Hasta La Ideas

This week on Dezeen, designers created face shields, mask holders and an emergency hospital to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.

BIG, KPF and Handel Architects, were among the architectural studios in the USA that have begun 3D-printing face shields to protect health workers battling coronavirus.

Researchers from MIT developed their own face shield. The extremely simple shield is made from a single piece of plastic, which can be shipped flat and turned into a 3D mask when required by medical staff.

Chinese 3D-printer manufacturer Creality also developed a device to help health care workers. Its 3D-printed buckle is designed to make wearing face masks for long periods less painful.

As coronavirus continues to spread, several conference centres around the world have been converted into coronavirus hospitals. In the UK, architecture studio BDP turned the ExCel centre in east London into a 4,000-bed hospital called NHS Nightingale.

Speaking to Dezeen, BDP’s James Hepburn said that converting convention centres is the most efficient way to increase intensive-care capacity.

In Germany, Opposite Office proposed converting another large building – Berlin’s unfinished Brandenburg airport – into a temporary hospital.

In response to the continued coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdowns in countries around the world, Dezeen has launched Virtual Design Festival – the world’s first online design festival.

The platform aims to bring the architecture and design world together to celebrate the culture and commerce of our industry and will host a rolling programme of online talks, lectures, movies and product launches.

To get involved email us at virtualdesignfestival@dezeen.com.

Architects and designers, including Carlo Ratti Associati, BIG, Snøhetta and Pearson Lloyd, spoke to Dezeen about how the lockdowns and working from home was impacting the work of their creative businesses.

“The scale of this shift is just unprecedented and will surely lead to new ways of working,” said Sheela Søgaard, partner at BIG.

With hundreds of millions of people in numerous countries around the world on lockdown or self-isolating, Dezeen rounded up 10 films with amazing architecture to stave off the stay-at-home boredom.

We also created a list of Instagram accounts that are creating light-hearted content, for those that want some relief from the coronavirus news.

Our Face to Face podcast series continued with an interview with British architect David Chipperfield, who spoke about his childhood on a farm, struggles with school and Zaha Hadid’s hand in passing his architecture diploma. He also explained why he still suffers from imposter syndrome.

“I have a sense of purpose maybe but I don’t have innate creative talents to the level of someone like Renzo [Piano] or maybe Frank Gehry or Álvaro Siza,” he said in the podcast. “So in that sense, I feel a bit of a fake.”

Popular projects on Dezeen this week included a house built on stilts above the River Thames flood plain, a house extension built inside a ruin and a pair of Toronto townhouses separated by a slender gap by Ancerl Studio.

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