Video Presentations: Physically Distant, Socially Together: Rethinking Tall Vertical Communities

Razvan Ghilic-Micu
Senior Associate
Hassell, Singapore

We are living a historical event, a health and economic crisis whose long term impact and duration is yet to be fully appreciated. Our most prized real estate investments—towers—have sat empty for weeks in many major cities. Chances are many will remain highly inadequate to the challenges of tomorrow. As economies around the world start re-opening, we alternate between the anxiety of getting ready to get back, and the realization that we simply cannot go back to a pre-COVID reality. The future is not about business as usual with a few added safety protocols, but about radically changing the mindset around designing tall vertical communities inside-out and using curated amenities to unlock the potential of future work in an agile and resilient way.

By leveraging cross-sectoral learning from blended workplaces designed for health, planned around meaningful wellbeing and sustainability, we can pivot through clever vertical zoning and amenity distribution into a resilient network of spaces and users. This will enable the emerging realities of working from home and distributed networks of hub and spoke to truly enhance and interface with a new model for vertical communities, doing more with less, fully utilizing their footprint at grade and neighboring urban amenities. While physical distancing is required in times of crisis, our social togetherness should be critically empowered by diverse tall vertical communities, designed from the inside-out.