Towards domestic space design in the post-COVID-19 era: A review of relevant literature

It cannot be denied that the global COVID-19 pandemic was the driving force for the rapid changes that are reflected in various aspects of life, especially daily human life, because of the imposition of the stay-home policy. This study is a review of the latest published studies in peer-reviewed scientific journals on the period of mandatory stay-at-home associated with COVID-19. It is expected that this change will have several effects. Therefore, the main objective of the review is to reveal the dual-effect relationship between housing design and the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the study monitored the potential impacts of housing design on the spread of COVID-19 and on meeting the diverse needs of its residents to extract lessons learned from the stay experience. It also included a set of practical visions for designing a post-COVID home that can withstand any sudden or expected change. The review findings indicate that despite the benefits of staying home in reducing COVID-19 at the general level, it is at the architectural level, it turned out that most of the existing home design parameters are not at all prepared for facing epidemics, resulting in their inability to meet many of the main and emerging needs of their residents. It also showed that the epidemic promoted architects to reconsider the design requirements of a home that turned out to have to meet more needs than it had. In this context, a set of practical visions and recommendations for post-COVID home design were envisioned, targeting the change in space design, space preparations, and design complements. These visions are integrated to contain the various requirements of residents imposed by epidemics or other circumstances, while giving high priority to impeding the transmission of infection and supporting the physical and mental health of the residents. The visualizations adopt and entrench the necessary principles and basis for a post-COVID home, represented in a healthy, smart, green, larger house to face sudden crises.