Apartments nationally are getting redesigned in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, but in Brooklyn?

There are two Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park towers (B4, B15) under construction, two said to start this summer (B12, B13), and one for which a permit has been filed (B5), starting a perhaps-slow process toward construction.

One natural question is whether and how such buildings will be (re)designed for the current coronavirus crisis and even a later phase when social distancing remains something of a norm. After all, vertical buildings on expensive, relatively tight parcels offer far more challenge and constraint than horizontal buildings on cheaper land.

Until we learn more, however, we can notice the trends. The Pandemic Is Changing How The Next Wave Of Apartment Amenities Will Be Designed, Bisnow reported 5/4/20.

The article quoted interior designer Adam Meshberg as noting that adding separation means pressure to increase the amount of space, which is costly to developers. A fitness center, he suggested, might be cut up into smaller rooms.

In larger buildings, more space is easier to achieve, while outdoor amenities become more important--an advantage for locations in temperate climates. Does that mean more terrace-type spaces at towers?

That suggests that the open space at Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park--for now truncated segments outside the B14 (535 Carlton) and B11 (550 Vanderbilt) towers--gains value and use, though it already seems relatively paltry for the number of households living there.

While B4 and B15 will not add outdoor space, B12 and B13 will allow the connection between four towers on the project's southeast block, albeit without the key green space created by the demapping of Pacific Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues, which awaits completion of the project. And that could take until 2035--or even longer, if extensions are sought related to the current crisis.

Getting flexible

From the article:

"It’s unlikely that common amenity space will go away, but there will be modifications to allow for increased compartmentalization, such as by using discrete, demountable screens or doors," said [Mojo Stumer Associate Joe] Yacobellis, who designed the common areas at the two-building, 1,115-unit multifamily development 5Pointz Towers in Long Island City, among other projects.

Given that more people will work for home, one designer cited the idea of multiple, and smaller, co-working spaces. In New York, such spaces have more likely been outside of the apartment building. They will remain attractive, at least on a conceptual level, to those struggling with small spaces, but will have to guarantee safety protocols in the short term.

Another factor is the design of apartments to allow for work spaces--again a modification that's easier in a larger apartment and another trend that advantages lower-cost cities.

More overall space will help. From a 5/11/20 Bisnow article, If Remote Work Sticks Around, Multifamily Needs To Change, Developers Say:

Larger or at least more efficient units, ample outdoor space and different unit mixes all may join coworking space as aspects of multifamily properties' post-pandemic future, experts said during Bisnow's weekly Bay Area webinar last Thursday afternoon. 

That said, it would be a reversal of trend, in which smaller units have been prized. The question is how long the crisis lasts, and how definitive the change.