How to optimize classroom (or office space) in response to COVID-19 social distancing requirements?

How to optimize classroom (or office space) in response to COVID-19 social distancing requirements? 

 Do you remember the days when classrooms and offices were designed to create spaces that fostered creativity, productivity, and teamwork? It seems quaint doesn’t it? Due to COVID-19 universities and other organizations are all trying figure out how to safely utilize their spaces by the maximum number of people. 
It is an enormous and important undertaking. Right now, facilities teams across the world are hiring engineering and architectural consultants to assist with these challenges. These groups often come in with specialized CAD software and design static solutions that do a good job but don’t always address the right questions that are being asked of the Facilities teams.  
Here’s a University example. Does this sound familiar? 

  • What happens if the social distancing requirements change from 6 feet to 5? Or 5 to 4?  
    • How many students will fit in the Science Building? 
    • How many students can safely fit in each classroom? 
    • How many can safely use the lab at once?  
  • How would changes to those guidelines affect in-person capacity in the Spring?  
  • How much do guidelines have to relax before we can return to 50% of our normal on-campus present? How much until we reach 60% or 75%? 

At Visual Risk IQ, we believe a combination of data analytics and Tableau’s data visualization create a powerful solution to answering these questions.  

 We recently developed a dashboard that does just that and we’ve shared it on Tableau Public for you to try out and see how it works. This is just one classroom on campus, but imagine being able to aggregate this data for every classroom, every laboratory and every building. Imagine being able to report campus-wide on how social distancing requirements are impacting capacity and comparing that information to course registration for every hour of the day. 
If you’d like information on how you can tailor this solution to your specific needs, contact us at info@VisualRiskIQ.com
About us: Visual Risk IQ has been a Tableau partner since 2013 and has completed nearly 100 data-focused consulting projects for Research Universities across the country. 

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