One-way circulation

Challenge

The Danish Association of Architects' (Akademisk Arkitektforening) building in Copenhagen houses approximately 30 employees. The building also has customerfacing functions, such as a shop, as well as rooms and courtyards used for member and public events, and common facilities, such as meeting rooms and a coffee bar. Besides these rooms, however, the building consists primarily of closed offices. When the guidelines for social distancing requirements for workplaces came into force, an analysis of the room sizes and layout of the building showed that it was necessary to change its circulation in order to be in accordance with requirements.

Solution

The building is a historical, semi-detached house with three floors and a basement and was originally built as two symmetrical parsonages. The spatial organisation became part of the solution, as the symmetrical structure with a staircase at each end and continuous corridor areas made it possible to establish one-way circulation in the house. In March 2020, signs were put up to support the one-way traffic in the stairways and corridors to prevent the physical proximity that “oncoming traffic” on the stairs would cause. In this way, the Danish Association of Architects could live up to the social distancing requirements while maintaining the building’s normal functions. The intervention was intended as a non-permanent measure.

The example shows how you can make interventions that are fast and agile by utilising the existing architecture of a building – in this case, the floor plan. The example illustrates the importance of considering robustness and flexibility in architectural and spatial design.

Taxonomy

Sphere: The Workplace, Civil associations

Timescale: Short Term

Type: Graphic Application

User Group: Employees/Service Providers, Customers/Users

The Danish Association of Architects' building layout makes it possible to establish one-way traffic in corridors and stairways

Before COVID-19: traffic in all directions

After the introduction of restrictions: one-way traffic

Project and location: Grøndal Multicenter, Copenhagen, Denmark

Contributor: Københavns Kommune, Kultur- og Fritidsforvaltningen

Established: March 2020 / Removed: June 2021