Egyptian Architect Designs Social Distancing-Friendly Work Pods

As employees worldwide get used to working from home, with no clear timeline on when workplaces can be accessed safely again, several hackathons have mobilised innovators and experts to find smart solutions to tackle the many daily changes the COVID-19 virus has created.

One of which is the Dubai IDEATHON, an initiative started by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, alongside Art Dubai Group, as an attempt to solve immediate challenges brought on by the pandemic by inviting participants to propose viable ideas and solutions for the long haul - specifically in the creative industry. 

One of the submissions is by Mohamed Radwan, an Egyptian architect who designed an office pod system meant for the post-Corona world in a project titled ‘Q.workintine’. The concept is meant for essential workers who might need to share the same physical office space and will not be able to work from home.

The designs outline an air tight pod system so that essential employees can share the same workspace safely, while maintaining the same amount of people per square meter in accordance with traditional office systems.

“The idea came to me as I was hearing about how some corporations (mainly in the west) were struggling to keep their supply chains running,” Radwan tells Startup Scene. “And in the case of some essential businesses like food and medical supplies, working from home was not an option. This resulted mostly in workers and employees working in environments that put them in the risk of infection.”

“So I thought about the pods as a design solution to keep those essential businesses running. The idea was to have a temporary and easy to implement (and later remove) isolation system to prevent the risk of infection, while also maintaining the same number of personnel per meter square.”

The pods were initially conceptualised as being made of fibreglass or metal body with an acrylic polymer composite finish to be easy to clean and disinfect.