Role of Architecture in Fighting COVID-19
The design of our spaces has the power to hurt us or to keep us safe. At MASS Design Group, we have spent the last ten years building new spaces and retrofitting existing buildings to promote infection control, and to support our partners in providing the best patient care possible. Today, we draw upon lessons learned from the field, bringing infectious disease mitigation principles to inform our current decision making.
We are dedicating resources to form a COVID-19 Design Response team, to respond to partner needs and to share strategies and rules of thumb to keep in mind when retrofitting different types of spaces for infection control. We’ll be engaging with key thought leaders and partners in design and healthcare to guide our work. These materials will be made public to the community as they become available.
Please share your questions and solutions with us at [email protected] or by using the contact form below.
For the latest updates on our COVID-19 response team, please join our newsletter.
Resources
Healthy Housing for Native Communities
Revised: January 29, 2021
Designing Senior Housing for Safe Interaction
July 8, 2020
Carceral Environments and COVID-19
May 15, 2020
Architecture Can Heal - Adapting Healthcare Spaces in Response to COVID-19
Webinar: May 12, 2020
Spatial Strategies for Restaurants in Response to COVID-19
May 8, 2020
COVID-19 Construction Safety Guidelines
May 8, 2020
Redesigning Hospital Spaces on the Fly to Protect Healthcare Workers
April 27, 2020
Rules of Thumb for Limiting Contagion in Makeshift Facilities
Revised: April 13, 2020
Guía básica para limitar el contagio en instalaciones sanitarias temporales
Revisado: 13 de Abril, 2020
The role of architecture in fighting a pandemic
Published in The Boston Globe on April 6, 2020
Designing Spaces for Infection Control
March 27, 2020
Diseño de espacios para el control de infecciones
27 de Marzo, 2020
We are also working with organizations leading the response to the COVID-19 outbreak. We are ready to offer immediate and medium-term service needs, including retrofitting facilities for increased health and safety, supporting vulnerable populations in their planning, design, and implementation of social distancing strategies, and supporting airborne infection control analysis and measurement for government strategy. You can read more about our services offered here.
We want to help with your needs. Please reach out if you need support, if you have partners that need design services, or with any questions.
Relevant Projects
Infectious Disease Mitigation Portfolio
PDF of Selected Projects
Health and Housing Portfolio
PDF of Selected Projects
Butaro District Hospital
Butaro, Burera District, Rwanda
GHESKIO Cholera Treatment Center
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
GHESKIO Tuberculosis Hospital
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

African Centre for the Genomics of Infectious Diseases Laboratory
Ede, Nigeria
New Redemption Hospital
Caldwell, Liberia
We want to hear from you
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions and suggestions.