We are living in a time of big changes. And surely, our homes have become the protagonists of this particular moment we are living in. As we isolate in our homes, we become increasingly aware of how our interior spaces affect our moods, our ability to work and our physical comfort. Needless to say, this is going to change the way we live our homes as well as the way we design them. A house isn’t just a place to live any more – it’s your office, your gym, yoga studio, and more – and people are looking to create homes that reflects this.

So, what does this mean for the future of interior design? Here's how the design of our homes could change across the coming years as a reaction to the health crisis and the need for more adaptable, flexible spaces.

Entry into Change

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The change in the way we design our homes could start from the very entrance, which we expect to take on a different, much more important form as parcels and groceries that are delivered all need to be handled differently.  Will we all want an area where we can store goods on delivery, that can then be safely taken to a utility room or space to be disinfected? Where possible, many of us will want dual entrances into our homes even more so now than before. A disinfectant station or a secondary entrance or boot room that leads directly into a utility space will become coveted real estate.

Professional from home

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Undoubtedly, one consequences of COVID-19 will be the fact that more people will be working from home even after the lockdown. The negative stigma of working from home has officially been lifted and although we’re not writing off the office by any stretch, we do see much more of a mixed approach to working going forward. This will make our shared spaces more relevant than they’ve ever been before.

As life goes back to normal, many jobs will likely begin to enable remote employment. The permanency of remote jobs means people will design their home work spaces differently. As a result, we'll see more dedicated and private home work spaces, as opposed to makeshift desk setups. This may mean people move to larger homes in more remote areas to garner more space, or they dedicate guest rooms as permanent home offices.

Greenery 

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After a quarantine inside a flat, everybody will absolutely want to have a small garden, or at least a small terrace where spending some time outdoor.

All things related to gardening will see a huge comeback, together with new ways to incorporate greeneries inside homes. Vertical gardens and indoor gardening will have a boom, as a proven way to reduce our stress and to improve the air quality inside our homes. Growing what you eat can become an option to be explored for the indoor as well, with small indoor areas equipped with artificial light, air and water to make vegetable grow.

Biophilia will become a real necessity, more than just a trend.

Healthier Spaces

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After these days, we are all going to develop a new interest and sensitivity towards home hygiene and sanitization. This will bring many interesting changes inside our homes, with the acceleration of some technologies that actually already exist but were not so common, or the invention of many new technologies to help our homes hygiene.

Think air purifiers, indoor air quality monitoring, new filtration systems for the air and the water. But also, about germ-resistant materials for flooring and surfaces, as well as auto-cleaning technologies to be integrated inside furniture, for example inside wardrobes and kitchen cabinets. I am also thinking about some changing in the fabrics, with rugs to be easily cleaned for example. Ultraviolet lamps could also be a new technology to be integrated at home, in order to kill bacteria and viruses.

In bathroom design, this crisis can bring a substantial rising demand for smart toilets, that at present are very common only in some countries such as Japan. Automatic cleaning faucets that we now see only in some public restrooms could become a common feature in the homes as well.

Niksen Sanctuary

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Niksen is a Dutch word which can be translated into “doing nothing” and, most of all, without any purpose.

Strictly related with the concept of mindfulness and wellness, Niksen is already recognized as a way to recover from burn-out and to become more creative in the long term. What is happening now is that, forced to stay in quarantine inside our homes, we are forced to slow down as well. Probably, we are having many moments of just doing nothing, that before we would have lived with anxiety and a sense of guilty because we have been growing with the cult of productivity. After these times of lockdown, we will realize that sometimes the best thing to do is just doing nothing at all for a while, to be back later healthier and more productive.

As a consequence, sanctuary-like spaces inside our homes will also become a trend, thinking for example about small relaxing and reading corners.

Research by Ronbir B