In the ongoing fight against COVID-19, the Italian architects Carlo Ratti and Italo Rota have designed an intensive-care pod within a shipping container that could be added to hospitals.
Specifically, called Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments – or CURA, the biocontainment pods have been designed to boost Italy’s efforts in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping in mind that Italy is still the country with the most deaths, according to the everyday-updated live map.
In light of the project, the team commented that
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.
The idea behind it, is the creation of temporary structures that could be rapidly deployed, such as traditional hospital tents, but with a high level of biocontainment to prevent the spread of the virus.
The first prototype ICU is being constructed at a hospital in Milan, one of the cities that has been dealing with the most cases of COVID-19.
DeZeen reports that the units will include a ventilation system that generates negative pressure inside, a common technique used in hospitals and laboratories to prevent contaminated air from escaping, while the designers added that the units have been designed to comply with Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms (AIIRs) standards.
In addition, each unit will also contain all the medical equipment needed, for the support of two COVID-19 intensive care patients. Each could be used as a single unit, or be connected by an inflatable structure in various configurations to create larger, multi-bed setups.
