THE NEW HOME
Deborah Berke, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture: Spending more time at home with family, working and learning remotely, being more mindful of the relationship between indoors and outdoors—all of these experiences have implications for how we will design houses going forward. We should focus on use, asking more often, “What three things can happen in this room…?” People need places where they can be together with family, but also places where they can be alone to reflect, to learn, to recharge.
Jenny & Anda French, architects: In a post-COVID world, consider how life might become more multigenerational, with extended family moving in. For us that aligns with the form of collective housing known as cohousing.
Joy Moyler, designer: There will be a return to cork walls for reduction of sound transmission. We’ll also use more efficient window-glazing films to reduce screen glare on monitors and enhance video presentations.
Tura Cousins Wilson, architect: COVID hasn’t so much changed but reaffirmed the way I think we’ll be living in the future. It let people see they can work remotely and stay in their communities. Even before, people were meeting for work outside of the office in places like cafés. COVID is accelerating these trends.
Toshiko Mori, architect: Architects need to invent improved typologies of houses, and housing that better responds to diverse communities of residents and their accompanying cultures and lifestyles. This must include the potential for shared spaces as well as the ability to isolate within the house compound. In addition, there needs to be greater consideration for artificial and natural ventilation and lighting strategies in order to maintain good interior air quality and mental well-being.
