Architects release new resource for safer re-occupancy of buildings

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is releasing a new Re-occupancy Assessment Tool today that provides strategies for limiting exposure to COVID-19 in buildings.

"Design is a response to the conditions, needs and functions of our society,” said AIA 2020 President Jane Frederick, FAIA. “This may be the most pivotal and defining moment in our lifetime for design. Architects are needed in this crisis to help safely transition our communities back to offices, schools and the many other places that are important in shaping our daily lives.”

AIA’s Disaster Assistance Committee developed the Re-occupancy Assessment Tool to provide public officials, businesses and architects with practices that protect the health, safety and welfare of the public while businesses, stores, restaurants, etc., reopen. The tool provides a framework of strategies and general mitigation measures that can help reduce exposure to COVID-19.

Using credible science, a multi-disciplinary team of architects, public health experts, engineers, product designers, and facility managers will evaluate behavioral, spatial, material and operational strategies to customize the tool for a variety of building types, including:
• offices;
• schools (K-12);
• multi-unit dwellings;
• retail establishments, restaurants; and
• senior care facilities.

Findings will be released in phases as they become available, with a priority focused on strategies that address immediate needs. Long-term strategies will also be developed for making buildings more resilient in the face of pandemics, natural hazards, climate change and other risks.

Visit AIA’s website for more COVID-19 resources for architects.

Walsh Construction, one of the largest contractors in the city of Chicago and in the United States, is leading the temporary conversion of a portion of the McCormick Place Convention Center into an Alternate Care Facility (ACF) for novel coronavirus patients. Construction on the first 500 beds was completed on April 3.

U of Chicago Medicine workers with face shields produced by bKL architects.

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