Child-sized face shields with interchangeable decorations have been designed by Metaform Architects for children going back to school, plus today's other design-related coronavirus news.

Designed for children aged four to eight years old, the face shield includes studs to secure personalised adornments such as crowns, animal ears or googley eyes.

A 3D-printed plastic frame is designed to fit over a child's hat to hold a PVC shield in front of their face.

Luxembourg-based studio Metaform Architects created the design to encourage children returning to school to practice good safety and hygiene without scaring them unnecessarily.

"We have been re-thinking the medical face shield to adapt it for kids to use it once they go back to school," said head of conceptual design at Metaform Architects Ljiljana Vidovic.

"We came up with an idea that can additionally be personalised by kids, and therefore help to de-dramatise the situation and let them be creative."

Wearing a shield would help children remember not to touch their faces, while letting them customise their masks would be a fun and distracting activity.

Children at not one of the groups most at risk from coronavirus, but it is understood that they can catch the illness and pass it on to more vulnerable people and adults.

Metaform Architects created a free guide along with an activity pack for making the children's face shields.

Here are six more coronavirus-related architecture and design news stories from today:

Coronavirus daily briefing

Caret Studio installs gridded social-distancing system inside Italian piazza 

Italian practice Caret Studio has installed the StoDistante installation in an Italian square to encourage social-distancing as a temporary solution for reactivating public spaces after Covid-19 lockdown ends (via Dezeen).

Smithsonian museum construction workers test positive for Covid-19

Three construction workers completing the renovation of the Smithsonian's Gyo Obata-designed Air and Space Museum in Washington DC have tested positive for coronavirus, sparking arguments their health is being risked for non-essential projects (via the Huffington Post).

"Offices are going to get much smaller" after pandemic says Sevil Peach

Large offices will become a thing of the past according to interior designer Sevil Peach, who predicts that corporate towers will be replaced by smaller hubs as staff work from home offices and co-working spaces as a result of coronavirus (via Dezeen).

MoMA makes drastic budget and staff cuts to "survive" pandemic

The director of New York's Museum of Modern Art has cut 160 staff and $45 million from its annual budget, just one year after its $450 million expansion by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Gensler (via Bloomberg).

Carlo Ratti calls for redesign of "dinosaur" hospitals and universities for the post-coronavirus era

Hospitals and universities are "dinosaurs" that need to be redesigned in the wake of coronavirus, according to architect Carlo Ratti (via Dezeen).

Google and Facebook extend work from home policies until 2021

Most employees at tech companies Google and Facebook will not be returning to the office this year, although some offices will reopen at up to 15 per cent capacity as early as June (via Variety).