10 - BC to AC Design Trends
“We are all musing on how the built environment will transform in response to pandemics. Though we can not predict the future we, as designers, can start to toss ideas out there to see what will stick. Very much like the iterative process of design, the idea has to come from somewhere. Lets toss it out there, lets collaborate as an industry and start to see what will stick.” - Elizabeth Lockwood
Overview
As Interior Designers we have the power to design environments that impact the health, safety and welfare of occupants. In this episode we take a dive into 20 trends as the building industry looks for ways to minimize future pandemics. Lets pull out that crystal ball to see what it might look like AFTER COVID. BC TO AC.
Curious about what other design professionals have published in response to pandemics. Read the full show notes to find out.
Do you have trends you are hearing and seeing in your networks. Please leave a comment below to share.
Show Notes
Increased spatial awareness provides opportunity for contemplation.
Waiting areas could be a thing of the past?
Homes will need to support additional programmatic adjacencies.
Localizing industries will reduce extensive commuting.
Closing:
That was 20 rapid thoughts to inspire you to transition from BC to AC. We are going to continue to track these trends moving forward to continue to look for inspirational opportunities to elevate our work in response to pandemics. We as designers design for the health, safety and welfare of the public and it is our responsibility to continue to elevate our work. Whether or not you have a design that you are working on currently or one that is coming down the pipes we need to continue to use our best-informed decisions to advance the built environment. Lets keep designing y’all.
Do you have trends you are hearing and seeing in your networks. Please leave a comment below to share.
Credit
Branding & Graphic Design work by Andrea Schwoebel https://www.andreaschwoebel.com/
Cover Art Photo by Daniil Silantev on Unsplash
Blog Imagery in order
Photo by timothy muza on Unsplash
Photo by Callum Shaw on Unsplash
Photo by Hutomo Abrianto on Unsplash
Photo by Sergey Zolkin on Unsplash
Photo by Minh Pham on Unsplash
Photo by Hanson Lu on Unsplash
Trend 1: Reducing Touch Points. Look for advancements in materials attributes in order to enable occupants to reduce key touch points. This encompasses prioritizing Universal Design Principles so that occupants can safely move through environments.
Trend 2: Spatial Awareness. Not only will physical spatial awareness be key but psychological spatial awareness in public spaces will need to be addressed. Interior designers will need to consider their space plans to create a safe environment.
Trend 3: Bleach Ability. Unexpected environments such as cruise ships transitioned into patient care centers have brought up the question. Are we designing environments with luxurious finishes to be aggressively cleaned? There are a lot of surfaces in hospitality environments that can not withstand this type of aggressive cleaning. When specifying products, we are going to need to look closely for bleachable velvet.
Trend 4: Technology Takes Center Stage. We could see advancements in technology to include voice activation to check-in at shared computers or elevator hubs. Increasing the ability to open or control an element without having contact will be key moving forward.
Trend 5: Front and Center Cleaning. In common areas we will need to have cleaning products available to quickly and easily wiped down surfaces. The big old bottle of hand sanitizer plopped onto a gorgeous reception desk is probably not what we envision. Studying how occupants can access masks, cleaning supplies and convenient accessible hand sinks will be important. All while having that seamless, beautiful experience we expect.
Trend 6: Homes Take a Rise. Single family residences may be on the rise. Currently, many are stitching together work from home situations and some have gotten really creative in how they set up their home office. Some have created a workstation out of a table leaf with a Costco box on one side and Lego tower on the other. Others are found leaning over their kitchen island. Parents are also trying to educate from home. We are demanding more of our homes all while trying to maintain a place for retreat, rejuvenation and wellness. We are seeing additional programmatic elements incorporated into our homes. We need to have the ability for children to learn. I have intentionally kept my home office area in the most private location in the house. Though not the most inspirational space, it allows me to have a private call or do heads down work with little interruptions. I can also step a way from it by closing the door. It is important to be intentional about how and when we work from home. Moving forward I think we need to look closely at how residences support the additional programmatic demands.
Trend 7: Conversions to Multi-family Housing. We are seeing and hearing the hospitality sector going on hold despite the huge boom in the last couple years. One projection is that we will see hotels transition into multifamily housing. As we continue to grow our population, we are going to need to be able to house people and converting hotel rooms into apartments appears to be a good fit. But what will come of the amenity spaces? I can’t wait to see.
