Gensler recently published its 2014 Design Forecast, which covers the trends the company believes will dominate design over the next decade.
In all, 44 trends are covered in the report, as are six “meta-trends” that define Gensler’s overall outlook on the future of design. The report divides design into 22 focus areas.
The meta-trends cover the workplace, wellness, technology, urbanization, globalization, and development. In a nutshell: cities are becoming the vortex of massive growth, urbanity will become more intertwined with mixed-use buildings, and technology will influence how people experience places where they live, work, and relax.
Design will be expected to make wellness a part of everyday living, and workplaces will begin to address the problems of mobility and collaboration. Finally, companies in Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East will likely expand into new markets.
Here are some of the 44 trends we found interesting. For the full report, you can click here.
Workplace
2. Toward a next-gen workplace
As a new cohort—bigger than the Boomers—gets to work, the office workspace will be reshaped. The line between work and city will blur as towers and campuses mix in “community.” Coworking space, with its informal and collaborative ethos, will scale up. “Smart” environments will take hold. Attracting this young and creative generation will be a shared goal of cities and employers.
Commercial Office Developers
4. A building type in flux
Emerging tenant demands challenge conventional approaches to vertical transportation, egress, floor-to-floor heights, and occupancy metrics. Higher densities, greater utilization, and 24/7 use mean more robust infrastructure for new buildings. Low-voltage current and the cloud simplify it for some users, making older buildings easier to convert to meet the needs of office tenants.
Corporate Campuses
7. Shifting views on headquarters
Silicon Valley continues to favor suburban campuses, even though the tech workforce lives urban. Yet other companies are following the broader trend of locating close in, often in areas overlooked by financial companies and professional services firms. Energy companies also favor the suburbs, but a few of them are opting for several locations that face their global markets.
Media
14. The media industry’s growing impact
Media now includes all forms of interpersonal communications, entertainment, and interactive technologies. It comprises both conveying information and sharing it. The emerging media industry reflects how content and delivery are fused together. It is changing the competitive landscape and challenging other industries’ business models and use of physical space.
Entertainment
19. Total immersion steals the show
People are seeking immersive environments that take them to new places. Large-scale theme parks and themed attractions are appearing in the Gulf, China, and Turkey. Casinos take on spectacular new forms or recall exotic locations. Even cinemas offer high-end experiences. While technology is part of it, the settings and sensory engagement are the main events.
Retail Centers
21. The imperative to connect
Retail centers are pulling out the stops to connect with shoppers, both by curating the mix to reflect local tastes and by layering in activities—a full calendar of farmers’ markets, concerts, craft and maker fairs—and amenities that their target markets will appreciate. The aim is to increase the touch points with shoppers so a center is on their map and worth return visits.
22. The city as mall, the mall as city
Urbanization is shifting retail centers to the urban core as retailers focus on dense,transit-served districts. In established urban markets with a lot of infill sites, retail centers are shrinking. They’re also engaging the street rather than turning their backs on it. In other markets, the scale is much bigger, but the feeling is urban and walkable, activated by density and events.
Retail
24. Brick-and-mortar stores will persist
Although their overall contribution to retailer revenues is declining, stores will persist because they offer brick-and-mortar retailers a way to differentiate themselves from online shopping. To shrink stores and decouple inventory and delivery from the hands-on, tech-augmented experience of stores, sales staff, and goods, retailers will need to integrate and orchestrate their different retail channels.
Tall Buildings
25. Tall buildings are mixed use
To minimize investment risk and activate the larger setting, the trend in tall buildings is to mix headquarters-quality office floors with hotel, residential, retail, cultural, and community spaces. Separate access is important—and VIP access is crucial in China. The retail podium, sky gardens, shared-amenity floors, and public club/observation spaces all support round-the-clock vertical living.
Mixed Use
28. Everything comes in combination
The necessity of mixed use is such that even specialists in single-use development look for ways to introduce it in their own projects or capitalize on it in the adjoining district. The value it brings, even in suburban towns, has as much to do with social connectivity as destination value. Transit is often in the mix, but the mix is richer, denser, finer-grained, and more dynamic and unpredictable.
