For millennia we have built cities to protect us from nature with its pitfalls. Today we realize that we have actually made a perfect habitat for the spread of viruses and have built around us an environment that is in the long run boring to spend time in if forced, for example during a quarantine period.
We do not know when our lives will return to normal, but many people wonder if the normalcy we have become accustomed to is the ideal way to spend our lives.
The city and the countryside
The city is perfect for cultivating cultural and professional interests, maintaining relationships and developing business.
Andrea Palladio, the first great theorist of the villa concept, said in his books, however, that the countryside allows modern man to relax, engage in exercise and keep fit. Unlike in the 1500s, however, today much business is no longer done by meeting physically in the marketplace but by operating on virtual marketplaces. So the opposition between the countryside and the city becomes more blurred; one can also do business surrounded by the natural environment.
Not everyone loved the historic city. The modern movement had always stood in sharp contrast to the concept of the city. Twentieth-century urban planners and architects strongly condemned the so-called ‘corridor cities’ of the European tradition, favoring a more punctiform urban development. The new cities consisted of unités d’habitasion or villas with gardens.
The Archigram movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archigram developed in Italy and England in the 1960s and 1970sand the precursor of many trends that are still current, had from the very beginning posed the question, “are cities still necessary?” For them, the human habitat was a pod http://hiddenarchitecture.net/living-pod/where they could exercise their existence in connection with the outside world. Today we would say in ‘virtual’ connection with other individuals.
In the 1980s and 1990s, however, there was a strong return of the concept of the classical city with its squares and places for socializing. Now, however, the concept of social distancing has brought back into play the social life that the historic city with its bars and markets offered.
The city of the future
It is possible that the Corona virus will bring other innovative reflections on the way we inhabit and understand our habitat. It is likely that our view of cities and urban development will change in light of the impact of the virus on our society.
It is not only the virus but also the technology that allows the possibility of remote connection between individuals that has changed. This is something that has never been exploited as intensively as in the days of quarantine at all levels: school, work, medicine. Something that was not there in Palladium’s time and was not there in Archigram’s time either.
Building density
But in addition to the virus today, we also have a different way of posing toward energy supply (in the past there was no photovoltaics) and in ways of building (we no longer use concrete but more efficient and environmentally friendly materials).
Since the first urban planning laws in the 1940s We have always sought to ‘densify’ urban cores by promoting specific laws to combat the enlargement of city limits. Today, however, this trend has found limits. The population has not been growing for decades, and the need to limit urban development is accompanied by the need to improve the quality of living by providing more human-scale solutions.
In recent decades, it has also been found that high building density generates a large increase in heat in the urban period due to the vast impermeable surfaces and the heat absorbed by asphalt and concrete. Added to this is also the high energy consumption produced by refrigeration machines that emit heat into the outdoor environment, making the city even less livable.
What housing does the future hold for us
In the pages of Dezeen magazine, arch. Sergey Makhno tried to give some answers on the topic ‘the house after the Corona virus’.
Reading the article, it appears that the single-family house is the most suitable house to cope with the post-Corona virus:
https://www.dezeen.com/2020/03/25/life-after-coronavirus-impact-homes-design-architecture/
The single-family passive wooden house
The ideal post Coronavirus house is the passive wooden house that we already build.
The ability to work from home and enjoy contact with nature away from dangerous points of contact are the aspects that most affect this assessment. Some aspects hitherto not considered important will have to be taken into consideration with some extra attention for example being able to change outdoor clothes by entering the home environment, i.e. equipping homes with a filter area. This will be an aspect so far not considered important but to be taken into account in future designs.
No more apartments
Properties with the presence of elevators, common staircases, hallways, lobbies and other common spaces makes it difficult to live in an environment where contagion can occur through a condominium door button.
So the therefore the concept of the apartment is now severely challenged in a society that aims for sanitary insulation. Multi-story buildings designed without outdoor spaces such as large terraces or solar slabs are even more complex and difficult to conceive in a society where people may have to spend more time at home.
No more dwelling units
Le Corbuisier’s idea of living in comfortable conditions in multi-story housing units that could provide ideal living conditions comparable to individual villa living have in reality clashed with the proliferation of apartment buildings built more for speculative activity than out of real interest for the inhabitants.
Today those apartment buildings are perfect for propagating the virus.
The patio house, set in an individual garden is the perfect retreat for enjoying coffee in the morning while taking in some fresh air without having to incur the risk of contagion.
Energy self-sufficiency
The ideal home in the post Corona virus necessarily self-produces electricity. With photovoltaic-generated electricity, it is possible to heat, cook, watch movies, and surf online for pleasure or business, and it enables zero-consumption living. This protects against the risk of having to pay increasingly high bills in a society prone to financial instability and potential income discontinuity.
Food self-sufficiency
Food self sufficiency along with energy independence is another goal of the ideal post-Corona virus home.
The possibility of the food supply chain going into crisis is a fear we are unfortunately experiencing despite reassurances. Of course, we cannot all become part-time farmers. However, in our society we have seen an increasing focus on urban farming. In addition, hydroponic growing techniques are having tremendous development allowing with very little effort the self-production of edible vegetables within one’s own neighborhood or garden.
The home as a studio
After the quarantine period, many will look forward to re-embracing their colleagues, but this will not be the case for everyone.
How many will have equipped themselves with a home workspace truly suited to their needs with sound insulation, large windows with solar shading capabilities, etc.?
Those who will have provided themselves with an optimal workplace are unlikely to be happy to return to traffic to reach their workplace. Many will definitely opt for smart working and decide to optimize time and resources during the time of the working day.
Filtration and neutralization
Our passive houses are equipped with filters that break down particulate matter in incoming air particles. In addition to this, future post Corona virus houses may be equipped with mechanisms to break down the presence of bacteria and viruses in the incoming air. Special ultraviolet lamps that will make the surfaces of the house antiseptic may also be provided.
The end of industrial mass production
We all watched with relief as the sky turned blue in China.
But what did China produce that we could not produce? Nothing the production was just cheap and less protective of the environment.
The quest for economic balance
The post-Coronavirus society will have to strive to re-establish its economic balance by giving up some of the frivolities of the consumer society but valuing local production of what is necessary for our lives.
The philosophy we have always applied of the zero-mile house geared toward enhancing local resources will also be applied to other areas of production from clothing to technology and then also to house building.