The Future of Design
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused us to take a good, hard look at the places we call home and figure out how we can make them safer, more functional and comfortable, and better aligned with our values. We talked to local design experts to learn how that’s playing out in the spaces where we live, work, and play.
You’ve seen the headlines: City-dwellers are decamping for the suburbs in droves. Homeowners are outfitting their spaces with germ-zapping UV-C lights, antimicrobial nanocoatings, and footwear-sanitizing stations. And architects are whipping up designs for work-at-home beds and touch-free package portals. To be sure, the COVID-19 pandemic has inspired some folks to make major lifestyle changes, but the more common response, according to the architects and designers we’ve interviewed, has been to take a good hard look at the places we call home and figure out how we can make them safer, more functional and comfortable, and better aligned with our values. “We’re in a phase where we’re making the spaces we already have work better,” says Nate Jenkins, associate principal at Denver’s OZ Architecture. “Adaptability is the theme.” Here’s what that looks like in the places we live, work, and play.
