The Joy of Home During COVID-19 Times

Townhouse interior by Mergal Architecture & Design photo by Peter Murdock

We normally associate our home with comfort, informality and time away from the office to enjoy the company of family, friends and loved ones, or to simply relax.  But during COVID-19 times things have gotten a little topsy-turvy.  Our lives have been turned on their head. We now work from home and our routines may clash with our spouse’s. Children may interrupt our day, yielding it less efficient.  Even for those without kids at home, or without spouses, working from home, for so many weeks, has made us loopy. COVID-19 has undeniably changed our notion of home.


Spiritual and motivational leaders exhort us to seek the “golden lessons” hidden in this tragic quarantine.  They ask us to look with optimism for the silver lining hidden behind this noxious pandemic and cite past plagues as proof that “this too shall pass” with a better future in the offing.



We architects are in the business of imagining a brighter and better future through our designs. But how can architecture help during this pandemic? I will posit the notion that well-designed traditional houses enable us to weather this so-called “new normal” better than houses designed in a modernist style for the following seven reasons. Traditionally designed houses:

1-    Are a collection of discreet rooms instead of undifferentiated spaces that flow into each other.  How many contemporary houses have living, dining, kitchen and family rooms that open “loft-like” to each other? In a well-designed traditional house rooms have doors which can be closed for privacy. 

Townhouse interior by Mergal Architecture & Design, photo by Peter Murdock

2-   Visually express the structural loads (from the roof to the ground) clearly giving us a sense of stability as opposed to visually defying gravity.

3-   Have vertically oriented windows (VOHs) - as opposed to bands of horizontal windows. VOHs respond to our innate sense of proportion, order and well-being.  They are anthropomorphic, i.e. they resemble a person; they stand vertically.

Townhouse renovation by Mergal Architecture & Design

4-   Tend to have narrow footprints (less than 25 feet wide, about 2 rooms wide), promoting cross-ventilation and natural light, which leads to a healthy environment.

Brooklyn house renovation by Mergal Architecture & Design

5-   Are designed following a local typology. In other words, houses that belong to a particular geographical and cultural area have similar architectural characteristics or a similar “architectural DNA”.  This lends a greater sense of stability and belonging – reassuring characteristics in unfamiliar times.

Dutch Colonial House designed by Mergal Architecture & Design

6-   Are good neighbors – they fit into the character of the neighborhood instead of contrasting with it. This is true not only of exterior massing, but also in the use of compatible materials.  Building houses with multiple gables in communities known for simply gabled or hip roofs is antagonistic; precisely the opposite you need during a pandemic.

Good Neighbor

Bad Neighbor

7-   Use natural durable materials such as wood, stone, brick wool, cotton, and noble metals such as brass, copper, bronze and iron. For example: in neighborhoods that use painted wood fences they would not use metal or plastic fences. Or if wrought iron is used for the metal work, they would not introduce stainless steel. These houses are also safer; documentation exists that houses filled with synthetic materials reach flash points a lot faster than those filled with natural materials. Who would not want a safer, healthier house during pandemic quarantine times?

House in Bayside, NY

To conclude, a well-designed house will not cure all social ills caused by COVID-19, but it will go a long way to bring joy to its occupants and thereby contribute to their well-being.  Someone could argue that these seven reasons are elitist and cannot be universally applied.  My answer is that the application of these ideas does require a cultural shift: from a culture of disposable objects to one of conservable objects- a sustainable culture that conserves our resources.  A change is also needed to bring about a culture that honors the past instead of being so continually fascinated by the new as to forget its own history and the commonsense lessons contained in it.