Elisabeth Polzella creates structural-stone covered market in Lamure-Sur-Azergues

French architect Elisabeth Polzella has built a covered market from structural stone and timber for the town of Lamure-Sur-Azergues in the Rhône region of central France.

Built alongside Lamure-Sur-Azergues' town hall, the open-sided building is designed to host the weekly market and to be a gathering place for the people of the town.

The simple market hall structure has a large timber roof of Douglas fir supported by eight structural stone columns, which are made from a local type of limestone called Villebois. A further series of 14 paired stone columns support a covered walkway in front of the town hall.

Polzella made the building, which was built on an existing bridge over a river, using materials that have traditionally been used to create markets for hundreds of years.

"The inspiration was first to remember the light in the forest, when the sun sparkles through density of fine pieces of wood," she told Dezeen.

"The idea was to use local wood, from local sawmills, so we imagine light sections of wood, but high density. To highlight that nest, local stone pilars was an obvious response. Like traditional halls, stone and wood make the entire building."

Polzella chose to use traditional materials so that, while a modern structure, it would feel like it belonged in the town.

"I think it fits because of the material, which has no age," explained Polzella. "Stone and wood have always been used for building. Also because the rhythm of the columns are in harmony which the scale of the site, with the facade of the town hall."

According to Polzella the residents of the town were surprised that the structure was stone and not concrete or another material imitating stone.

"First it questioned a lot of people," she said. "In a small town, something new is always discussed anyway! But I employed myself to explain every time that someone asked me why this, or why that… I believe in a pedagogical way."

"People weren't aware that it was stone," she continued. "They imagine it was cement designed to imitate stone."

Supported on the stone columns is a large timber roof, which is covered by a combination of Villebois stone and glass tiles.

"I also observe that people, even cyclists, cross the road spontaneously to be under the hall. They stay under, and look up," said Polzella.

"I feel the wood top amazes them. I know that it appropriates the function of a central meeting point in every circumstance – Saturday's open market, parties, commemorations, sport events – I'm happy for that."

The covered market is one of a new crop of buildings that employ stone as their structure in interesting way. Many of these buildings were displayed at an exhibition at the Building Centre in London, which aimed to demonstrates the material's "potential to revolutionise construction".

"I use stone, because it's the material of the future!" said Polzella. "It's the material of the history. It's available over the world, diverse, permits full of possibilities, witness of a local use and socio-economical development."

Photography is by Georges Fessy.

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"The current crisis had exposed the structural shortcomings of our healthcare systems"

The coronavirus has exposed fundamental problems with our healthcare systems that we should not forget once the pandemic passes, warns Reinier de Graaf in a letter to the present from the future.

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How will we look back on today once the current crisis has panned out? How "new" will the new normal be? While the current crisis offers compelling reasons for change, history also cautions against premature conclusions.

This is my report on the present from the future:

In Europe inkiuik 2020 we were living longer than any previous generation in human history. Average life expectancy had doubled in the past century. Thanks to improvements in medicine, sanitation, and nutrition, most of us would live to see 73. Diseases were done away with, or else made manageable with new treatments. Illness had become less something to die from, and more something to live with.

While we were living longer, we were by no means healthier. Advanced age was a precipice. The older we got, the more susceptible we became to new threats – whether pathogenic or political. Half a century earlier, there had been seven working-age persons per pensioner. This number had halved in the time since. We were becoming increasingly dependent on the young.

Healthcare had been made part of the service sector and became subject to the laws of the market economy

A new approach was imperative, and with it came a new regime. Healthcare had been made part of the service sector and became subject to the laws of the market economy. Hospitals, whether state-run or private, were expected to enterprise. If they couldn't compete, they didn't last.

The hospital director became manager. The doctors became staff. The patient became client. And what could be better for business than a steady flow of clientele? The old and chronically ill went from burden to business opportunity. Their recurring visits became a trend to capitalise on. Ambulatory care was key to the hospital of the future.

The shorter the stay, the better. Less expensive and less stressful, for all involved. In, out, and off home to recuperate. Out with beds, and in with technology. Advanced treatment, faster recovery time and remote monitoring became the new dogma. People were best kept out of the hospital.

Being well was a personal responsibility. And countless people bought into it, surrendering to diets, punishing exercise regimes, eastern mysticism or all at the same time. Life was about self-improvement. Most of us didn't need hospitals, and we certainly didn't want them. At home our beds were comfortable, the food edible.

It had been 100 years since the Spanish Flu, long enough to erase its impact from collective memory and long enough to lose those who learned from the experience

And then one day it happened. At first, few were willing to acknowledge it. Those where it started wouldn't admit it to the damage. Those far away wouldn't believe it could reach them. It did, and without exception. Though indiscriminate in choosing its hosts, it soon became clear that the elderly and those with underlying health conditions were the ones to fall victim – precisely the people medical progress had managed to keep alive the century before.

