Design Forecast 2016

Gensler Design Forecast 2016
Consulting
New capabilities,
new challenges
Analytics allows data to be sifted in real
time, algorithmically, generating insights that
enhance personal experience at the places
where people live, work, and play. Designers
will tap these findings to understand user
needs. As data gathering is integrated into
the settings themselves, people’s presence in
them will generate real-time data points.
The rising numbers of freelance and contract
workers will have a design and operational
impact as organizations seek to integrate
them. Likewise, given the ubiquity of the
mobile workplace, people will expect to
maintain such primary workplace values as
health, engagement, brand, and work mode
support—wherever they choose to work.
The need for geographically distributed
teams within global organizations to work
together effectively is complicated by
language and cultural differences. Giving
collaboration tools real-time translation
capability could help. Automation, which
may prove to be both a boon and a threat
to workers, is an emerging issue that will
grow in importance in the next decade.
below: Schuchart, Seattle, shown with Gensler’s
award-winning Observe iPad app, which links
activity data directly to floor plans.
above: Sunset Media
Center, Hollywood, CA
Landlord Services
Remixed for revenue
enhancement
Landlords are turning to prebuilt, ready-to-go
office space to meet tenant demands faster.
Emerging workspace-on-demand platforms
that “share” third-party properties the way
other platforms share rides and beds will cater
to tenants wanting shorter stays. As virtual
reality technology catches on, it may supplant
real walk-throughs as the way tenants evaluate
multiple properties.
Amenities and services will be a bigger sales
point for office buildings, with lobbies and
other public areas taking cues from hospitality
and residential properties—creating new
revenue opportunities for owners and managers
by adding coffee shops, restaurants,
retail, conference centers, concierge services,
and more. Also look for them to offer
expanded amenities to individual tenants,
managing tenant-branded facilities and
providing services tailored to their staffs.
As this suggests, owners understand that
their office buildings are part of mixed-use
districts—or need to provide that mix where
it’s missing. Integrating settings and activities
that draw evening and weekend traffic, and
opening up lobbies and terraces to encourage
synergy with the neighborhood, will raise
the destination value of both office buildings
and their immediate districts.
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