Nearly 40 million Americans live in apartments. And because of the COVID-19 pandemic, developers and residents have been forced to rethink apartment living in terms of health, space, and utility.

To capture these thoughts, and to understand the future of multifamily housing, a team at Grimm + Parker Architects, which specializes in affordable and sustainable architecture projects, last summer conducted a fact-based exploration of the challenges and pressures that developers and residents experienced during the health crisis, and how those factors are likely to affect apartment design.

Other design firms have speculated on the impact COVID-19 is likely to have on apartment living, but far fewer have provided solutions as specifically as Grimm + Parker.

In this exclusive interview for HorizonTV, BD+C Executive Editor Rob Cassidy interviews three designers from Grimm + Parker Architects about proposed new ways to design multifamily communities in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Zak Schooley, Lauren Gilmarten, and Julio Cruz discuss new design concepts for typical apartment units, common open spaces, fitness centers, and community mailrooms and office spaces to make them safer and healthier for tenants and visitors.

For more, read BD+C's recap article, A post-pandemic ‘new normal’ for apartment buildings.