Towards new business models in a post-pandemic world: quick reflections for adapting building products to potential new needs***

By Lorenzo Bona

The current pandemic related with the spread of the Covid-19 is changing our lifestyle and has brought unprecedented challenges for all of us.

In response to this situation a series of new rules and measures has been suggested and introduced by public and health authorities in order to minimize the spread of the virus: for example, social distancing, self-isolation, good hygiene practices.

Adapting to this new scenario, many individuals and companies are also thinking about viable and fruitful plans that could support a satisfactory development of their activities in a post-pandemic world.

Moving from this preliminary comments and orienting the attention toward the manufacturing sector devoted to the fabrication of architectural and building products, some quick reflections are developed here below in ways that could help stimulate the emergence of more refined market analyses that, in turn, could open the door to potential responses that some manufactures operating in that sector may choose to implement after the pandemic is passed and things return to normal or evolve into a so called ‘new normal’.

In this perspective it seems useful to recall a couple of well-known aspects: on the one hand, the strong influence – via demand and/or specification of products – exercised on fabricators of architectural and building products by the building and design sector; on the other hand, the related observation that significant changes or ideas that emerge in this sector tend to also have some effects on the strategies of these fabricators.

This may suggest – before making further steps ahead in these reflections – to introduce a few words about some reactions in the building and design sector to the spread of the current pandemic and to the many related challenges that this same sector is also experiencing.

In this sense, it may have some relevance to observe that – at the time of this writing – articles and commentaries seem to reflect a growing debate, arising from architects and designers, that appears to suggest that the creation of a safer and healthier built environment could help expand the array of remedies that are available to modern societies to fight or mitigate the current pandemic – and potential similar diseases that could arise in the future.

A quick summary for some of the most stimulating suggestions that are coming to surface in the mentioned debate, and that might also directly offer precious ideas to manufacturers of architectural and building materials, could be organized around these themes:

a) better air quality in homes and buildings, via improvements of systems for air circulation and ventilation;

b) higher levels of automation in buildings for minimizing the need for people to touch objects when at home or work;

c) more antimicrobial materials and antibacterial products for the construction of buildings.

Other recent interesting thoughts from experts in the field of architecture and design seem to also make room to the relevance of functionality and energy-saving goals, in ways that – with some simplifications – could be recalled in the following manner:

- the work-from-home experience that many of us are living during this pandemic, could translate for some people – somehow paradoxically – to an unexpected appreciation of the advantages of remote work, in ways that, in turn, could make this style of working more and more popular;

- this same experience could also make a growing number of people aware that – in contexts where there is not a clear separation between home and office – a (re)organization of spaces, as well as some planning for the creation of quiet zones with less noise may be highly desirable;

- the related experience of a prolonged period of indoor confinement for many people could stimulate a great number of them to pay more attention to the value of natural light, given its beneficial impact on human well-being;

- this same experience could also result in more and more people embracing plans for water and energy efficiency and for a diversification of energy sources, to minimize the risks in the event of a full shutdown.

Considering all this, it could also make sense to speculate that the earlier introduced list of “themes” – that in a post-pandemic scenario could attract special attention in the design and building sector – could be expanded as suggested below:

d) more flexible interior design, via the incorporation of mechanisms and systems for the organization of interior spaces that, acting as both residences and businesses, need to accommodate temporary activities;

e) better sound insulation in buildings, via the incorporation of techniques and building materials that help minimize noise transmission;

f) easier access to daylight in buildings, via the incorporation of roofs and balconies, as well as glazed windows and doors for large exterior wall openings;

g) greater self-sufficiency of buildings, via the incorporation of energy and water saving techniques / systems as well as other solutions for a diversification of energy sources.

Without any ambition to be fully exhaustive, the reflections developed so far may offer some helpful insights to manufacturers that aspire to continue to be vigilant and able to fruitfully adapt their products and strategies to potential new needs that might emerge in the design and building sector after the current health emergency.

As suggested in the table below – for example – an elementary translation of the earlier proposed themes in more clearly defined categories of products that may attract greater attention in the future in the design and building sector could help some fabricators of architectural and building materials in refining their market analyses and their efforts for the implementation of potential responses in a post-pandemic business environment.

*** This writing – still largely in progress – aims to offer helpful insights to manufacturers that aspire to continue to be vigilant and able to fruitfully adapt their products and strategies to potential new needs that might emerge in the design and building sector after the current Covid-19 pandemic, in light of the current evolving scenario as it is appearing today – April 20, 2020. This scenario is changing rapidly, and some observations and reflections made today in this writing may become out of date.