This year marks Gensler’s 50th anniversary. As it looks toward the future, the planet’s largest architectural design firm sees a world “on the cusp of breakthroughs made possible by innovation, urbanization, and global connectivity,” write co-CEOs David Gensler and Andy Cohen, FAIA, IIDA; and Diane Hoskins, FAIA, in Gensler’s just-released Design Forecast 2015.
Some of the topics Gensler addresses in its 73-page forecast—such as the role of design in increasingly citified environments, where generational demarcations are not always clear and where technological advances proceed unabated—might sound familiar to anyone who’s been keeping up with current events within the nonresidential construction universe.
However, many other AEC firms are probably thinking about how they should respond to the same megatrends that Gensler identifies as shaping design:
• Workplaces are rethinking the nature of work itself as social media and business networks mesh.
• As more people move into cities, innovation will be the key to pragmatic and affordable approaches to planning.
• If technology is raising the stakes on just about everything, where does the human dimension come in?
• In tackling problems revolving around infrastructure resilience, societies are leaning toward holistic solutions, active management, and stewardship.
• As density becomes the abiding development strategy, developers and owners are attracting the best tenants with rich amenities and transit-served destinations.
• Good data and strong analytics are crucial for keeping up with generational cohorts that are “moving targets.”
Gensler’s Forecast also cites 27 trends that are directly impacting the firm’s three primary practices: Workplace, Community, and Lifestyle. Here’s a sampling:
Commercial office buildings “are less of a stand-alone real estate product and more a part of mixed use.” That use, more often than not, is a combination that goes beyond towers to provide “different scales, and … promote[s] the kind of informal interaction that generates higher retail traffic and evening and weekend activity.”
An organizational imperative for an energy sector that must stay flexible and adaptable in a volatile world “is to align: one brand, mission, purpose, and workforce.”
Corporate campuses are shedding their stodgy image as disconnected, disparate buildings. By consolidating operations “under one roof,” companies maximize interactions, foster collaboration and innovation, and promote a sense of community. Photo: Hyundai Motor America, Fountain Valley, Calif. / courtesy Gensler
Technology “disrupts, so tech companies are questioning how buildings work. That means rethinking their performance and exploring innovations like untethered power.”
A burgeoning media sector, despite its equipment-heavy context, is still a creative industry that favors workspaces that are “open, amenity-filled, flexible in relation to new technologies, and capable of being scaled up fast for growth.”
Mass customization will drive product design, as large cities serve as micro-markets for products and innovation hubs that influence broader consumer tastes.
Life sciences companies are replacing traditional labs with technically complex workplaces that support the latest scientific advances, and allow researchers to form interdisciplinary teams for collaboration.
Next-generation aircraft provides a growth opportunity for large, non-hub airports to offer direct international service, city to city, bypassing existing gateway hubs. Global mega-hubs will grow and evolve as leisure destinations with more space dedicated to retail and dining. “Primed by smart devices, the passenger experience will take cues from retail centers and hotels.”
Consolidation, demographic shifts, and new competition are causing “massive” changes in the healthcare sector. Consumers want more choices. Work-based wellness is entering into the healthcare space. And the rise in specialty care centers reflects the movement toward personalized medicine that integrates clinical innovations with tailored care delivery.
What’s differentiating retail centers in an age of online shopping is their engagement with customers and communities. “As retailers’ real and digital worlds converge, the browse/buy function is evolving.” And word of mouth, so important to sales, “is part of the smartphone data that give retailers the bigger picture.”
In a digital era, when an experience that can’t be shared in real time “didn’t happen,” the goal of entertainment projects needs to be to connect with audiences before, during and after the event “so people are engaged and the ROI is higher.”
The hospitality sector is working overtime to be informal and welcoming, by integrating local culture and letting the larger community in whenever they can.
Countries in the Middle East and Asia are competing for which can build the tallest building. But the success of these “vertical cities” will ultimately be measured “by how well they attract and support tenants, and how well they fit with and enliven the city at their feet.”
Gensler foresees tomorrow’s mixed-use towers as anchors for diverse, walkable and transit-served districts.
Read the Gensler’s Design Forecast 2015.
Related Stories
| Sep 29, 2014
Snøhetta releases final plan for terraced central library in Calgary
The competition-winning New Central Library is now in the final design stages, after two years of community engagement on the part of design firms Snøhetta and DIALOG.
| Sep 25, 2014
Jean Nouvel unveils plans for National Art Museum of China
Of the design, Nouvel describes it as inspired by the simplicity of “a single brush stroke.”
Sponsored | | Sep 25, 2014
Your business doesn’t always need to change
By now, the idea that organizations must adapt to maintain both relevance and market share is so ingrained that it’s been reduced to pithy sayings. But is constant adaptation always the best policy? SPONSORED CONTENT
| Sep 25, 2014
Bjarke Ingels headed home for latest project: Aarhus Island
Aarhus Island will be a waterside development in Denmark's second-largest city. The mixed-use development will implement Ingels' signature angled look in its residential towers.
| Sep 24, 2014
Must see: Semi-submerged hotel planned for Qatar's man-made island
Plans for a new hotel in the Persian Gulf are taking Dubai’s Palm Islands concept to a whole new level—underwater, that is.
| Sep 24, 2014
5 business lessons from a 43-year Star veteran
Mary Ed Cain was supposed to be born a boy. That was the first time she surprised everyone. The second time came on a daily basis during her 43-year career at Star Building Systems. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Sep 24, 2014
Architecture billings see continued strength, led by institutional sector
On the heels of recording its strongest pace of growth since 2007, there continues to be an increasing level of demand for design services signaled in the latest Architecture Billings Index.
| Sep 24, 2014
Frank Gehry's first building in Latin America will host grand opening on Oct. 2
Gehry's design for the Biomuseo, or Museum of Biodiversity, draws inspiration from the site's natural and cultural surroundings, including local Panamaian tin roofs.
| Sep 23, 2014
Cedars-Sinai looks to streamline trauma care with first-of-its-kind OR360 simulation space
The breakthrough simulation center features moveable walls and a modular ceiling grid that allow doctors and military personnel to easily reconfigure the shape and size of the space.
| Sep 23, 2014
Third phase of New York’s High Line redevelopment opens
The $35 million Phase 3, known as High Line at the Rail Yards, broke ground September 20, 2012, and officially opened to the public on September 21.
