BSA’s Make/Shift: a database for healthcare institutions looking for additional space in the face of COVID-19

With an urgent sense of responsibility The Boston Society for Architecture’s rallied more than 150 individuals, from a variety of professional sectors and varied levels of expertise and experience, to work on Make/Shift – an inventory of adaptable spaces and sites for healthcare institutions looking for additional space in the face of COVID-19.

Thanks largely in part to Autodesk, the resulting digital platform hosts a repository of “data and an inventory of buildings, facilities, or infrastructures that may be adapted to become alternative sites to support the ecosystems of healthcare provision.”

The results of Make/Shift exemplifies how architects can aid with civic mobilization during crises. Kristi Dowd, principal at Stantec, suggests reconsidering the conventional modes of working that evade collaboration: What we used to see as competition should be left by the wayside. Be aligned with the mission rather than individual or company ego. It takes all disciplines and perspectives to provide the most comprehensive needed solution, not the one we think individually is right.

We are proud that two of our own, Danielle Santos and Jeff Galvin, led the committee and sub-teams responsible for creating a process and product from the ground up.

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