Stay-at-home shaping house of the future

Pandemic changing how people use, value space

housing arrangements to provide a separate space for aging parents or adult children who have lost their jobs. These include more tiny houses or even shipping containers in suburban backyards. She also foresees more houses with wings that can be occupied semiprivately, while still connected to a common kitchen or dining area.

“People may be rethinking domesticity in really interesting ways because of this pandemic,” she said.

What buyers want

While it’s still early to know how, or even if, the pandemic will change what homebuyers look for in a new home, Kim Bragman said she’s already seeing an uptick in interest in one area.

“Couples who both work from home want dedicated office space,” said Bragman, the chairwoman of the San Antonio Board of Realtors. “Or at least an extra bedroom they can convert into an office.”

COVID-19 fears also may result in a shift in the definition of luxury, according to Reed.

“It might not mean installing the most beautiful of faucets in the master bath anymore,” he said. “Instead it might be a touchless faucet with a built-in filtration system.”

The return of the porch?

This won’t be the first time a disease has triggered substantial changes in residential architecture.

The tuberculosis epidemic of the 19th century and the 1918 influenza both spurred the creation of large sanatoria open to the outdoors so patients could get plenty of fresh air and sunlight, thought to be key to a patient’s recovery, O’Rourke said.

This open-air concept eventually spilled over into residential architecture.

“You can see it in those large front porches built into so many homes from that time,” she said.

Front porches have long been out of favor with developers. Few homes built since the 1950s have them. But the pandemic may change that as many people rediscover the simple joys of sitting on their porch, watching the world go by.

“After you’ve been living in your home or apartment for so many weeks, you appreciate being outdoors, even if it’s only sitting on a porch waving to your neighbors as they walk by on the street,” said Ted Flato, partner at Lake | Flato Architects. “It’s an easy way to add more living space to your home.”

Adding a porch to an existing home is simpler and less expensive than adding a heated and air-conditioned extension, such as a bedroom or den. The website Homeadvisors.com, which matches homeowners with contractors, estimates that a 200square-foot covered porch will cost between $4,600 to $22,000, or an average of $10,500. That works out to $23 to $110 per square foot.

Wired for speed

At the beginning of the pandemic, many people sent home to work plopped a computer onto their kitchen or dining room table and declared it an office. But those who’ll be working from home for the foreseeable future may want to up their internet game.

Perhaps the best way to do this

Apartment changes

Multifamily apartments will pose their own challenges to post-pandemic architecture, said Rick Lewis, assistant professor in practice at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s College of Architecture, Construction and Planning.

“You have between 300 and 500 people living in the kind of developments that have been going up in San Antonio over the past 10 years or so,” he said. “Social distancing is much harder here, especially in the public spaces.”

Lewis said he foresees changes to building codes requiring an enlargement of so-called “pinch points” where people come in close contact to one another. These include mail areas, hallways and elevator waiting areas. He also said amenities such as party rooms, weight rooms and swimming pools may get smaller or even disappear if residents remain uncomfortable using them.

“There’ll be a lot of conversation about things like this among architects, urban planners and politicians” in the coming years, he said.

Not everyone is convinced the pandemic will result in structural changes in residential architecture.

“We’ve had viruses in the past and, yes, this one is deeper, longer and with more consequences,” architect Paul Franklin said. “But I’m not anticipating any permanent changes per se. I think this is largely a one-off thing.”

And while home shoppers may be looking for different features today than they were four months ago, Bragman said that for most, their bottom line remains the same.

“Until I see otherwise, today’s buyers are looking for schools and amenities, same as they always have,” she said.

After spending so much time indoors during the pandemic, many people may want to renovate to take advantage of their outdoor space or move to a home with an outside living area.

Already, homebuyers seem more interested in houses with dedicated office space.