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  /  News   /  Mumbai architecture firm designs plan to combat COVID-19

Mumbai architecture firm designs plan to combat COVID-19

Text by: Space Design Group, Mumbai

The world currently struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic, with even the countries with the best healthcare systems daily battling with the disease. We have been ordered to take appropriate precautions as an individual and as collective members of the society. However, some people still don’t take the 21-day lockdown seriously and refrain from practising social distancing. We can control the situation by spreading awareness and devising solutions to deal with the pandemic, along with the medical and defence personnel.

As part of an architecture and design firm, we have invented a plan to counter the novel coronavirus and help the humankind. Keeping with the current population in our country in ratio with the number of hospitals, we should construct more temporary structures to treat more patients at a time. Places vacated due to the lockdown can be converted into hospitals to treat the infected with safety measures in place for the medical staff and suspected patients.

  • Indoor spaces such as banquet halls, schools, convention centres and exhibition centres that can be converted into makeshift hospitals that are cost-efficient and don’t require too many materials. A hypothetical plan of a school can be converted into a hospital, while a similar plan has been planned for an open field.
  • Outdoor spaces such as fields, stadiums and racecourses can be converted into hospitals as well, keeping in mind the cost and need to minimise the spread of the virus.

Indoor space

Set in a hypothetical plan of a school, the indoor space has two floors with classrooms, washrooms, no air-conditioning and a wide corridor with basic lights and ventilation. The ground floor is dedicated to critical patients while the first floor is dedicated to suspected patients. The classrooms on the first floor are converted into a general ward for patients with mild symptoms, while an isolated provision has been made for three patients. Research shows us that an infected person that spread droplets in the air when coughing or sneezing, which can be inhaled by a healthy person. Thus, an anteroom airlocks the isolation ward due to the presence of negative pressure. Similar pressure is maintained for all the critical rooms on the ground floor.

  • Some of the classrooms on the first floor have been converted into medical and supplies rooms, while an entire classroom is dedicated to a nurse station to maintain the patients’ medical history, store their belongings and rest
  • Critical rooms have an anteroom to maintain negative pressure and store medical equipment such as gloves, masks, bodysuits and so on. All of these rooms have portable washbasins and sanitisers
  • Due to no air-conditioning, the negative pressure is achieved using wall fans and exhaust fans with a virus burnout unit with partitions to contain the virus

Outdoor space

The assumed outdoor space at Shivaji Park is an open space with no facilities, and we have planned the setup with all the requirements of a virus-treating hospital. Two types of modules have been decided: a straight module for patients with mild symptoms and an I-shaped module for critical patients.

  • The straight module has patients kept in isolation under negative pressure to contain the virus while maintaining the fresh air in the areas using the anteroom, along with nursing stations and a storage area for equipment and medication
  • The I-shaped module has an anteroom each to maintain the negative pressure, store personal protective equipment and a resting area for the medical staff. There are spaces dedicated to maintaining patient files and sample storage. Security is an important aspect, thus the staff can only enter through the main entry doors through RFID cards

We invite experts, professionals and others for suggestions regarding the proposed drawings.

NOTE: THESE DRAWINGS HAVE NO COPYRIGHT AND CAN BE FREELY COPIED, USED, EDITED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE HUMANKIND.

If you need any further information about the project, feel free to contact us on the phone.

SPACE DESIGN GROUP:

  • Mr. Sanjiv Chowdhury: 9324792818

Feel free to contact us on the given email addresses:

  • info@Sdg-India.In
  • Sanjiv@Sdg-India.In
  • Sanjiv2810@Gmail.Com
  • Space.Dezign.Group@Gmail.Com