Dive Brief:
- Design firm Gensler has released its Design Forecast 2017, with this year's report focusing on how to lessen the negative impact of future events through design, also known as future-proofing, according to Building Design + Construction.
- Gensler identified 16 design trends, all of which fall under the overriding themes of the experience-driven life, livable cities, everyday impact and responsive design.
- Gensler's 2017 human experience-based forecast is a slight departure from the 2016 report, which addressed technological aspects of design, such as smart cities and attempting to reconcile the online and offline aspects of living.
Dive Insight:
The livable cities imperative goes beyond "smart" features and highlights the importance of good citizens — resilient, environment-conscious and conducive to the natural ebb and flow of human interaction. Gensler predicts that to further the goal of community, high-density "megaprojects," which have been tagged as characterless eyesores in some cities, will play a major role.
Community and transparency, Gensler said, will influence everyday design, as even traditional business enterprises and educational institutions are placing a higher premium on diversity, inclusivity and the natural flow of their surroundings.
Responsive design, which includes buildings like the world's first fully functional, 3-D-printed office in Dubai, allows structures to meet a variety of end user needs and also lets them participate in the design process. Technology will play a role in this aspect, but more as a tool for collaboration and a method by which designers and clients will be able to reach the end result as expeditiously as possible, Gensler predicted. Prefabrication, modular building and robotics all fall into this category.
Bjarke Ingels, another huge name in the architecture world, has also emphasized the importance of preparing for the future while also keeping aesthetics in mind. He said during the 2016 Greenbuild International Conference & Expo that sustainability and design are not at odds but "can actually coexist perfectly." He added that much of BIG's work "is fed by a rejection of the traditional dichotomy where it’s either this or that. It’s either sustainable or enjoyable."