Re-imagining Indoor Space Utilization in the COVID-19 Pandemic with Smart Re-configurable Spaces (SReS)

Dongre, P.; Manuel, M.; Gračanin, D.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has put various restrictions on human lifestyle. At the beginning of the outbreak, almost all public spaces were closed to minimize the spread of this virus. Even as public spaces open up, they have several restrictions. Such restrictions include limited occupancy in common rooms to ensure social distancing and this can lead to increased occupancy costs inside buildings. The strategy of “Design as a cure” has been long used by architects and urban planners to minimize the spread of infectious diseases in urban environments. Re-configuring the space layout and optimizing the heating, ventilation, and air condition (HVAC) operations were some immediate solutions proposed by building designers to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection in buildings. This paper explores the use of smart re-configurable spaces (SReS) to improve the efficiency of indoor space utilization while maintaining a safe indoor environment. We used an existing smart building design framework to design SReS for a common area/lounge in one of the cadet resident halls at Virginia Tech. User requirements were measured by conducting an interview with the residential coordinator and focus groups among the cadets. The concept of generative design was used in Revit 2021 to design various layouts of the lounge. Towards the end, we create a layout for maximum occupancy and suggest various re-configuration strategies. Future work includes modeling and evaluating the human-building interaction of SReS in virtual reality (VR). © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.