

Since most of our clients are in the restaurant and hospitality industry, they have been deeply affected by the crisis. I do think it may take some time, but I have faith we will be able to recover when thisis all over. From a long-term perspective, this moment is going to really challenge us to reconsider the way to live, travel, and eat, which is tied into every aspectof our work. I think we should be ready for drastic changes and to create new patterns, but with change comes innovation.

Ive been so proud of everyone who has come together to help support each otherduring this difficult time, from sewing masks, 3D-printing face shields, and donating resources and time, tohotels that are partnering withlocal government officialsin the more affected COVID-19 locations to offer a place for those on the front lines to stay. We are grateful to technology for being able to stay this connected in a time where we are physically isolatedfrom one another.

Even during a pandemic, the design world doesnt stop. Companies are even rethinking their logosto convey messages that encourage people to stay home. Im seeing that a lot of solutions to our current issues come out of the design industry, like shipping container hospitals and self-inflating isolation pods for coronavirus patients. 3D printing has also been a godsend. This whole experience has definitely given me more of an appreciation for the moments we share in person but, at the same time, we are actively learning to communicate in new ways and do our work without the ability to work as closely with materials as we normally would. In certain ways, we now feel closer as were paying more attention to accurate communication. We can see things from a different vantage point.

> See our full coverage of COVID-19 and its impact on the A&D industry

ThinkLab, the research division of SANDOW, is gathering information about our industrys response to COVID-19.Click here if youd like to participate.

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Designers and Architects Find New Ways to Adapt - Interior Design

Today well look at Heerim Architects & Planners Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ:037440) and reflect on its potential as an investment. Specifically, were going to calculate its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), in the hopes of getting some insight into the business.

First of all, well work out how to calculate ROCE. Second, well look at its ROCE compared to similar companies. Then well determine how its current liabilities are affecting its ROCE.

ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. In general, businesses with a higher ROCE are usually better quality. Ultimately, it is a useful but imperfect metric. Author Edwin Whiting says to be careful when comparing the ROCE of different businesses, since No two businesses are exactly alike.

Analysts use this formula to calculate return on capital employed:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets Current Liabilities)

Or for Heerim Architects & Planners:

0.10 = 6.6b (162b 97b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019.)

So, Heerim Architects & Planners has an ROCE of 10%.

Check out our latest analysis for Heerim Architects & Planners

ROCE can be useful when making comparisons, such as between similar companies. We can see Heerim Architects & Plannerss ROCE is around the 8.8% average reported by the Professional Services industry. Setting aside the industry comparison for now, Heerim Architects & Plannerss ROCE is mediocre in absolute terms, considering the risk of investing in stocks versus the safety of a bank account. Investors may wish to consider higher-performing investments.

You can click on the image below to see (in greater detail) how Heerim Architects & Plannerss past growth compares to other companies.

When considering this metric, keep in mind that it is backwards looking, and not necessarily predictive. ROCE can be misleading for companies in cyclical industries, with returns looking impressive during the boom times, but very weak during the busts. This is because ROCE only looks at one year, instead of considering returns across a whole cycle. You can check if Heerim Architects & Planners has cyclical profits by looking at this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Current liabilities include invoices, such as supplier payments, short-term debt, or a tax bill, that need to be paid within 12 months. The ROCE equation subtracts current liabilities from capital employed, so a company with a lot of current liabilities appears to have less capital employed, and a higher ROCE than otherwise. To counter this, investors can check if a company has high current liabilities relative to total assets.

Heerim Architects & Planners has current liabilities of 97b and total assets of 162b. As a result, its current liabilities are equal to approximately 60% of its total assets. Heerim Architects & Plannerss current liabilities are fairly high, making its ROCE look better than otherwise.

Notably, it also has a mediocre ROCE, which to my mind is not an appealing combination. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with modest (or no) debt, trading on a P/E below 20.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.

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What We Think Of Heerim Architects & Planners Co., Ltd.s (KOSDAQ:037440) Investment Potential - Simply Wall St

hearth architects has topped this family house in hikone, japan, with a gabled roof whose extended eaves create a sheltered veranda that acts as a transitional boundary between exterior and interior spaces. designed for a couple and their child, the residence occupies two plots, which results in having two street faades instead of one. facing the north and south roads, the two front elevations of the building respond to the surrounding context accordingly.

all images by yuta yamada

hearth architects has designed the house with two front elevations, each of which facing a different road and enclosing separate functions. the first one, which encloses the living, dining and kitchen area, looks toward the south and features a garden, whose privacy is secured through a concrete wall that defines the perimeter of the plot. topped with a large gable roof that seems to be floating above it, this side incorporates a sheltered veranda area that enables a smooth transition between interior and exterior spaces.

