Ar. Shobhan Kothari - ADND
Homes will now begin to address not only the pragmatic aspect of design but also question the ‘wellness’ quotient in design.
Designs will evolve from having ‘curb-appeal’ to a more socially contributing device. Homegrown compost from waste to manure for plants, design with less frills and show, and home office to accommodate a healthy home-work balance life will be needed. Spaces in general will have to be designed for duplicity or multiplicity of functions, rather than serving a singular purpose. Materials that are sustainable and environmentally safe will be used more in coming times.

Minimalism by the process of filtration and not as a reductive process will be the next move.
Anything that we do not want will be removed. As designers, we will need to build homes with fresh air circulation and natural light. The designs will need to cater to bringing harmony with nature as much as possible. Technology and data are going to be the front runners in designing spaces of the future. The AI-driven home is not a novel concept; it has already found a niche audience; and the future will see AI permeate all homes.

ADND

Policymakers, developers, designers, and all society-conscious stakeholders will have to put their heads together to create not a ‘new normal’ but a more ‘stable and sustainable normal’.
We need to understand that the industry was always under duress before the pandemic. The event has only highlighted its problems. We need to create jobs in cities to prevent large influx of migrants, create designs that go beyond the threshold of aesthetics and are more human-centric, and create cities where the housing sector caters to all the working classes.

ADND

This pandemic has made us all question the future. Architecture and its future will also be challenged. Solutions will need to be immediate, absorbing the ‘new normal’ and also developing a long term perspective for a more resilient future. The real estate industry has mainly three pain points to factor in, namely, Financial strains (both due to government policies and the banking sector); Labour, and Demand (both from the intrinsic market as well as the NRI segment).