How will well-being insights change architecture in the post-pandemic era?

Abstract

The places in which we live have a direct influence on our health and wellbeing. The interest in human health and experience of a space was apparent in the work of 20th century architects such as Le-Corbusier and Alvar Aalto during the tuberculosis epidemic. The Paimio Sanatorium, which was a collaboration between doctors and architect by Alvar Aalto in 1929-33, was one of the most famous projects that shows the tuberculosis influence on architecture. Therefore, the need to redesign spaces in order to live a happier and healthier life began to influence modern architecture from the early 20th century. The change of body perception because of disease impacted architecture, reconfiguring it in a way that the building could function as a medical tool.

However, after years of living in a world without pandemics, designers just about to forget the importance of the design and its influence on human health. Although, the new restrictions placed on society due to Covid-19 outbreak, played an important role to reconsider the functional connection between the built environment and human wellness.

This thesis explores the ways that the built environment and its surroundings can affect human physical and mental wellbeing by examining the ways that the world has adapted to the new trends and strategies through the design of an assisted living facility in Oldtown, Alexandria, Virginia.