Walking during lockdowns, following protocols and restrictions, city dwellers witnessed the birth of a new architectural aesthetic. Concern with infection began gradually redefining the space of cities and the social choreography of daily urban life. This has led to a rethinking of the limits of architecture. Albena Yaneva explores these changes in her new book,  Architecture After COVID.

COVID has led to radical changes as architects have had to drastically rethink the “craft” of designing. Their techniques changed in terms of communication, documentation, technical innovation and unconventional ways of “meeting” clients or “visiting” construction sites. As drawing together in the studio became impossible, designers began expressing ideas in oral and written ways. These “returns” prompted design concepts to be clearly articulated beforehand, not in the process of spontaneous exchange around the table.

Yaneva's study found no miraculous solutions to the challenges and the disruptions created by the COVID pandemic. Yet in their everyday, repetitive design work, architects generated numerous small innovations and adjustments that provided solutions. When they were repeated and adopted by others, these inventions propagated, often leading to bigger changes.