Davis Partnership Architects has adapted to the current crisis and contributed to a number of outreach initiatives to help our community. These range from designing healthcare facilities to help battle COVID-19 to developing healthy building standards for a world post-pandemic. As new information arrives daily, we continue to update our Healthy Building Design Guidelines for a safer and healthier environment.

Healthy Building Design

At Davis Partnership Architects we have long been focused on creating spaces and places for people that are inspiring and built for people. It’s been central to what we’ve always done and what we will always do. And now we find ourselves in a situation where all the experience we’ve gained, in all our different disciplines, all the questions we’ve asked of our partners, of ourselves, and of our creations are being focused on one distinct use case. But as we’ve always done, we don’t want to focus on the present at the peril of the future. We want to build spaces that are dignified for years to come: built for now, but adaptable for whatever the future holds.

Health + Wellness How can we maintain both the health and wellness of occupants and the perceived health and wellness, while still creating vibrant, collaborative spaces?	Technology + Lighting How do we utilize technology and lighting in innovative ways to support health?	Space Planning Producing functional, safe, and beautiful environments that are resilient and adaptable.
Culture + Communities We have always focused on creating conducive, productive places that are infused with what drives people to do amazing work: life and values.	Material Use Materials have all the same characteristics that we look for in people, and that’s what helps give a space it’s character.	Procedures + Wayfinding Understanding how to move through a space can help put a visitor at ease. How do we make people feel safe, protected, and informed?

COVID-19 Response Projects

Davis Partnership Architects has been working with several partners in our community to actively fight COVID-19 using the tools we know best, DESIGN. Here are some projects we’ve been working on to help fight COVID-19. 

Colorado Convention Center – Alternate Care Facility We were honored to provide our professional services as a part of the design and construction team that worked hand-in-hand with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), transforming the Denver Colorado Convention Center into an Alternate Care Facility in support of Colorado’s response and readiness to the COVID19 pandemic. Our team designed a 2,000 bed temporary hospital in two days and worked with the construction team to build-out the projet in 14 days.
Mobile Transportable Clean Cube for Rapid Response Applications Davis Partnership Architects has designed a mobile, transportable clean, clinical environment for rapid response applications. Units are built and scheduled for delivery to Texas and the Southeast United States for review and demonstration. The goal is to have these units available to corporate facilities, healthcare facilities, and military applications for ready response needs whether it be man-made disaster, natural disaster, or pandemics. The Mobile Transportable Clean Cube for Rapid Response Applications (MC3-RR) has dedicated air handling units with pharmaceutical-grade HEPA filtration, is modular and expandable, and can be configured into multiple care settings, including testing, triage, laboratory, team care and patient support (isolation, quarantine, and ICU step-down), and temporary bed and first-responder quarters. Units can be connected, stacked, and reconfigured, as well as hermetically sealed to support disinfection cycle, patient isolation, or to protect personnel.
St. Anthony North – 84th Street Building Rehabilitation for COVID-19 Davis Partnership Architects teamed with Mortenson Construction to renovate the abandoned St. Anthony’s North building and convert it to an inpatient unit in response to the COVID19 Pandemic. In six weeks, the team completed phase one of the project in anticipation of tenant occupancy, this included setting up a 78-bed unit with hot and clean zones, special donning and doffing sequencing areas for patients and staff, and a negative pressure ventilation system.

Resources

In effort to help our community and share resources, our design research team has assembled a number of publications helpful in navigating COVID-19 responses. These articles were influential in developing our own Healthy Building Design guidelines, and provide the data that drove real, practical solutions. Each article below hyperlinks to the full publication.

2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Built Environment Considerations To Reduce Transmission (American Society for Microbiology) – Daylight in both the UV and visible spectral ranges reduced the viability of bacteria compared to dark control spaces. In a study simulating sunlight on influenza virus aerosols, virus half-life was significantly reduced with simulated sunlight.

Mitigating Airborne Infection Transmission with HVAC Systems (ASHRAE) – A recent National Institute of Health study analyzed the virus’ stability in aerosols and on surfaces. Researchers found the virus remained variable in aerosols for hours and also found the virus was more stable on plastic and stainless than on copper and cardboard.

Hospitals are bringing nature into stressful COVID-19 ICUs (Fast Company) – The virus is taking a toll on the mental well being of hospital care professionals. In response, some hospitals are providing an oasis in unused areas near ICUs for staff. Integrating biophilic design, lighting, music in a multi-sensory space to help relax and recharge.

Navigating What’s Next: The Post-COVID Workplace (Steelcase) – Wellness vestibule or clean entry threshold worked into the building core. These spaces will have a sink to wash your hands, coat and shoe storage, and have health check stations. This will be the first area people will experience before they are allowed into the office area.