Description

One of the great imbalances of our societal response to COVID-19 has been the overwhelming emphasis put on barriers and guidelines to reinforce individual safety and personal health without a corresponding program to ensure the health of our more vulnerable communities. Architects have a unique role to play in this crisis. They are makers and designers who sit at the crux of the building community and are able to tap into various resources and ideas. This pandemic required a planning mindset much more than a solutions-driven one. It required the team to foresee and project possibilities and to look at a more systematic response needed by our communities. As cities grew empty and hospitals reached full capacity, architects around the world pondered on their role in the fight against Covid-19. Confronted by the challenge of containment, William Ti and Dr. Glenn Angeles collaborated with Maj. Carmelo Jaluague and Maj. Banjo Torres Badayo of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to quickly mobilize the construction of an Emergency Quarantine Facility (EQF). The WTA x Boysen Pavilion from the recent Anthology Festival in Intramuros was a viable design for a quarantine facility for the overflow of PUIs in hospitals. 

The Emergency Quarantine Facility (EQF) embodied speed, scalability and simplicity in its structure. Prescient and purposeful, the pavilion consisted of an adaptable wall system that can transform into short-term relief spaces we might require in times of increasing uncertainty. Built with wood and enveloped in plastic, the original pavilion was rapidly redesigned and repurposed into a 6m x 26m rectilinear facility equipped with 15 beds, two toilets, a shower, a testing box and disinfecting areas. The EQF, a brainchild born out of ideas of ephemerality and impermanence, is a temporary structure aimed at augmenting the capacity of our hospitals. Strategically planned to limit cross-contamination, patients and healthcare workers have designated entries and airflow is directed downwind from front to rear to prevent recirculation. The facility can be lengthened or shortened depending on need, and can likewise be aggregated in modules to accommodate many more patients.