Dallas-based architecture firm HKS has identified how to convert hotels into hospitals within 10 days, the Dallas Business Journal reported. The firm’s blueprint has emerged as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to escalate in the U.S., and worries grow about whether hospital capacity can meet the expected surge of demand.

“Because we have experts in both health design and hospitality design, we’ve all put our heads together to figure out what we could do to give everybody a formula to quickly convert a building for patient care if they needed it,” HKS principal Jason Schroer told the Business Journal.

Full-service hotels work well for conversions to hospitals because they already have infrastructure such as laundry and foodservice, Schroer said. Keys to a successful conversion include limiting necessary construction, reusing space for a similar purpose, and being able to return the hospitals to hotels as simply and inexpensively as possible.

Pictured: The Sheraton Dallas, which Schroer identified as a good candidate for quick conversion. Photo courtesy of Marriott.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Paul Bubny