Download this Open Source Design for a Temporary Emergency Quarantine Facility by Manila-Based WTA Architecture + Design Studio

Project Name
Temporary Emergency Quarantine Facility
Architects
WTA Architecture + Design Studio

This Emergency Quarantine Facility (EQF), designed by , WTA Architecture + Design Studio, is a response to one of the greatest challenges in the fight against the Coronavirus, which is the growing lack of room in hospitals, globally.

The Emergency Quarantine Facility is a temporary structure meant to augment and increase the capacity of hospitals. It is meant to cater to PUIs (Persons Under Investigation) and keep them from spreading the infection within their communities. The idea is to be able to build enough facilities to house all PUIs and allow the virus to die out. This will also prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed and make it possible to flatten the curve of the pandemics growth.

According to the architects, the focus is on speed and scalability, that can keep up with the exponential growth of the virus. The structure had to be simple enough that it can be built quickly in 5 days. It has to use materials that are readily available and understood so most workers can work with it and it can be scaled up not just throughout a city but nationwide. It also has to adhere to WHO guidelines for makeshift field hospitals considering airflow and bed spacing.

Made from wood framing and plastic panels, the structure can be assembled with minimal drawings. The facility measures 6 x 26m and can accommodate 15 beds and two toilets. It also includes separate patient and staff entrances, a disinfecting room, as well as an external testing room with an acrylic box that the doctor puts their hands through to examine a patient. The 148 sqm structure was designed with a relatively small footprint and can fit within 10 parking spaces of a hospital parking lot. The design includes several fans and air vents for circulation, and deals with the heat gain of the tropical climate in the Philippines by using double bubble foil insulation on the roof and wood pallets to keep the temporary building off the hot ground.

The first Emergency Quarantine Facility has just been erected at Manila Naval Hospital

The first Emergency Quarantine Facility has just been erected at Manila Naval Hospital and another eight are currently in the works; the plan is to add 1,000 beds over the next few weeks. The firm has made the drawings open-source and set up a Viber chat group to answer questions from teams who are constructing it elsewhere. You can also find out more information about the design initiative here.

We’ve made the designs open source and put them up online, so everyone can have access to them. It is our fervent hope that more groups would take up the designs and do with them as they please so we can build more facilities faster. –

William Ti, Principal at WTA Architecture + Design
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