Construction Bulletin

AIA’s Response to COVID-19

April 9, 2020

By: John W. Hays

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) created a task force to consider “the role of architects and the built environment in the current COVID-19 crisis.” On April 6, the task force published its first “Health Impact Briefing,” which discusses the use of alternative care sites (ACS) to provide healthcare operations in a non-healthcare setting or building. The task force is working to provide public officials with ready resources to assess and develop “physical facility changes” at ACS. To that end, the task force is working to prepare a COVID-19 ACS Preparedness Assessment Tool V1.0 and a COVID-19 ArchMap. The Assessment Tool will provide guidance for public officials who are charged with developing ACS over the next 30 to 90 days. The ArchMap is an online database of ACS case studies that will provide “quick retrieval of possible solutions for individual institutions along with the monitoring of overall national activity.” Although the task force is working to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, the assessment tool and database can be used to develop ACS for any crisis that threatens to overwhelm hospital capacity. Read the report here.