The Pandemic Effect: Ninety Experts on Immunizing the Built Environment

In this absorbing collection, architect Brownell (professor and director of the David R. Ravin Sch. of Architecture, Univ. of North Carolina–Charlotte; Transmaterial Next) brings together leading architects, designers, material scientists, and health officials to review the influence of COVID on the built environment and to offer pragmatic solutions that will safeguard U.S. infrastructure from future pandemics, viruses, and contagious diseases. The work is intended for general readers and for practitioners and students of architecture and interior and urban design. The book examines approaches, designs, and systems used to curtail the effects of communicable diseases on building structures and on people. It also highlights problems with conventional strategies, outlines alternatives, and explores new design ideas for urban streets, parks, and gardens that are thought-provoking, challenging, and fascinating. Each entry consists of a two-page introduction and a one-page article with loads of amazing, colorful images and designs that demonstrate how things can look and work. In a compelling, concise, and entertaining tone, scholars and practitioners contribute firsthand knowledge about air filtration, sensors, acoustic quiet spaces, supply-chain resilience, interpersonal distance, school-site designs, and more.