One of our most recent projects here at VAKOTA has been the redesign of a New York-based music school in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order for schools to welcome students in a safe way that accommodates social distancing, changes must be made – and swiftly.

The first and most obvious step to make is to reduce the number of students in a classroom at any given time; with that in mind we have been looking at classroom modifications that allow for smaller classes to move around the building, work, and study efficiently and safely.

For school projects such as this, we would look at modifications that suit the needs of the specific institution – whether that be wider distances between desks, protective screens, handwashing stations, or anything else to help stop the spread of Coronavirus in the classroom.

Whilst it is important to make these spaces safe for students and teachers alike, we also need to consider the balance of both speed and cost in these renovations. For students to attend school sooner rather than later, we are implementing quick yet elegant solutions, such as temporary prefabricated pressure walls, UV-lighting for sensitization of classrooms, and installing occupancy sensors to increase automation and less contact of surfaces.

This means that we can have classrooms up and running in just a few weeks or months.

Another large consideration is ensuring that these structures are future-proof. We cannot know when this pandemic will start to ‘end’, and therefore we cannot know when, or even if, these measures will become less necessary. To combat this, we have been developing convertible structures which can be used both on a long-term and temporary basis – that is, they’ll stand up to the test of time if they need to but won’t make permanent structural changes to the building. As a result, if social distancing becomes less necessary, and measures can be eased, structures such as screens and handwashing stations can be easily removed without leaving a lasting effect.

Now that we’ve completed the COVID-19 modeling for one public institution, the learnings we’ve made are largely transferable to other similar institutions – meaning we can make theatres, art centers and museums safer quickly and inexpensively. We’re even more pleased that we have been able to develop these measures whilst keeping any changes or design additions within the brand and aesthetic of the institution itself – matching colors and feel to the existing building and rooms.