AIA launches COVID-19 task force to advise building adaptation for hospital use initiatives

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the creation of a special task force that aims to educate public officials, healthcare facilities, and other architects on how to adapt existing buildings for temporary hospital use.  According to a statement published by the group this morning, the task force will encourage "federal, state and local government to adapt appropriate existing buildings to meet the growing healthcare and quarantine needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic," a phenomenon that has already begun to take shape in some of the cities hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, where the need for hospital beds is quickly outstripping the available supply.  Previously on Archinect: "US Army Corps of Engineers has a plan to convert hotels into “ICU-like” facilities." The Army Corps of Engineers has developed a standard plan for converting hotels into makeshift hospital wards. Shown: The Army Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. Image courtesy of Wikimedi...