A changing INDUSTRY

Things are going to look very different, very soon

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WHY HEALTHCARE DESIGN WILL INFLUENCE THE WHOLE INDUSTRY POST-COVID-19

When Roar founder Pallavi Dean uploaded sketches of a concept for handsfree doors to social media, the response was immediate. The drawings, which you can see on Commercial Interior Design’s cover this month (and to the right), were intended to spark a discussion with the designer’s network, but tapped into much wider thinking that has seen the interior design industry look at how it needs to adapt its output into a world stalked by the Covid-19 global pandemic. Though her artwork was a concept, designers have the resources to include touch-free technology in their projects. She says: “The good news is that touchless technology already exists – it’s just a case of using it. If Siri or Alexa can turn on the TV and open the curtains at home, he/she/it can replace most of the physical touchpoints in a public building.

“Call an elevator; open a door; flush a toilet; write your name; show your ID. The main reason these things aren’t commonplace in building interiors is that some clients, contractors and suppliers have been stuck in an old mindset. This could be the jolt they need.”

Materials that have previously been value engineered out could now become essentials to a design brief, she adds.

“Take anti-microbial materials. For years design consultants like us have been specifying antimicrobial products. Both specialist materials like paints, surfaces and fabrics that have been developed with anti-microbial properties, and natural products like copper.