April 14, 2020

COVID-19 Conversions: How to Turn Public Assembly Spaces into Hospitals

Erin Peavey
Sheila Ruder

With surge capacity needs being driven by new or growing COVID-19 hot spots around the U.S., public health officials must quickly weigh options to prepare multiple building types for conversion into temporary patient care facilities to offload low-acuity health system demand. HKS has developed conceptual plans for hotels, schools and public assembly spaces that can be rapidly converted to patient care without requiring hard-walled construction.

The third report in our COVID-19 Conversions series is a concept study of how to quickly convert a public venue into functional patient care spaces. Large assembly spaces, including arenas and convention centers, share attributes that make them efficient and easily convertible in times of pandemic, including:

Many public assembly spaces are publicly-owned facilities, helping streamline contractual negotiations for quicker occupation
Their large flat floors offer flexible patient care configurations which can easily expand or contract, depending on need
Efficient loading systems for quick set-up and delivery; readily available facilities staff to assist; and easy vehicular and transit access located in city center.