The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) has formed two new task forces to study design and construction issues related to the pandemic, and how the industry’s future will change as a result.
The task forces: the ASID Adaptive Living Task Force and the ASID IMPACT Review Task Force, fall under the Society’s member-led Advocate by Design Council, which advises ASID’s Government & Public Affairs Department on matters of federal, state, local and regulatory public policies that protect and advance the practice.
Following a competitive application process, ASID’s two task forces are staffed by more than 60 international doctors, attorneys, architects, educators, researchers, real estate professionals and interior designers.
“As the professionals most responsible for human experience in structures, interior designers take seriously their role in finding safe, functional and healthy solutions for building use during and after this pandemic. These task forces will provide valuable information, data, research, best practices and more for all stakeholders to improve our built environment in light of this international crisis, and ASID is here to support their critical work,” said ASID Interim CEO Gary Wheeler, FASID.
The ASID Adaptive Living Task Force will be chaired by Keith Stanton, ASID, NCIDQ, CHID. Stanton is the Director of Design Development for Thoma-Holec Design, LLC.
His task force will study changes in senior care, adaptive and multigenerational family living resulting from challenges faced by nursing homes and long-term care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
The task force will also study best design practices for quarantining family members within the home/family living structure whether they be ill, a healthcare worker exposed to disease or a person with immunodeficiencies, among other issues related to adaptive building use.
“The impacts of solid design practices are becoming evident during this pandemic. This task force is tapping into the most innovative design professionals to protect end users and residents, while pushing the envelope of creative design,” said Stanton.
The ASID IMPACT Review Task Force will be chaired by Linda Sorrento, FASID, LEED Fellow, Principal, Sustainable Practice at Sorrento Consulting and vice-chaired by Barbara Marini PhD, FASID, IDEC, ICC, past ASID National Chair and Director of Interior Design at The University of Texas at Arlington.
This task force will identify, study, examine, and vet scholarly and professional research, reporting, data, and information concerning the COVID-19 pandemic as related to design and construction. This information will then be curated into a single professional resource available to the public.
“There’s so much information being produced concerning building design, construction, operation, and maintenance related to COVID-19, and not all of it is accurate or well-researched,” said Sorrento. “This task force is charged with the behemoth mission of vetting that information, so only the best, most scientific information is included in the ASID public resource.”
