Adel Farhat

Private in Public: Reimagining Spatial Design in a Physically Distanced World

In March 2020, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was officially declared a global pandemic. Within a span of 2 years, the pandemic resulted in over 6 million documented deaths and triggered large-scale economic crises as well as social upheaval. Reactive measures such as national lockdowns, isolation and quarantine procedures, and physical distancing practices were instituted for the benefit of public health and safety. However, minimal consideration was given to the psychological impact this break in human connection would cause.

As COVID-19 has receded to an endemic and public spaces have reopened, the central concern of the practicum project is the redesign of performance interiors to observe suggested public health guidelines and establish a standard for safe socialization in a post-COVID world. This will take the form of a post-pandemic theatre centre – a redesign of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in the Exchange District of Winnipeg. In this practicum, I explore lessons from past and present pandemics, the evolutional journey of performing arts typologies, and theories of Proxemics and Effective Capacity to inform the user capacity, spatial organization, furniture selection, and ventilation and sanitation systems of the theatre centre.