Architecture that Adapts
The COVID-19 Pandemic has transformed our daily lives, and especially the ways in which we function in our jobs, in unprecedented and deeply impactful ways; perhaps no communities have been more greatly affected than our school communities and our public-use facilities. As we all worked together to navigate this transformed society, we have gained a strengthened sense of our inter-connectedness as citizens of the Commonwealth. We have been so inspired by Massachusetts’ towns and school communities’ resilience and capacity to adapt during this crisis; at TBA we are looking forward with optimism, and constantly working to achieve our firm’s goals of serving the public purpose through innovative and community-minded design for the citizens and communities of Massachusetts.
In response to the particular circumstances and new challenges put upon Massachusetts’ public buildings and school districts by the COVID-19 Pandemic, TBA developed specific assessment and planning strategies for Massachusetts’ schools and municipal buildings in order to meet the unprecedented requirements for providing the safest possible public building and school environments under the parameters established by the State of Massachusetts and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s guidance on reopening this fall.
Towards that end TBA has developed a methodology for expedient and comprehensive analysis of existing municipal and school building facilities and systems in sufficient detail to document their current state compared to the guidelines released by the State of Massachusetts for the reopening of public buildings and schools that yields recommendations for modifications that can be implemented in the short and long term as part of efforts to provide the municipal department representatives, municipal employees and staff, teachers, students, parents, public, and other users data to inform their decisions about the health and safety of physically returning to the municipal and school facilities.
Our analyses document the existing floor plans and openings; create colorized space use plans with room names, numbers; determine available areas and occupancies based on the 3’ and 6’ distancing scenarios; provide recommendations for other purposes and layouts; documents existing mechanical systems and methods of ventilation; compare these systems to guidelines; and, provide recommendations for modification of systems for adjusted ventilation and filtration, and provide options for reorganization of space, room uses, and location of building contents to optimize social distancing measures.