Daily coronavirus architecture and design briefing: 17 April

Daily coronavirus briefing: today's architecture and design coronavirus briefing includes plexiglass beach cabins and free Zoom backgrounds from Studio Ghibli.

AIA conference cancelled until 2021 due to coronavirus

The American Institute of Architects has cancelled its annual conference as the US continues to battle the spread of coronavirus. It said it will instead focus efforts towards responding to the coronavirus crisis (via Dezeen).

Nuova Neon 2 proposes plexiglass beach cabins for safe sun bathing 

Italian exhibition-stand design company Nuova Neon 2 has revealed designs for plexiglass-walled booths (shown above) that could be placed on a beach to allow for safe sunbathing. The 4.5 metre by 4.5 metre booths would have room for two sun loungers and an umbrella (via Domus).

Studio Ghibli creates free Zoom backgrounds

Oscar-winning animation house Studio Ghibli has released a selection of wallpapers that can be used for free on video chat service Zoom (via Dazed).

Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham say lack of "huggy-kissy stuff" in Japan may help slow coronavirus

Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham Architecture explain how Japan's culture of bowing instead of hand-shaking may have helped in the fight against coronavirus, in their video message recorded for Virtual Design Festival (via Dezeen).

Draganfly to build "pandemic drones" to monitor coronavirus symptoms

Canadian drone company Dragonfly is working with the Australian Department of Defense and the University of South Australia to make drones that will be able to detect people's temperature and heart rates. They will also be able to spot people coughing in a crowd (via Business Insider).

UK architecture suffers record drop in confidence

The Royal British Institute of Architects has released its Future Trends survey for March, which revealed that UK architects' confidence has dropped by the largest amount since the survey was launched in January 2009 (via BDonline).

Architects and critics choose the feel-good buildings they are missing during coronavirus

British architects, artists and critics have selected the buildings that they look forward to seeing again after the coronavirus pandemic (via Dezeen).

Keep up with developments by following Dezeen's coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. For news of impacted events, check Dezeen Events Guide's dedicated coronavirus page.

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