It had been 100 years since the Spanish Flu, long enough to erase its impact from collective memory and long enough to lose those who learned from the experience. A century of uninterrupted medical progress and growing life expectation had left us unprepared for things to come. But what is a century on the scale of human history? Epidemics recur. Infections stick around. And given globalisation, another pandemic was always on the cards.

We had nowhere to put them all, and soon realised how useful the old hospitals would have been had we not demolished them. We'd spent the last half century making hospitals less hospital-like, until there came a day when we didn't need to.

It was clear a fundamental rethinking of healthcare provision would be vital if we were to survive the next great challenge

Hotels became hospitals. Schools became hospitals. Sports stadia became hospitals. Exhibition and congress centres became hospitals. The current crisis had exposed the structural shortcomings of our healthcare systems. Beyond these temporary expedients, it was clear a fundamental rethinking of healthcare provision would be vital if we were to survive the next great challenge.

And yet we only came up with the same answers – plugged with a renewed emphasis. Entrepreneurs strained themselves to identify the opportunity in the crisis. Architects dwelled on how to design a home to best self-isolate in, or wondered how 3D printing could save their building sites.

Politicians continued what they had been doing already, in order to prove they'd been right all along. Democratic nations urged more transparency, authoritarian ones more authority. Yet, there was only so much the state could do to fight the disease. Citizens had to play their part. Non-citizens would have better luck elsewhere.

The crisis called for sacrifice in the form of austerity, restrictions, mass surveillance – another war on terror. Presidents were made arbiter on public healthcare spending, like in the Philippines. Prime ministers were given rule by decree, like in Hungary. Other leaders banned use of the word. And Putin was assured power indefinitely. Even former dictatorships-come-democracies, like those in Eastern Europe, agreed that in times like these one's best defense is one's army.

All hope was put on a vaccine. Scientists all over the world were mobilised to find one. At most it would take 18 months, experts predicted. Meanwhile, the number of victims grew exponentially every day. Until one day the numbers started dropping. And then miraculously stopped. The research was left for another day. There was an economy to be rescued.

Reinier de Graaf is a partner in the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and co-founder of its think tank AMO. He is the author of the book Four Walls and a Roof, The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession and visiting professor of urban design at the University of Cambridge.

Image shows the NHS Nightingale Hospital built at the Excel exhibition centre in London by BDP.

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Daily coronavirus architecture and design briefing: 22 April

Daily coronavirus briefing: today's architecture and design coronavirus briefing includes delays to work on Notre-Dame Cathedral and an intensive care unit in a shipping container.

Vivviene Westwood and Christopher Kane create hopeful coronavirus posters

Artists and designers including Vivienne Westwood, Christopher Kane and Wolfgang Tillmans have created protest-style posters about coronavirus for Dazed Media (via Dezeen).

Notre Dame restoration delayed due to coronavirus

The lockdown in France has meant work on the fire damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral (pictured before the fire above) has had to be delayed again. Workers still need to remove the melted cage of steel scaffolding surrounding the building before any restoration work can occur (via Reuters).

Shipping-container intensive care unit installed at Turin hospital

A two-bed intensive care unit within a shipping container, designed by Italian architects Carlo Ratti and Italo Rota, has been built at a hospital in Turin and is being used to treat patients fighting the coronavirus (via Dezeen).

Perkins and Will envision mobile-testing stations in school busses

The New York studio of Perkins and Will has designed a concept for mobile testing units that would be built in vacant school busses so they could prioritise lower-income communities (via Perkins and Wills)

Lack of design input in healthcare is putting both patients and doctors at risk, says physician

Hospitals "desperately need designers" to improve everything from the way they tackle coronavirus to the layout of operating theatres and the design of medical charts, according to a senior US doctor (via Dezeen).

New York technology company develops low cost ventilator

10XBeta, a tech centre for researchers and start ups based in New York, has responded to the ventilator shortage by developing a "bridge" ventilator that can help coronavirus patients who are not critically ill breathe and only costs $3,300 (via The New York Times).

Moooi makes video to mark cancelled Salone del Mobile

Dutch design brand Moooi has made a video in homage to Milan's Salone del Mobile and Furisalone, which have been cancelled this year due to coronavirus. "We miss our beloved friends and partners, and all the magic we make happen together," said Moooi founder Marcel Wonders (via Moooi).

IKEA releases secret Swedish meatball recipe

People missing the taste of IKEA's signature dish can recreate the culinary experience at home during lockdown after the flat-pack furniture company released the recipe in the form of a six-step instruction manual (via The Independent).

Keep up with developments by following Dezeen's coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. For news of impacted events, check Dezeen Events Guide's dedicated coronavirus page.

Main image is by Clem.

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Dive into the dewy hues of Hyoho’s dreamy illustrations

In the Chinese illustrator’s mesmerising works, bubbles and trees mean much more than meets the eye.

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Playgrounds' stop-motion graphics created over Zoom are an “ode to WFH together”

Director Erwin Van Den IJssel brought together 22 people over video call to create the festival titles from collective isolation.

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