Planning & Urban Design
35. The rise and rise of the metropolis
Growing urbanization means that metropolitan regions are the engines of the wider economy. They have to balance the demands of the future with the realities of the present, and contend with very different challenges. Planning for a metropolis will mean engaging with it over time, influencing the short term with a longer-term perspective. It will also require a global toolkit.
Aviation & Transportation
43. The passengers reign supreme
People want their airports back. In a post-9/11 world, their desire for more pleasurable air travel will compel airports to cater to passengers’ varied needs and wants. New levels of comfort and calm will elevate the total experience. Airports will look beyond aviation, finding inspiration in hospitality, entertainment, retail, and brand design to meet passengers’ raised expectations.
44. Urbanization boosts connectivity
As rising urbanization increases density, regions will push for greater connectivity. Airports will be the global portals of metropolitan and intercity transit systems, including high-speed rail. Airports will be destinations and urban centers in their own right, spurring a host of new uses that can leverage their strategic importance as a converging point—the long-forecast airport city.
Related Stories
Mixed-Use | Jun 6, 2023
Public-private partnerships crucial to central business district revitalization
Central Business Districts are under pressure to keep themselves relevant as they face competition from new, vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods emerging across the world’s largest cities.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 6, 2023
Minnesota expected to adopt building code that would cut energy use by 80%
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is expected to soon sign a bill that would change the state’s commercial building code so that new structures would use 80% less energy when compared to a 2004 baseline standard. The legislation aims for full implementation of the new code by 2036.
Healthcare Facilities | Jun 5, 2023
Modernizing mental health care in emergency departments: Improving patient outcomes
In today’s mental health crisis, there is a widespread shortage of beds to handle certain populations. Patients may languish in the ED for hours or days before they can be linked to an appropriate inpatient program.
Student Housing | Jun 5, 2023
The power of student engagement: How on-campus student housing can increase enrollment
Studies have confirmed that students are more likely to graduate when they live on campus, particularly when the on-campus experience encourages student learning and engagement, writes Design Collaborative's Nathan Woods, AIA.
Engineers | Jun 5, 2023
How to properly assess structural wind damage
Properly assessing wind damage can identify vulnerabilities in a building's design or construction, which could lead to future damage or loss, writes Matt Wagner, SE, Principal and Managing Director with Walter P Moore.
Cladding and Facade Systems | Jun 5, 2023
27 important questions about façade leakage
Walter P Moore’s Darek Brandt discusses the key questions building owners and property managers should be asking to determine the health of their building's façade.
Retail Centers | Jun 2, 2023
David Adjaye-designed mass timber structure will be a business incubator for D.C.-area entrepreneurs
Construction was recently completed on The Retail Village at Sycamore & Oak, a 22,000-sf building that will serve as a business incubator for entrepreneurs, including emerging black businesses, in Washington, D.C. The facility, designed by Sir David Adjaye, the architect of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, is expected to attract retail and food concepts that originated in the community.
Mixed-Use | Jun 1, 2023
The Moore Building, a 16-story office and retail development, opens in Nashville’s Music Row district
Named after Elvis Presley’s onetime guitarist, The Moore Building, a 16-story office building with ground-floor retail space, has opened in Nashville’s Music Row district. Developed by Portman and Creed Investment Company and designed by Gresham Smith, The Moore Building offers 236,000 sf of office space and 8,500 sf of ground-floor retail.
Healthcare Facilities | Jun 1, 2023
High-rise cancer center delivers new model for oncology care
Atlanta’s 17-story Winship Cancer Institute at Emory Midtown features two-story communities that organize cancer care into one-stop destinations. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and May Architecture, the facility includes comprehensive oncology facilities—including inpatient beds, surgical capacity, infusion treatment, outpatient clinics, diagnostic imaging, linear accelerators, and areas for wellness, rehabilitation, and clinical research.
K-12 Schools | May 30, 2023
K-12 school sector trends for 2023
Budgeting and political pressures aside, the K-12 school building sector continues to evolve. Security remains a primary objective, as does offering students more varied career options.