If you have a San Francisco Business Times subscription, you can access the full article here. For the benefit of our clients without subscriptions, we have summarized Nancy Keenan's comments on the subject.

From the federal to the states to the counties, the country is preparing plans to re-open non-essential business operations and public life as safely as possible. As DAHLIN prepares our offices for our employees, a few of our immediate plans include installing hands-free sanitizer stations and removing all nonessential doors for improved air flow – a change we anticipate will be permanent – in each of our offices. Additionally, we are modifying our space planning to account for six-foot distances between desks and providing our employees the option of choosing where to sit. We will also continue to support working remotely as a complement to our in-office business operations.

Many smaller businesses, including some of our clients, with soon to expire leases do not plan to renew, instead adopting a fully remote operational plan. This is a trend we believe will continue as the workplace adapts to the way people have been changed by this experience.

The broad adoption of remote work – even as the ratio of remote to in-office work is certain to change with time – is also going to have lasting influence on all aspects of the planning and design of the built environment. Following are additional resources that address these impacts in more detail:

How Sustainable Design Supports Human Health and Wellbeing

Multifamily Design Trends for Maintaining Healthy Lifestyles

Single-family Design: Connectivity and Adaptability for Wellbeing

Webinar: How the Pandemic May Change Future Home Design