Building Transformation for Precautionary Measures against COVID-19 Pandemic: Case of Off-Street Car Parking of Campuses

Abstract

COVID-19 set off a problem for businesses due to an unbalanced utilization of buildings, services, and utilities. Thus, some countries reduced the length of the quarantine period and returned to natural life earlier than necessary to allow the economy and businesses to survive. This research aims to review the standards of off-street car parking (OSCP) for higher education institutes (HEIs) and examine the possibility of the transformation of the car parking buildings. Secondary and descriptive research approaches have been applied, and OSCP standards of different countries have been reviewed to identify the challenges facing the transformation design process in terms of standard dimensions, finishing materials, building envelope, illumination, ventilation, and technical installations. OSCP of Kingdom University (KU) in Bahrain has been analysed for proposing the rescheduling of space planning and accommodating a certain number of in-person attendance students as per the three situations of the COVID-19 pandemic. The author concluded that OSCP spaces of the HEIs are the most feasible building for design transformation in terms of rescheduling the space planning, but it is not very achievable in terms of affordability due to much adaptation being required and additional technical installations. At least 68% of the area of OSCP is used for circulation and services. Future studies seeking the feasibility of smart rotary car parking to save such a huge area of car circulation in the traditional OSCP building are recommended.

Visitor preferences in rural gastronomic tourism environment and the related design implications

“…Consideration should also be given to the updating and maintenance of facilities, planning and reservation of sites for recreational activities, convenient parking and transport accessibility in the planning to safeguard the supply demand in future development. It has been found that the location of toilets, basic service facilities, toilets design, and design of car parks in urban parks also affect tourist satisfaction [ 61 , 62 ]. We also found that a number of tourists commented on issues such as the cleanliness of the toilets, the distance and number of car parks, and the narrowness of the rural driveway.…”