A wide array of product and design innovation is on the horizon. Hear all about it in Episode 10 of NKBA Live’s “Brave New Business” weekly forum. By Dianne M. Pogoda

 

From sanitizing zones at the entrance to a home and new bacteria-resistant materials, to repurposing an abundance of empty office buildings for residential or cultural uses and re-thinking the wildly popular “open-concept kitchen,” three experts weighed with predictions on the future of home design, materials and product selection in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Paul Keskeys, Content Director at Architizer, based in New York; Lloyd Alter, Design Editor for Treehugger.com and Adjunct Professor of Interior Design at Ryerson University in Toronto, and Theresa Casey, Principal and Registered Interior Designer at

Casey Design|Planning Group, also in Toronto,  joined host Bill Darcy  NKBA CEO, for a wide-ranging discussion on “Measuring the Impact — How will Home Design Change?” exploring the ways homes, kitchens and baths, and in fact, entire cities, will inevitably be transformed as a result of the pandemic.

They suggested specifics about what elements, materials, floor-plan and structural changes designers, remodelers and architects are likely to be incorporating into their projects going forward, from smaller changes to large-scale remodeling and new construction.

Keskeys began with a macro view of architecture and city planning. When the CEO of Twitter said that any employee who wishes to remain working from home after the pandemic restrictions are lifted may do so, it sparked a discussion about other companies that might be initiating similar policies, and what this could that mean for the future of city planning and building design. Companies including Amazon, Facebook, Capital One, JP Morgan, Google. And Microsoft are also extending work-from-home policies.

“These are obviously pretty large companies, and we imagine many more could shift their policies, so we’d see cities like New York or L.A. could find themselves with a lot of unused space,” he speculated. “This could lead to a rise in adaptive re-use, converting these retail spaces and office buildings, to apartments or cultural use.”

He cited Westminster Arcade in Providence, R.I., the nation’s oldest enclosed shopping mall and a National Historical Landmark, which was converted into a residential space with 48 micro-apartments, each between 200 and 300 square feet, designed primarily to accommodate single people moving into cities.

“We may see more commercial buildings being converted to residential spaces, and this has profound effects on kitchen and bath design,” he added, “and in public spaces, we’ll see more pedestrianized areas with decreased use of cars, and a need for more public amenities, like public restrooms if people aren’t going to be able to walk in off the street into a restaurant and use the bathroom for health and safety reasons. So, there are a lot of implications outside the home as well, as people live more of their lives inside their homes.

With respect to nursing or assisted living facilities, Keskeys said the pandemic has put a spotlight on how architecture and design may have contributed to the problems with COVID-19. For instance, the lack of separation between caregivers and residents, and the type of materials used in these facilities. Materials such as those used in kitchen and bath design, which are easier to sanitize, could be extended to other common areas to keep the spaces cleaner.

Alter, continuing on the theme of cleanliness, related a story that the famous French architect Le Corbusier had a client, a surgeon obsessed with cleanliness during the time of a major tuberculosis outbreak, so everything was about sanitation. The architect installed a sink in the doctor’s front hall, so people could wash their hands upon entering his home. “Basically, they had nothing more to deal with tuberculosis than we have today to deal with coronavirus: cleanliness and chlorine bleach,” he said. “So, they were all obsessed with simplicity and cleanliness.” And the simpler the surroundings, the easier to keep clean.

He said cleanliness upon entering the home will take on increased importance, and predicted that home design will include “transition zones,” where people can come in through a bathroom, remove their shoes, throw their clothes right into the washer, take a shower and then enter the home cleansed from the grime of the outside world.  “We have to think like Le Corbusier and go back to that sink in the hall.”

Alter added that in that era, product design was centered around health and function, rather than aesthetics. Sinks were designed to minimize splashing, and there used to be a separate “tooth sink” or cuspidor, for spitting after brushing teeth, instead of expectorating  into a sink where the user then washes hands, and everything that they just spit into the sink splashes back up on them. He said product design will return to a keen emphasis on cleanliness, safety, and frankly, more like hospitals — easily washed, touch-free taps, wall-mounted toilets to easily clean beneath and behind the fixture.

Casey turned to the kitchen, and said some of the key functions of design that are brought about by the COVID-19 crisis include flexibility in the space, the ability to have multiple users and multiple generations working in the space, a focus on hygiene and maximized storage. She said people are re-thinking the open floor plan since there’s a new demand for a home office, homework stations for children, an area for older family members, gym spaces, etc., so containing the kitchen is going to become more prevalent.

Using the kitchen space easily by different people mean there will be multiple prep areas and varying counter heights, with solutions like toe-kick step stools.

“Sanitation in kitchens is key. We’ll see touchless elements like faucets and garbage disposal units, anti-bacterial surfaces, non-porous materials, mold-resistant drywall and copper hardware, and eliminating materials that might retain bacteria. Another example is the  installation of an instant hot-water supply to speed up cooking and cleaning counters, as well as motion-sensor lighting controls and touchless hardware to open drawers and cabinet doors,”  she said. “This speaks to a more hygienic kitchen.”

Storage will also be a key component of the future kitchen design, she added. With people making fewer trips to the supermarket, they’ll need more space for pantry items and keep it organized.

“Emotionally, having some order in a time when a lot of us feel we don’t have a lot of control, this is one place we do have some control,” she said, “and as industry professionals, we are going to be asked to put those functional elements in that also help our clients emotionally.”

To view this episode of “Brave New Business,” click here.

“Brave New Business “livestreams on Thursdays at 2 pm (Eastern Time) and features thought leaders across all segments of the business in a free online forum. They’ll share best practices, experiences and advice on topics of critical interest to kitchen and bath design, remodeling, manufacturing and distribution, as well as survival tactics for small businesses and independent operators.

The next episode livestreams on Thursday, and will discuss “Leadership in Times of Disruption,” with panelists Jean Brownhill, founder of renovation expert Sweeten.com, and Alex Capecelatro, co-founder and CEO of Josh.ai, a a voice-controlled home automation system for the connected environment.

To register for this week’s Brave New Business forum, fill in the form below.