The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is currently assembling a database containing information on the health care facilities, both traditional and temporary, and the design professionals around the world mobilizing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Last week, AIA announced the creation of an internal COVID-19 task force that seeks to provide expert advice on how existing buildings can be rapidly converted for temporary hospital use. 

As part of that group’s work, AIA has published the COVID-19 ArchMap, an online library created in partnership with the Kansas University Institute of Health + Wellness Design. The website collects information on these medical facilities in order to create a searchable resource for medical and design professionals looking for best practices on building conversions for medical use. The map, which is populated by submissions generated from an AIA’s survey, can be sorted according to location, previous use, or current medical function. 

A statement from the survey website states, “Many healthcare providers are looking for quick ideas and options for responding to the surge in volume and the special needs of the patient populations. If you are working, or have recently completed, projects to help address this situation we are asking you to provide [project] information.”

The entries offer a glimpse into the immense impact the COVID-19 crisis is having on the built environment. 

As existing medical facilities have filled with COVID patients, cities, states, and the federal government have moved to convert existing non-medical buildings, including hotels, dormitories, and convention centers, into makeshift medical facilities to meet the crushing need for hospital beds. So far, these facilities, largely built according to standard plans supplied by the Army Corps of Engineers, represent what could be the first wave of building reorientations aimed at dealing with the health crisis. 

The COVID-19 ArchMap hopes to map and catalogue these facilities and more to “help identify solutions to growing bed surge needs and to support the development of design best practices for alternative care sites that support pandemic response,” according to the project website.