Italy – Architecture studio Carlo Ratti Associati has turned shipping containers into intensive care pods that can be quickly added to hospitals fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
Measuring 6.1m each, the pods, dubbed Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments (CURA), can be delivered on the back of lorries and contain two beds. The first prototype unit is now being built at a hospital in Milan, one of the cities in Italy with the most coronavirus cases.
Aiming to replicate the environment of hospital rooms, the units feature ventilation systems that generate negative pressure inside and prevent contaminated air from escaping. According to the team behind CURA: ‘The aim is that they can be quickly deployed in cities around the world, promptly responding to the shortage of ICU space in hospitals and the spread of the disease.’
In Wellness Architecture, we explore how organisations are using their skills to provide solution-based design to support the health and wellness sector, something architects are now demonstrating by making use of abundant materials as hospitals struggle to meet the space demands required to treat coronavirus patients.