the second elevation, which face the north side, encloses more private areas, including a japanese-style room and a japanese garden, arranged to offer a relaxed atmosphere. inside, common living spaces are located in a double-height open plan space characterized by wooden beams, furniture, and floors. the tranquil interior is complemented by pops of green, found on the velvet couch and planted trees which grown inside the house.

project info:

name: hikone house

architect: hearth architects

location: hikone city, shiga prefecture, japan

main use: private house

structure scale: wooden two-story

site area: 342.21 m2 (103.51 tsubo)

building area: 141.60 m2 (42.83 tsubo)

total floor area: 183.00 m2 (55.35 tsubo)

sofia lekka angelopoulou I designboom

apr 17, 2020

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gabled roof with extended eaves tops hearth architects' hikone house in japan - Designboom

To put it lightly, the COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated more than just a passing hiccup in the daily business operations of architecture firms large and small. While the long-term implications of the deadly viral outbreak on the business of designing buildings have yet to be fully grasped, the immediate fallout has been nothing short of rollercoaster-like.

Yet for most practices, things are very much businesses as usual albeit with major alterations, particularly with regard to workflow and staffing. To help firms more smoothly navigate these turbulent and unpredictable times, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has released a comprehensive Architects Guide to Business Continuity.

Geared to help guide firms through a wide range of adverse business conditions including for example, global pandemics, the 50-plus-page guide provides insight into how to broach a variety of crucial areasstaff management, supply chains, technology, stakeholders, all-important reputationwith minimal disruption.

The guide identifies, elaborates on, and offers guidance on how to respond to a range of potentially business-disrupting hazards including natural ones (sea-level rise, wildfires, drought, and other natural phenomena, many of them exacerbated by climate change) as well as anthropogenic hazards and system failures (cyber attacks, terrorism, arson, supply chain disruption, civil unrest, utility interrupt, pandemics, etc).

Firms across the country are facing pressures from all sidesfrom transitioning offices to teleworking models, to work stoppages, to repositioning their businesses to adapt to changing client needs, said AIA executive vice president/chief executive officer Robert Ivy, FAIA, in a press statement. This guide is meant to help firms be nimble during any kind of disruption, whether environmental or manmade. It also should support them in making informed decisions during economic uncertainties so they can be best poised to address the future.

Per a March 23 survey conducted by the AIA, 50 percent of firms polled reported 50 percent fewer projects compared to their expectations entering the month. Eighty-three percent of firms anticipated a decline in revenue for the monththat figure jumps to 94 percent when considering revenue declines in April. The survey also found major shifts in staffing operations with 48 percent reportingas of March 23that all employees entire, or almost all employees, were working remotely. Thirty-one percent of firms reported that only some staff had gone into remote work mode. Fifteen percent reported that some staff members were unable to work at all.

The AIA is providing a wide range of resources and helpful information to its members during the coronavirus pandemic across a range of areas. In addition to the operations-minded Architects Guide to Business Continuity, one notable resource headed by a special AIA task force is a Preparedness Assessment Tool meant to be used to evaluate potential alternative care sites for the treatment and isolation of COVID-19 patients. A collaborative database and complementary COVID19 ArchMap was launched so that architects, designers, engineers, and others can more easily share and compare best practices when establishing alternative care sites.

Every Friday, ANs own Coronavirus Column, penned by managing editor Jack Balderrama Morley, addresses a range of topics on how the pandemic is impacting both the profession of architecture and the built environment as a whole.

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AIA releases Architect's Guide to Business Continuity as firms struggle to adjust to new reality - The Architect's Newspaper

British and Irish architects, artists and critics have selected the buildings that they look forward to seeing again after the coronavirus pandemic.

At present, much of the world is on lockdown, with millions of people confined to their own homes and travel severely restricted. However, once the pandemic is over, people will once again be free to visit their favourite buildings.

"The feel of cool marble under bare feet" is how architecture critic Michael Sorkin begins his list of Two Hundred and Fifty Things an Architect Should Know.

Sorkin, who died last month from complications due to Covid-19, would have understood the need for all the new digital initiatives to satisfy our creative cravings, yet it is impossible to replace how being in the presence of buildings can make us feel.

Louis Kahn's Salk Institute in San Diego, with its extraordinary setting and views, as well as its immense physical form, is the most powerful reminder of the importance of the direct encounter, said architect Jamie Fobert who recalled seeing it for the first time:

"As I walked across the near-empty surface of this public space, I felt lifted physically and opened up emotionally," he said. "Like walking into a Superstudio montage, a tabula rasa with the ocean at its edge, it was at once a surreal and completely tangible experience."

