Designing a Healthier Society — Nevada Humanities

By Dak Kopec

The view from the inside out varies from person to person. Age, gender, culture, ethnicity, wealth, and education all serve as factors that influence how we see and interpret situations and events. These factors are not new nor novel. They serve as the foundation from which we process and come to understand our situations and circumstances. Another factor that we in the United States share is a core value and right to personal control. When a person believes that they have lost individual power, the natural tendency is to identify ways to reassert control.

As a society, our response to the COVID-19 virus is to control the spread first through social distancing, then using chemicals by way of cleaning agents and pharmaceuticals. With the removal of mandated lockdown in many areas, much of the focus is on medical interventions. However, as we look to the other side of this pandemic, we will need to determine if the pharmaceutical approaches are enough to alleviate our fears and address the reality that another deadly virus is likely to emerge within the next decade. If pharmaceuticals are not enough, should more attention be given to the support of social distancing? Consideration for the implications of social distancing on a social species must be factored into the outcomes.

But where are we today? We have been sequestered to some degree for nearly three months and bombarded with projections of doom by the news media, experts, and others who were given a voice. Additionally, the added stress of feeling crowded by one’s significant other, or children, may have negatively affected familial relationships or created within us a desire to withdraw. In Wuhan China, news reports suggest that divorce rates doubled once people could once again visit public spaces. Meanwhile, some of the emotions people have reported from the lockdown include anxiety, aggression, and depression. These emotions will likely remain for several months after the crises.

The series of events related to the COVID-19 virus spans the gamete of human emotions. Past, present, and future conceptualizations form the basis of the human psyche. We remember past experiences that help us to make sense of the present and attempt to predict the future. A profound experience can influence a person’s present emotional and mental state through projected fears of things to come. The degree and profoundness of experience will depend, in part, on how deeply one feels life’s everyday events.

Once we achieve equilibrium and normalcy from the COVID-19 virus, there will likely be residual desires to maintain larger personal space zones, and a reluctance to visit known crowded environments. Restaurants, movie theaters, airports, and convention centers are among the likely spaces to be affected. So how will designers attempt to redesign spaces to foster perceptions of individual health and safety?

The designed environment has multiple methods to reduce environmental pathogens, many of which have used in the design of healthcare facilities. To get a better idea of these methods, we must look at them from the inside out. First would be Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. We could then look to the lighting, and finally, we examine all the surface materials known to harbor an assortment of bacterial and viral agents.

Return vents for HVAC systems are currently limited in air return vents. These intake vents pull air from the interior space through a filter and into the HVAC system. The problem is that the limited return vents mean that contaminated air is drawn across an environment, thereby increasing contamination. Conversely, if we added more return vents to the different spaces of the building, there would be more filters to capture pathogens and particulates, and less distance for contaminated air to travel before passing through a filter.

HVAC systems in many healthcare institutions require the conditioned (heated or cooled) air to pass through an area containing ultraviolet (UVC) light. Introducing this UVC lighting to public spaces can increase germicidal goals. UVA, UVB, UVC, and VUV are typical wavelengths from the sun’s full-spectrum light. Some scientists are altering the strength of the UVC light so that it cannot penetrate the eyes or skin; therefore, increasing its use. For context, UVA light is used for curing, such as what a dentist uses when bonding a person’s teeth, and UVB light is used for tanning booths. UVC lighting has long been used for decontamination; we now need to expand its applications.

Each designed environment has surfaces that consist of granite, marble, metals, paints, fabrics, woods, etcetera. Each of these surfaces can be studied for antipathogen treatment opportunities, or impregnated with antiviral and antibacterial agents. Some metals, for example, have natural properties known to kill pathogens. However, the effectiveness depends on the degree of contact. A smooth surface only allows from minimal contact between the offending cell and surface. If minimal etching were to take place, the divots and grooves in the metal could cradle the offending cell, thus increasing the cell's portions in direct contact with the metal surface.

Also, space planning is essential for a designed environment. This planning means that designers strategically determine entry and exit points, how people move from one space to another, and the areas where work and person-to-person interactions occur. Consider a bank located in a more disorganized part of town. The designer assesses the probabilities of robbery. Those banks with a higher likelihood of theft often have a thick piece of glass separating the teller from the customer. Recently we have seen these types of barriers appearing in grocery and drug stores. The intention of the barrier is to reduce droplet transmission of the virus.

Together with a graduate student in the Healthcare Interior Design program, we decided to brainstorm the development of future designs, based on social distancing. We looked at the convergence of intrinsic factors such as our personal-space requirements, desire for experiences, and our need to be social. We then considered extrinsic factors related to air handling and lighting systems and space planning. From the convergence of intrinsic with the extrinsic, we developed prototypes that will need to be assessed for feasibility and adapted for implementation if deemed worthy.

Our first example allows for an exterior dining experience within any climate. In this example, multiple domes sit under one super dome structure made of ‘smart glass.’ This glass allows for a dynamic change through light and color. Through a process called electrochromism, smart glass can change color and switch from transparent to opaque. The experience of this space is of a night sky during the northern lights. The use of smart glass for the superstructure, as in this case, or be applied to the individual domes.

Individual domes have a set of UVC light tubes that turn on when passing through and turn off once inside the dome. The table inside of the dome, conform with CDC recommendations for 6' distancing to minimize the spread of disease. The dome's flooring and table-tops are silestone, the upholstery fabric on the chairs is dyed wool, and the lining of the chair's backs and arms are cork. Each of these materials has some antibacterial and antiviral capacities.

The second image shows the dome used within a food court situation.

This rendering shows that the air pulled into the dome from the top where it is the cleanest. Once inside the dome, that air is pulled down to the return vents that line the outer portion of the dome's floor. When empty, each dome can be illuminated by the UVC lights the run along the dome's ribs. The individual uses of air handling, UVC lighting, and selected materials may only have limited benefits, but the outcome results should be higher when combined.

The COVID-19 virus has had a profound effect on the world's public health and economic systems. Once we emerge from the other side of this pandemic, it would behoove the hospitality and design professions to explore an array of possibilities to control the spread of viruses. If we could prevent a pandemic from occurring, we can keep people feeling and believing that they are safe and secure, and we can avoid another economic disaster in the future.

Caven, B., Redl, B., and Bechtold, T. (2019). An investigation into the possible antibacterial properties of wool fibers. Textile Research Journal, 89, 4, 510-516.

Yu, J., Pang, Z., Zhang, J., Zhou, H., and Wei, Q. (2018). Conductivity and antibacterial properties of wool fabrics finished by polyaniline/chitosan. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 548, 117-124

Dak Kopec is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dak has authored several books used by interior design educators including three editions of Environmental Psychology for Design. He is a two-time Polsky Prize winner, is credited with researching, developing and administering the first low residency graduate program focused on designs for human health at the Boston Architectural College, and has been awarded honorary Fellowship to ASID (Hon.FASID).

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