Approaches to Modernizing the Architectural and Planning Structure of Maternity Institutions in the Context of a Pandemic and a New Social Distance

The article discusses individual approaches to the formation of the architectural and spatial environment of maternity hospitals and perinatal centres contributing to social distancing. A ‘functional-spatial’ approach is proposed, in which the boundaries of spaces in the most active functional areas of the maternity hospital are changed: entrance area, reception of women in labour, area for relatives and visitors of the hospital, delivery of newborns, consultations in the polyclinic department of the maternity hospital. As a planning technique for distancing is proposed the formation of a system of space ‘soft borders’ using flexible, inclined, semi-cylindrical and ‘flowing’ translucent partitions. The second, ‘environmental approach’, is based on changing the scheme of communication and environmental situations in the internal environment of the maternity hospital due to the thoughtful arrangement of furniture and interior equipment, as well as due to light, colour and graphic navigation. Such a reorganization of the architectural and spatial structure of the maternity hospitals, based on the requirements of social distancing, preserves the value characteristics of the therapeutic environment.