Trend 8: Localize Product Manufacturing. We are facing concerns of product availability on construction sites. In order to maintain deadlines, we need to know from manufacturers the availability of products. One consideration is the ability to localize manufacturing to have a closer pulse on the supply chain. One additional perk, we may see a reduction in our products carbon footprint. This is a win win in my opinion and something we should have been working towards before the pandemic.
Trend 9: UV Light. Will we see UV light technology as a treatment source for disinfecting spaces? This means we will need to specify products that will be UV resistant so we don’t see items deteriorate over time. How cool is this if we can reduce the amount of chemicals introduced into a space.
Trend 10: Waiting Areas. We may see no wait appointments thus transition spaces will need to look different so we can quickly get patients into exam rooms. Could waiting rooms be a thing of the past?
Trend 11: Spatial Transition. This will be paramount specially in big corporate towers, large federal spaces and airport checkpoints. We will see the concept of health scans paired with security scans become part of the conversation?
Trend 12: Sexier Spaces. As a method to entice people to reenter the public realm spaces need to be attractive. People are craving social interactions and we need to create attractive safe environments for them. I think it is important to mention the power of design, the power of beauty and the power of having a space that just feels right.
Trend 13: Sensitivity to work/life Interactions. The days and weeks have blurred together. It is challenging balancing a full time work load, being a parent, a spouse and a pet owner. All while trying to balance a sense of self. Post pandemic, we will continue to see a need for balancing all of these responsibilities. That might be through a varied work schedule that is a-typical of what we have traditionally seen in the past. Is the 9-5 out the door?
Trend 14: Cats out of the bag and will it get back in? Now that many are working from home there are predictions that a large amount of the workforce may not go back into the corporate office. It will be interesting to watch how employers and HR departments entice employees to come back into the office. Working from home has its challenges but I think many are seeing efficiencies in being able to shorten commute time by safely and effectively working remotely. Moving forward employers should take a close look at how they transition the workforce back to the corporate environment. Our role as interior designers is to strategize with our clients and equip them with the tools to entice employees to come back.
Trend 15: Empathy. As we transition back to public environments we will need to have empathy. It may take a while to desensitize our heightened awareness for touch points, adjacency between people and the concern for exposure. We all have a different sensitivity for this pandemic and a different understanding of spatial awareness and so, as a society, we really need to have empathy for each other. Peace, love and keep designing y’all.
Trend 16: Commuting. We are going to need to take a close look at what it means and looks like to commute. How can we lessen exposure to create physical and psychological safety? Some strategists are looking at localizing corporate workplaces to reduce employees commute times.
Trend 17: Hospitality Re-envisioned. Predictions say that retail and restaurants will look different moving forward. We will need to look at sequencing and services provided in these environments and take a deeper look at the role hospitality environments play in our society.
Trend 18: Lessons learned from Healthcare. We can continue to lean on the health care sector to understand how to design beautiful public spaces. Just as health care started to move away from a clinical look, I think we really need to be cautious and take a hard look at translating that clean ability and cleanliness while creating innovative spaces that people want to be in.
Trend 19: Workplace will look different. Our corporate office environments will look different Post COVID. We will be able to look to the Well Building Standards as the Well task force makes advancements. Rumor has it Delos is making some advancements in building science research as well. I think there is an opportunity for those of us that work in corporate workplace design to continue to filter through how we can entice employees to come to work. At the end of the day, we as a human species, want to collaborate and though we have accessibility through computers there's something about physically connecting with people that cannot be replaced.
Trend 20: Material Science. We need manufacturers to be partnering with designers and we need designers to be partnering with manufacturers to innovate materials. We need materials in order to specify, source and create healthy environments for people to live, work and play. If those products are not available, designers will not have those tools and resource to implement on projects. We as a community need to come together with our manufacturers to continue to advance the material science by looking at the microbiome via surface clean ability and resiliency. Not to mention woven with beauty and durability. We need to continue to take that lens of all the material attributes that we ask of a product and take a hard look at the microbiome.
Tailored list of professional responses to pandemics
Design Tex Antimicrobial Lowdown
ZGF Healthcare and Workplace Reflections
Gensler Return to the Workplace Muse
Hospitality Design Magazine Joins Forces
Interior Design Magazine Rethinking During Pandemics
Metropolis Magazine Workplace and Wellness
IIDA Student Member COVID Resources