How These Public Spaces Are Safely Reopening in Creative Ways

Original article posted at Architectural Digest by Tim Nelson.

Though safety precautions for reopened spaces are fairly standard, these examples prove there’s room to introduce a little ingenuity. By now, we’ve all been overwhelmed with coverage of COVID-19’s terrifying impact. Over the past few months, events were canceled, while museums and auction halls closed their doors as well. But then, in June, things began slowly reopening. That was, of course, until certain countries, states, and cities around the world realized that they reopened too quickly, only to close their doors again.

As such, there’s no longer much sense in cataloguing every reopening. In broad strokes, the recommendations are all the same: reduce capacity to ensure physical distance, disinfect high-touch surfaces as often as possible, and requiring or recommending that everyone wear a mask. With that said, a handful of creative approaches to navigating this new normal world stand out, and merit closer inspection. 

With that in mind, below are three noteworthy approaches to reopening. Each exemplifies a particular tier of classiness ranging from the high- to the low-brow, but all are united in their deployment of creativity to make the best of a bad situation.