As the coronavirus spread during 2020, Hollin Hills — with its natural setting and open, airy architecture — turned out to be a pretty good place to quarantine. Kayde Schwabacher explores how epidemics have shaped the development of architecture, and looks at how the coronavirus may affect our homes in the future.

As days of lockdown have turned into months, and even whole seasons, one thing has become clear: For sheltering in place, some places are better than others. Our homes have become conference rooms, classrooms, art studios and gyms, the new backdrop of our lives. The health crisis is changing the way we use our houses, and may change the way we design them in the future.


But the open, flexible design of Hollin Hills houses, with their walls of glass that connect us with the outdoors, may already give us health benefits (both physical and mental) and help us not just to get through the pandemic, but to thrive in it.


Health crises have transformed our built environments throughout history. The bubonic plague, which wiped out over a third of Europe’s population in the 15th century, inspired radical improvements in urban areas.

But it was really in the early 20th Century, during epidemics of cholera, flu and particularly tuberculosis, that architects focused on design as a way to fight disease. In the 1920’s, modernist architect Le Corbusier began lifting his houses off the ground on pilotis to avoid the humid earth and combat tuberculosis, while Richard Neutra, whose father died of the 1918 flu pandemic, emphasized natural air circulation throughout his Southern California buildings to mitigate the threat of disease.  

In fact, every detail of Neutra’s groundbreaking Lovell Health House from 1929 – a modernist masterpiece of spacious interiors, walls of glass and multiple patios – was designed to promote a healthy life. 


Changes took place inside our homes, as well. The realization that dust and dirt harbored dangerous germs fueled a shift away from overly adorned ornamentation in favor of modern design. To fight bacteria lurking in dark rooms and dusty furniture, canopied beds, deep-set mouldings, and lavish upholstery fell out of style. Alternatively, minimalist furniture, white walls, and bright interiors representing cleanliness and good health became popular. 

Take Finnish architect Alvar Aalto’s 1931 “Paimio 41” armchair, for instance – designed to be a light, easy-to-clean chair for a tuberculosis sanatorium, it became an icon of modernist design.


And more recently, architects have been exploring ways to design hospitals in ways that actively promote health and recovery, such as providing patients with views of trees and flowers (rather than of other sick people), ensuring plenty of fresh air and making it easy to access the outdoors – all of which have been shown to shorten recovery times and improve patient outcomes.


What does all this mean for Hollin Hills? With their open, light-filled interiors, views into woodlands, excellent air circulation, privacy, easy access to parks, indoor-outdoor living spaces and so on, Goodman-designed houses embody the health-promoting aspects of modernist architecture – and provide an environment far more conducive to good health than, say, a two-bedroom apartment in Dupont Circle. As life has become more restricted, access to the outdoors, in particular, has emerged as a way to curtail the spread of the virus and avoid cabin fever.

Private outdoor areas where people can safely gather have almost become a necessity, leading many people to leave cities for the suburbs or the countryside. 
As we spend days on end at home, we’ve also become increasingly aware of how the spaces we occupy influence not only our physical health, but our mood and well-being. Design features that maximize natural light, such as skylights and floor-to-ceiling windows, provide valuable sun exposure that can boost moods and increase productivity.  We’ve also had to transform the way we live in our homes, turning them into multi-functional spaces where we can work, live, play and study. Backyard lounge chairs have replaced vacation resorts, fitness equipment is the new gym membership, and standing desks have become office cubicles.  

From guest rooms becoming classrooms, to dining tables transforming into workstations, the quarantine has heightened the need for adaptable spaces in our homes.
With their open-plan layout, Hollin Hills houses would seem ideally suited to that kind of adaptability, and in many ways they are. Yet, while many people relish the freedom of working in the comfort of their home, others find it difficult to focus, as the boundary between designated work and leisure spaces becomes blurred. And, with multiple family members working and studying together at home, the need for privacy and isolation is growing.


That’s why Hollin Hills architect Christine Kelly predicts a shift toward more private spaces that are conducive to studying and creativity.

“Although most of my clients like an open floor plan,” she says, “I am seeing a trend toward creating smaller, intimate spaces with good insulation and sound-deadening drywall to create space to think, create, work or relax away from the daily noise and hubbub of family life.” 


While our homes were a refuge from the outside world before the coronavirus, now more than ever they are sanctuaries offering comfort, safety, and inspiration. Although the experience of lockdown will have a lasting effect on us all, there is comfort in knowing not only that we’re all in this together, but that we’ve been here before and emerged with trailblazing discoveries about our world. Just as attempts to fight tuberculosis in the early twentieth century resulted in architectural innovations that continue to this day, our fight against COVID-19 will certainly have a lasting impact. 
How the world will change after the pandemic remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: the way we think about and create our living spaces may never be the same.


Kayde Schwabacher, a resident of Hollin Hills since birth, studied Media Studies and Architecture at the University of Virginia and now works in advertising.