Home has now become a safe haven with the advent of the coronavirus, as almost the entire world is self-isolating at home. We spend all our time inside our home and due to the lockdown, they will change as we change. Space needs to cope with the huge range of activities that we undertake every day and including those which used to take place outside our home. Our spaces need to be more liveable and even adapt to the post-pandemic spur of a new wave with regards to the spatial arrangements.
1. HOME GARDENING
Gardening is a fun and productive activity that will keep you pre-occupied and will give you great joy during these stressful times. Grow gardens in your house, terrace, courtyards, or the balcony, bring positivity to your home and grow what you eat. Homes can be made healthier, aesthetic, fresh, and safe space through small green interventions that can distinctively improve the character of a space. Living close to plants brings peace to the mind and is good for mental health.
2. FIND A CORNER
Create a cozy personal space in your home where you can retreat to relax and recharge your energy. It can be anywhere in your home – the living room, the bedroom, or even the terrace balcony. Use this space to do things that you love the most. Decorate it according to your taste and make it your own private space.
3. WORKSPACE
Work at home requires a particular kind of self-discipline. Create a workspace inside your home and demarcate a desk space equipped with your required objects to work. Choose a peaceful space in the house with proper light and fresh air to help you focus. Balancing a laptop on pillows is bad for your back while slumping over a screen will inevitably disrupt sleep, so there’s a need to have a proper space that you only use for your work.
4. SEPARATION OF SPACES
In our homes, we can do things anywhere according to us, but it makes better to set off certain space according to the required function. With all family members and cohabitees in the house, we need space to come together and spaces to be apart. Which is certainly a limitation in open-plan living. Concepts of privacy, individual space, and true attention to the relationship between individuals and families, family and neighborhoods by carefully layering of private to public architecture.
5. MULTIFUNCTIONAL SPACES
Our homes already have spaces assigned for specific purposes, which brings out the need for adjustment and rearrangement in already designed homes. With the limitation of spaces in our houses, it brings out the need to have space that can be multifunctional. For example, a room in the house can function as a play area for kids as well as a space to exercise and meditate in the morning. In this way, rooms can suit different functions without degrading the quality of the whole house.
6. OUTDOOR SITTING AREA
During the lockdown, outside sitting spaces in the home like a veranda, courtyard, balcony, patio, or terrace provide an escape from the confined four walls as we cannot step outside our house for a change. By spending time in such outdoor spaces, one can ease symptoms of depression, enhance cognitive function, and reduce stress. Such spaces can function as a get-together space for family, a space to sit alone in peace, an area to grow a garden, have breakfast, or a cup of coffee or a play area for children.
7. WORKOUT SPACE
Being confined within our homes can’t stop us from exercising. To maintain a healthy body and mind balance while at home, one can try and indulge in indoor physical activities by making a workout space in your home. Space can be outside/ in-between or inside your home with the needed workout equipment.
8. FILTRATION AND NEUTRALIZATION
We need water and air filtration to protect our homes from any future health issues. Air coming from outside the home can be controlled through the construction of smart homes so that the temperature of the house can be controlled and the house can be free of germs. The house can have separate parts for the elimination of germs and movement of people between outside and inside.
9. COLOR
Play around with colors in your space, uplift the mood of the space and give you home a new look. Additional to walls, you can change color schemes of cushion covers, curtains, bedsheets, accessories, and furniture. Make your home feel more energetic and relaxed or make your space feel bigger with the right color. Adding colors to your space can help separate spaces fordifferent functions and become more vibrant and welcoming.
10. INCREASING STORAGE
There is a need for better and more storage than had typically been provided before. The lockdown has made us realize that we need to store important things for unseen circumstances like it was done during old times. With better designs and smart storage, we can accommodate more space and increase storage capacity. People with houses can also think about having a basement to store water and food.
11. ENTRANCE
The entrance of the house needs to be separate from the living area to ensure proper sanitization of the people and things entering the house. Arrangements need to be made at the entrance to keep germs entering into your home and your living quarters. Provide a space at the entrance to keep outside worn shoes, clothes, and belongings from the outside here, and not carry dirt.
12. FURNITURE ARRANGEMENT
Interchanging or shifting the furniture can give a more eye-pleasing look. Give a new lease of life to the same space by a quick shift of the furniture in your house. We are accustomed to having our home look in a particular way, Interchanging or shifting the furniture can give a more eye-pleasing look. Bring a fresh change to make your home feel different and to get a new experience of the same space as we often get bored when confined for long within a space.
13. PREFERENCE OF HOUSE OVER APARTMENT
The lockdown has made us realize the advantage of houses over apartments and flats. Many tall buildings don’t have balconies unlike courtyards and or terraces in a house. Living in a house is safer and can allow outdoor experience within the perimeters of the house whereas the use of elevators, lift buttons and common spaces can lead to an easy spread of infection. With the change in our lifestyle, we need better spaces to adapt to the new requirements.
14. BLUR THE GAP BETWEEN OUTSIDE AND INSIDE
Buildings need to have a connection with nature. During this self-isolation, what we truly miss is stepping outside our homes. Space can have home comfort with fresh air, where we can gaze outside through the large windows, glass walls, or doors and have a very distinctive line between indoors/outdoors. The outside landscape can be celebrated through the design of the house and elements of the outside can be effortlessly brought inside along with natural light flooding the space during day time and making small spaces appear larger.
15. PLAY AREA
With no access to the outdoor playground for children, you can create spaces inside your home as a play area for your children, for instance, install an indoor swing, have a sandpit, create a hopscotch grid, paint a mural, etc. Help your children grow and play with home, with their siblings or a pet under your loving care. Look for such spaces in your gardens, yards, or a room.
References:
- https://www.bdonline.co.uk/opinion/learning-from-lockdown-what-needs-to-change-in-housing/5105575.article
- https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/azby-brown-small-spaces/index.html
- https://english.jagran.com/lifestyle/world-no-tobacco-day-2020-are-tobacco-consumers-more-prone-of-catching-covid19-all-you-need-to-know-10012401
- http://www.fieldandnest.com/journal/2018/1/11/outside-meets-inside-nordic-architecture
- https://www.bdonline.co.uk/opinion/learning-from-lockdown-what-needs-to-change-in housing/5105575.article
- https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/azby-brown-small-spaces/index.html
- https://english.jagran.com/lifestyle/world-no-tobacco-day-2020-are-tobacco-consumers-more-prone-of-catching-covid19-all-you-need-to-know-10012401
- http://www.fieldandnest.com/journal/2018/1/11/outside-meets-inside-nordic-architecture