Artists Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell, whose exhibition at London's Soane Museum sets out to explore what buildings can tell us about contemporary society, have also found themselves thinking how the setting is as important as the architecture.

For them, it's Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer's Niteri Contemporary Art Museum in Rio de Janeiro. "It positively lifts the spirits and soars aloft!" they said.

"It's one of the most beautiful, audacious, and energising buildings we've visited," they continued.

"Poised between the city and the sea, mountains and the sky, it perfectly expresses the optimistic energy of Rio, a city where it often feels as though anything is possible, a city that has the power to lift the spirits at every turn with the drama of its incredible natural setting."

The ability to connect emotionally to our environment is fundamental to human experience, yet it is only at times like that we ask why certain places make us feel alive and human.

Architect Farshid Moussavi cites Yokohama Port Terminal, her first building as Foreign Office Architects.

Precht designs Parc de la Distance for outdoor social distancing

She emphasises that public buildings also contribute to social values and the quality of urban life.

"Its floors seem caring as they are covered with wood that has been meticulously laid down to adapt to the building's undulating geometry," she said ofthe port terminal. " They invite you to sit anywhere and relax."

Architecture is also about bringing people together.

For Simon Conder, best known for a series of exquisite houses on the remote Dungeness Beach in Kent, OMA's Casa de Musica in Porto reminds of him our temporary social distancing. "It's the most magical and sociable building I have ever been to," he said.

Buildings that connect with nature don't always have to be far away from home.

Architect Sarah Wigglesworth points out that a connection with nature can be as simple as having a garden to look at during months of self-isolation citing Peter Aldington's house at Turn End in Essex.

"The key is the garden - which is gorgeous - and whose presence is felt everywhere," she explained. "The house itself is simple and homely but with beautiful light and views of all kinds of nature. This is so important for mental wellbeing and connecting us to the natural cycles of the seasons."

Ellis Woodman, director of the Architecture Foundation says the building most imprinted on his mind right now is the ByeongsanseowonConfucian Academy in Korea because of the way "the building tells you about your place within the immediate community and the wider world".

"It is somewhere where diurnal and seasonal changes are felt very intensely something I know I am really going to miss being stuck indoors for the next few months," said Woodman.

At the time of writing, the Venice Architecture Biennale is still due to take place in August this year, a city were where the combination of colour, surface and light is a permanent inspiration for architects. But for John Tuomey of Dublin based O'Donnell +Tuomey, the city he is thinking about most is Rome.

"In these days of solitary retreat and social isolation, I find myself dreaming of the streets of Rome, my mind's eye strolling through the crowded spaces around the Pantheon," he said.

Every architect knows the Pantheon but for Tuomey it's not merely the building but the surrounding streets what he calls the "the sweet sense of clash between monumental presence and the continuity of everyday existence" that he misses.

This, he says, is "architecture and the city working off each other, a perfect cocktail of transcendent awe and civic cheer, one that makes us live in hope".

35 architects and designers contribute video messages to help launch Virtual Design Festival

Architects and designers have been responding to the coronavirus pandemic in a variety of positive ways including building hospitals, designing prefabricated intensive care units and making face shields.

Dezeen has launchedVirtual Design Festival, the world's first digital design festival, as a platform to bring the architecture and design world together to celebrate the culture and commerce of our industry, and explore how it can adapt and respond to extraordinary circumstances.

The rest is here:
Architects and critics chose their feel-good buildings - Dezeen

Boston architect Eric Hweler has helped local doctors develop patient isolation hoods a new type of device that could save the lives of healthcare workers and "impact things worldwide" in the fight against coronavirus.

Made from a single sheet of folded plastic, the patient isolation hood has been developed from a standing start in just nine days and will be trialled at Massachusetts General Hospital from Tuesday.

The transparent, dome-like patient isolation hood (PIH) fits over a patient's head and shoulders, protecting hospital staff from virions, or virus particles, that are breathed or coughed out by people with coronavirus.

"The patient isolation hood is somewhere between a wearable and an architectural scale," Hweler told Dezeen. "It's like a small house that is placed over a patient's body during a risky procedure."

Doctors are particularly at risk during intubation, a procedure that involves inserting a tube into the airway in preparation for ventilation.

"If the patient is coughing, there can be a lot of aerosolized droplets that are spread, making the procedure risky," he added. A clear plastic shield around the patient can help control those aeroslized droplets."

The hood has been developed at breakneck speed by a group of doctors, engineers and designers meeting in a series of Zoom calls and Slack discussions.

