Design Forecast 2016

Gensler Design Forecast 2016
Residential
Embracing new lifestyles
Within the next 10 years, the continued
trends of urban and suburban densification
and global urbanization will have changed the
residential landscape in larger markets and
will be under way in smaller markets.
Fueled by the sharing economy and the cost
of personal home ownership, communal
housing will become acceptable to residential
segments like post-college adults, single
parents, and the elderly. The community
arrangement offers financial and social
benefits. Community-based offerings, such
as cohousing, provide affordable housing
solutions for seniors, younger renters, and
entrepreneurs, who may tend to embrace
opportunities for relationship building and
casual connections. A menu of amenities
are shared among cohabitants, but can also
be reserved.
Renters and buyers in urban markets want
options supporting convenient, mobile, and
social lifestyles. Changes in work style and
lifestyle will increase the need for part-time
housing as people with mobile lifestyles seek
places that pair the conveniences of a hotel
with the comfort and familiarity of home.
In response to these changes, mixed-use
developments are increasingly introducing
a housing component. Many new “residential”
projects include office, retail, and hotel uses
on a single block. With their smaller floor
plates, older downtown office buildings are
ideal for residential conversion.
The suburb isn’t dead, but it craves the
advantages of city living. That’s leading to an
emerging residential market, the “uburb,”
midway between the city and the suburb.
Some large employers are collocating
with them to tap their housing, amenities,
and transit accessibility.
Across global markets, there’s a need for
new types of informal and formal settlements.
Developing countries have special concerns;
for example, secure land tenure, economic
stability, and safe and sanitary conditions.
While governments, NGOs, local landowners,
and contractors cooperate, informal
settlements still occur. These makeshift
dwellings also need schools, places to work
and gather, and access to services.
right: Biola University Blackstone Residence Hall,
La Mirada, CA
below: 3D Printed House Prototype
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