You need to use a lift, but don’t dare push a button touched by unknown fingers. With people still jabbing at touch panels with their keys, pens, tissue-covered digits – anything that will do the job without involving direct physical contact – there is clearly still a collective apprehension around frequenting public buildings where large numbers congregate.
Making such infrastructure Covid-19-safe, and convincing the public that this is the case, is now one of the design sector’s biggest challenges.
The design of public spaces and infrastructure is already adapting to the “new normal” post-pandemic, explains Nic Banks, founding director of architectural design studio Atelier Pacific.
“It’s amazing how quickly some of the public-realm design has started to change,”…
