Developers discuss project changes in wake of pandemic
Architecture firms are beginning to receive orders from developers for changes in residential projects, especially medium to high-end ones. When the covid-19 pandemic ends, many people now working from home are expected to keep fully or partially doing so. The bet is that the long period at home due to social distancing measures has led residents to have another relationship with their homes, demanding more space, privacy to work, and even a green area to unwind.
Architect Arthur Casas believes residences became a place to stay more time, an irreversible trend. "People will commute less, travel less. Houses tend to be a little bigger and have a place of about ten square meters where people can stay more segregated, work with more serenity," says the founder of Studio Arthur Casas.
José Ricardo Basiches, of Basiches Arquitetos Associados, says he was surprised to be asked to make changes to a medium-high-end project pre-approved by the São Paulo City Hall. Because of the working from home trend, he was asked to replace one apartment floor by a common area in which people can work. "Another possibility is giving each apartment an area for that," Mr. Basiches says. Even studio apartments, he says, must have a separate space for work.
It's still too early to reformulate the projects, Mr. Casas says, but developers want an "answer for this new moment." Two with whom his office had contact after the pandemic now mulls increasing the size of units. Another potential change is common areas being more used by residents, instead of being "a marketing element in the sales folder." Community gardens are seen as a possibility.
Luiz Eduardo Oliveira, partner-director of LE Arquitetos, says he received a request to reformulate a high-end project to include the possibility of having two office spaces in each unit. In another, middle-end project the client wants a coworking area instead of a game room.
Although there is no consensus on the changes to be adopted by the industry, medium-high and high-end developments may have changes both in the design of apartments and in common areas. Projects for low to mid-income consumers will more likely have alterations only outside the units.Saulo Suassuna Fernandes Filho, founder of startup Molegolar, which develops projects of modular apartments, says one trend that will be part of the "new normal" will be the inclusion of office areas in the so-called "gourmet balconies," living spaces often enclosed by glass...
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