Architectural giant Perkins+Will recently surveyed its staff of 1,500 design pros to forcast hot trends in the AEC field for 2014. The resulting Design + Insights Survey reflects a global perspective, influenced by the firm's active international projects.
Trend 1: Design + Resiliency
Robin Guenther, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal/Sustainable Healthcare Design Leader, labels Superstorm Sandy "a critical wake-up call." The report predicts that designers will pay more attention to creating work that accounts for the possiblity of natural disasters. Preparedness will be integrated with community-based design responses to impacts such as earthquakes, tornados, floods, and drought.
Trend 2: Design + Sustainability
Health aspects of building materials, as well as reduction in water use and adaptation to climate change, will be strong focuses in green design. The report characterizes material health as "the number one concern for 2014" among all sustainability issues.
Trend 3: Design + Active Design
Employee health and wellness will be increasingly central to design, the firm predicts. The intention to accommodate more movement opportunities in projects will have to overcome the fact that some clients do not see this as a high priority, particularly in workplace design. Nevertheless, "There are some alarming statistics that indicate movement throughout the day—or the lack of it—is part of a new frontier in predicting health outcomes," according to Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal/Global Interior Design Leader.
Trend 4: Design + Multigenerational Workplaces
A mix of age groups will continue to force change in workplace culture, collaboration, and research, according to the report. Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Generation Xers often have very different ideas about what constitutes a productive and effective workplace. Millennials (1980-2000) prioritize tools and technologies, whereas Boomers (1946-1964) place a strong emphasis on a supportive culture. "Design [should address] the diverse workstyles emerging as a result of the generational shift underway," says Frederick J. Schmidt, IIDA, LEED AP, Managing Principal/Global Corporate Interiors Practice Chair.
Trend 5: Design + Technology
Modeling, collaboration, and mobile technologies will dramatically influence better design processes, the report predicts. Current key focuses include energy modeling and environmental analysis; project- and information-management applications; remote collaboration/communications technologies; and smartphones/tablets that enable mobility. Important emerging technologies include free and publicly available data sets, ubiquitous remote sensing, and rapid application development.
Related Stories
| Apr 5, 2011
Top 10 Buildings: Women in Architecture
Making selections of top buildings this week led to a surprising discovery about the representation of women in architecture, writes Tom Mallory, COO and co-founder, OpenBuildings.com. He discovered that finding female-created architecture, when excluding husband/wife teams, is extremely difficult and often the only work he came across was akin to interior design.
| Apr 5, 2011
What do Chengdu, Lagos, and Chicago have in common?
They’re all “world middleweight cities” that are likely to become regional megacities (10 million people) by 2025—along with Dongguan, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Wuhan (China); Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo); Jakarta (Indonesia); Lahore (Pakistan); and Chennai (India), according to a new report from McKinsey Global Institute: “Urban World: Mapping the economic power of cities”.
| Mar 30, 2011
China's low-carbon future city
In 2005, the Chinese government announced its target to reduce energy consumption per GDP unit by 20% by the year 2010. After a multi-billion investment, that target has been reached. The Chinese Climate Protection Program’s goal to increase energy efficiency, develop renewable energies, and promote energy savings while reducing pollutant emissions and strengthening environmental protection is reflected in the “Future City” by SBA Design.
| Mar 30, 2011
Is the AEC industry at risk of losing its next generation leaders without better mentoring?
After two or three horrifying years for the AEC industry, we are finally seeing the makings of a turnaround. However, data developed by Kermit Baker as part of the AIA Work-on-the-Boards survey program indicates that between 17% and 22% of design firms are eliminating positions for interns and staff with less than six years of experience. This data suggests the industry is at risk of losing a large segment of its next generation of leaders if something isn't done to improve mentoring across the profession.
| Mar 29, 2011
City's design, transit system can ease gas costs
Some cities in the U.S. are better positioned to deal with rising gas prices than others because of their design and transit systems, according to CEOs for Cities, a Chicago-based nonprofit that works to build stronger cities. The key factor: whether residents have to drive everywhere, or have other options.
| Mar 29, 2011
Chicago’s Willis Tower to become a vertical solar farm
Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is set to become a massive solar electric plant with the installation of a pilot solar electric glass project.
| Mar 29, 2011
Read up on Amazon.com's new green HQ
Phase IV of Amazon’s new headquarters in Seattle is nearly complete. The company has built 10 of the 11 buildings planned for its new campus in the South Lake Union neighborhood, and is on-track for a 2013 grand opening.
| Mar 29, 2011
Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura wins Pritzker Architecture Prize
Portugese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, whose precisely-honed buildings reflect the influence of the late Chicago modernist Mies van der Rohe, is the 2011 winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the field's highest honor.
| Mar 25, 2011
Qatar World Cup may feature carbon-fiber ‘clouds’
Engineers at Qatar University’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering are busy developing what they believe could act as artificial “clouds,” man-made saucer-type structures suspended over a given soccer stadium, working to shield tens of thousands of spectators from suffocating summer temperatures that regularly top 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