"This is an open-source call that brings together designers from all over the world and is being prototyped in an extremely accelerated timeframe," said Hweler, a partner at Boston architect Hweler + Yoon Architecture.

"The speed and level of collaboration is unprecedented," he added. "About nine days before a first review at the hospital and hopefully 14 days for deployment. "

"This project sprung out of the previous efforts with PPE," added Hweler, who has helped develop open-source face shields for healthcare workers.

"We were wondering what else we could do, and the individual efforts of thousands of makers 3D-printing masks seemed to be overtaken by the onlining of companies with much larger volume capacities."

"We heard about intubation boxes or patient isolation hoods also being in high demand," he added. "The idea is to partially enclose a patient while a doctor performs an intubation procedure, which is to put a tube down the patient's throat."

"We sketched up some templates for a CNC and asked a plastics fabricator that we'd worked with before to cut and assemble a prototype," Hweler explained.

"We then asked around to see if there were local hospitals that were in need."

The idea for the hoods simultaneously emerged two weeks ago at Massachusetts General Hospital, where a Covid-19 innovations team co-led by Dr Sam Smith started to research better ways of protecting healthcare workers treating coronavirus patients.

"We felt strongly that there was some opportunity to better look at protecting physicians," Smith told Dezeen.

"In some countries, like in areas of Spain, it was one in eight getting infected while working with Covid patients."

Dr Wong, a physician at the hospital, came up with the idea of making lightweight hoods that could be placed over patients.

"I just said, hey, this is fantastic because it basically covers the patient who is breathing out all this, you know, aerosolized virus," Smith said. "And he makes a couple little slits in the back, puts his hands through, and he can do all the things he needs to do with better protection."

Engineers developed a prototype but "there was nobody on the design side, giving input to this, not even on the ergonomics," said Smith.

Smith made contact with Hweler via the innovation team's Slack channel, and the collaboration began.

Hweler and his team "immediately then started to have the input that I needed," Smith said.

"The success of this will be because the design is exceptional," Smith added. "Not only because it is simpler than we imagined, but is also more functional as a result."

The design "certainly could impact things worldwide" in the fight against coronavirus, Smith said, saving the lives of both healthcare professionals and patients, since the negative pressure inside the hood reduces the need to put patients on ventilators.

"We've actually started to find that you can get by without putting breathing tubes and putting them on a ventilator, and you're probably gonna cause less lung injury because of it," Smith said. "People may do better."

Original post:
Architect and medics develop plastic hoods to protect healthcare workers - Dezeen

Dreamnext Exhibition and Workshop / Kim Seunghoy (Seoul National University) + KYWC Architects

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Text description provided by the architects. The design began with the question of, what is the architecture that lies in harmony with its neighborhood and alleys. This petite architecture consisting of four stories and a single basement level communicates with its urban surroundings in various ways. The ground floor is an exhibition space for Dreamnexts design product as well as a workshop area for letter press.

This space, in which workshops and exhibitions co-exist simultaneously, itself becomes an impressive scene in the neighborhood. Instead of form, activities become its scenery. The main entrance in a form of a main gate invites pedestrians passing by. When the main entrance is entirely opened the interior space becomes part of the road. The basement is a multifunctional space which has a high floor height. This space provides for lectures and exhibitions. In every corner of the basement storage space has been designed to exhibit and store products of Dreamnext.

The sunken space with an outdoor staircase not only connects the basement to the ground floor, but also provides fresh air and daylight into the basement. The second and the third floors of the building are the workspaces of Dreamnext. Although it is a small space there were efforts made in order to maximize its spatial limitations. The floor area was maximized by building storage space into the walls, designing with minimal size of structure, and many other methods to create a larger floor space. The meeting room on the fourth floor, which has a rooftop garden, is the most spacious and comforting space out of the entire building. Regardless of its small space, it has a high ceiling, and a view which extends out to the vast urban scenery. The wooden deck of the rooftop garden brings joy to its tired staff.

A small house on a tiny plot. Nevertheless, exploring a unique structural system was vital to create substantial space. The second floor of the building is hung by a truss system on the third floor. Thus, tolerating minimal structural members to be placed on the ground floor, this allows the ground floor to generously open up to its urban surroundings. The purpose of structure is not only to provide for its structural functions but also to create an urban relationship, react to activities happening inside, and to reveal the structure on the exterior of the building. Building lifestyles, that is design. The building Dreamnext in Mangwon-dong contains the process of building. Design that builds lifestyles is what the members of Dreamnext practice on a daily basis.

The rest is here:
Dreamnext Exhibition and Workshop / KYWC Architects - ArchDaily