Have you wondered why some design ideas soar and others crash? Why clients embrace or reject a design concept? Whether your firm’s designs are trendsetters or followers?
To get answers to those and other design-related questions, Building Design+Construction polled the industry earlier this year, and received responses from 342 companies, most of which were architects, engineers, and contractors. The result of that survey is BD+C’s 2021 Design Innovations Report, whose 22 pages explore the complexities behind creating, pitching, and executing new ideas.
The purpose of this report is to:
- Uncover where AEC firms focus their efforts and how they stimulate new ideas;
- Gauge how receptive owners and developers are to project ideas, and why;
- Reveal which design trends—such as modularity, or the use of mass timber—are (or aren’t) catching on
- Examine whether firms’ idea machines are keeping pace with the rate of change in business, lifestyle, and society.
Some takeaways from the report include:
- The biggest factors that result in an innovation’s success or failure are cost, client buy-in, and communication;
- Several typologies—offices, education, multifamily, healthcare—are glaring in their need for innovation, even as these same building types have been cited as design leaders in the past;
- Contractors are often their clients’ gatekeepers when it comes to deciding which design innovations fly;
- Mentoring and training are the primary catalysts within AEC firms for nurturing new ideas;
- The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the need for design innovations, especially for indoor air quality and wellness.
The report makes clear that there’s no shortage of ideas or new products, and that “innovation” and “technology” are often thought of together.
Download BD+C’s 2021 Design Innovation Report (short registration required)
Related Stories
| Dec 7, 2011
ICS Builders and BKSK Architects complete St. Hilda’s House in Manhattan
The facility's design highlights the inherent link between environmental consciousness and religious reverence.
| Dec 6, 2011
Construction industry leaders gather for forum on diversity
Declared a “groundbreaking” event for the industry, Gilbane’s First Annual National Partners Council Forum addressed diversity and inclusion as well as building partnerships with minority, veteran, and women-owned businesses.
| Dec 6, 2011
Mortenson Construction completes Elk Wind Project in Iowa
By the end of 2011, Mortenson will have built 17 wind projects in the state generating a total of 1894 megawatts of renewable power.
| Dec 6, 2011
?ThyssenKrupp acquires Sterling Elevators Services
The acquisition of Sterling Elevator Services Corporation is the third acquisition completed by ThyssenKrupp Elevator AG in the last three months in North America.
| Dec 6, 2011
Vivenzio named vice president of building performance practice at Thornton Tomasetti’s New York Office
Vivenzio, a licensed architect in New York and New Jersey, has more than 28 years of experience in architectural project management, construction administration, building diagnostic services and forensic investigation.
| Dec 6, 2011
New office building features largest solar panel system in New Orleans
Woodward Design+Build celebrates grand opening of new green headquarters in Central City.
| Dec 5, 2011
New York and San Francisco receive World Green Building Council's Government Leadership Awards
USGBC commends two U.S. cities for their innovation in green building leadership.
| Dec 5, 2011
Summit Design+Build begins renovation of Chicago’s Esquire Theatre
The 33,000 square foot building will undergo an extensive structural remodel and core & shell build-out changing the building’s use from a movie theater to a high-end retail center.
| Dec 5, 2011
Fraser Brown MacKenna wins Green Gown Award
Working closely with staff at Queen Mary University of London, MEP Engineers Mott MacDonald, Cost Consultants Burnley Wilson Fish and main contractor Charter Construction, we developed a three-fold solution for the sustainable retrofit of the building.
| Dec 5, 2011
RJM Construction begins building Nova Classical Academy in St. Paul
As the general contractor, RJM is constructing the 94,000-sf building that will consolidate the St. Paul school’s two other locations.