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
| Aug 10, 2016
Top 90 Retail Architecture Firms
Gensler, GreenbergFarrow, and MG2 top Building Design+Construction’s annual ranking of the nation’s largest retail sector architecture and A/E firms, as reported in the 2016 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 10, 2016
DATA CENTER GIANTS: Information overload is pushing the limits of mission-critical facilities
Streamlined design and delivery approaches for individual business enterprises and co-location facilities are being born out of the necessity to bring new capacity online as quickly as possible.
| Aug 10, 2016
Top 30 Data Center Architecture Firms
Gensler, Corgan, and HDR top Building Design+Construction’s annual ranking of the nation’s largest data center sector architecture and A/E firms, as reported in the 2016 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 10, 2016
UNIVERSITY GIANTS: Facing money woes, the nation's colleges double down on innovative ideas
Budget constraints are compelling some public institutions to pursue alternative methods of financing their major building projects.
| Aug 9, 2016
Top 100 University Architecture Firms
Gensler, Perkins+Will, and CannonDesign top Building Design+Construction’s annual ranking of the nation’s largest university sector architecture and A/E firms, as reported in the 2016 Giants 300 Report.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Aug 9, 2016
Renascent architecture: Demolished Frank Lloyd Wright structures get new life
The Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative is set to begin its reconstruction efforts with the Banff Pavilion, which was demolished in 1939.
Building Team | Aug 4, 2016
Thought leaders from architecture, engineering and construction to meet at 2016 Bluebeam eXtreme Conference
Bluebeam users inspire technological change through shared insights and training at three-day event.
| Aug 4, 2016
MULTIFAMILY BUILDING GIANTS: Rental complexes focus on affordability, accessibility, and specialty amenities
To address the affordability problem and attract tenants, owners and developers are experimenting with smaller and smaller units, amenity-rich environments, and “co-living” concepts.
| Aug 4, 2016
Top 110 Multifamily Architecture Firms
Perkins Eastman, CallisonRTKL, and Solomon Cordwell Buenz top Building Design+Construction’s annual ranking of the nation’s largest multifamily building sector architecture and A/E firms, as reported in the 2016 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 3, 2016
GREEN BUILDING GIANTS: Sustainability leaders turn to wellness and technology to get an edge
AEC leaders in green building are stepping up to a higher level of innovation and to be a green leader today, you have to dig deeper into data.
