October 4–6, 2021
Explore the virtual NeoCon Program Library and choose from a line up of informative and engaging on-demand programing, featuring world-class expertise and insight on today’s most relevant topics as well as the future of commercial design.
As we assess the effects of the pandemic, some have predicted the death of the workplace entirely. David Schwarz, however, thinks this death has been greatly exaggerated and that the design of the workplace will take an evolutionary leap, not a mere shift in program. A new model of program and value - one based primarily on qualitative brand experiences that leverage the inspirational scale of architecture, and foster employee collaboration through interaction and technology - will be the light that draws us back. The seeds of this are evidenced in his firm’s work with Uber in creating an interactive lobby experience called The Stream for Uber’s new campus in Mission Bay, San Francisco.
As the market embraces “hybrid work,” the reality is we are entering a period of consideration around where we will work. Will we embrace remote work to enjoy the comforts and conveniences of home or return to the office to reconnect with co-workers to collaborate and get out of the house? It's a race for software developers and real estate to prove their value as employees (and tenants) make up their minds about what works best. Today’s real estate leaders have to ask themselves, “What will drive employees to the office?” How can the workplace win them over – is it about amenities, connection or just getting out of the house? How do we design experience-rich workplaces to fully support employee needs and capitalize on business goals. How do we support our “hybrid” reality?
Rockwell Group’s internal experience design and technology studio, the LAB, will discuss recent projects and open a discussion about the role that technology and media play in the built environment. As the demand for interactivity continues to grow, the LAB incorporates technology, strategy, and story to deliver memorable spaces. Their approach borrows heavily from interaction design to place people at the center of the design process, shifting the focus to designing experiences and spaces that change over time.
Websites like Apartment Therapy and Houzz, social channels like Instagram and Pinterest, and TV networks like HGTV have given the world 24-7 access to design ideas and inspiration. This growing interest in design is a welcome, natural development. People have an innate attraction to beauty, and wider participation in the design process only enriches the result. The challenge is that, while everyone may have their own ideas and opinions about design—and, thanks to the plethora of free design apps and inexpensive software, the tools to practice it—not everyone is a designer. Great design doesn’t emerge from a well-curated Pinterest board or hours of binge watching a show. Instead, it’s the product of education and experience, inspiration and rigor. HOK's workplace design teams have always worked to solve problems and improve the human experience. That will never change. What is changing—even more so as we reimagine aspects of the built environment in response to COVID-19—is our culture’s heightened awareness of design.
COVID-19 has highlighted the link between environmental conditions associated with climate change – such as loss of habitat and air pollution – and infectious respiratory disease. Understanding how regions, cities and buildings can mitigate and adapt to changing climate conditions while reducing environmental impact has created innovative design, construction and policy practices. What is less clear is the exact relationship between human, organizational and community health and building-level climate change and adaptation practices.
This session will discuss research gaps and opportunities and how building and organizational level practices fit into larger-scale climate change adaptation and mitigation targets. Leaders from IWBI and ASID will discuss how design can further this important work, highlight key areas of research and engage discussion on the broader role of design centered on climate change and human health. .
All of our design institutions (healthcare, education, workplace), were built around assumptions and conventional wisdoms that are no longer true. This session will explore how standard and outdated business practices are holding us back from innovating new solutions needed for a post-COVID world and will examine the ways to engage in an innovation strategy to solve problems often assumed to be unsolvable. Based on insight developed working with Fortune 500 clients, Eric Corey Freed will share how organizations, companies, and municipalities can accelerate their plans for sustainability, climate, carbon, equity, or resilience, while addressing the organizational limitations of waste, inefficiency, and fear.
Design is about everything we interact with, and for interior design, it's about combining beauty and function to enhance how users experience a space. But conscientious designers are recognizing they have a larger role to play. Design has become vital to thinking, to process, to solutions, and to action on so many social and environmental issues we find ourselves collectively facing in the 21st Century. Meet a group of optimistic designers taking their skills and talents to the next level by channeling design for real purpose. These practitioners aren't waiting around for change to happen, they are using design as a tool to enable much needed change.
The COVID-19 crisis forced the world to undertake the largest remote working experiment in history. Endless video calls revealed our homes, partners, kids, and pets, blurring the line between our work and personal lives. We also experienced suffering, isolation, and cultural disconnection which has had a profound impact on our mental health. This session will explore the pandemic’s transformational effect on wellness and the workplace. We will learn about the many dimensions of holistic wellness and how to support wellness beyond the walls of the office for the hybrid workforce of the future. Together we will discover design strategies to achieve employee wellness and ultimately organizational success because when people thrive, business thrives.
Wellbeing, both physical and mental, will become an increasingly important component of the next future of work. The advancing body of science proving how design impacts human performance and behavior will be harder for organizations to ignore. Gone are the days when historical metrics such as cost/square foot and first cost drive decisions. This new era will center on people and focus on engagement, productivity, recruitment, and retention. As employee engagement numbers hover around 30%, organizations that move the needle through wellbeing, resiliency, and flexibility will come out ahead. Attendees can expect to learn about wellbeing, people-centered strategies that drive positive culture and result in greater innovation and enhanced productivity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put mental health in the spotlight. Employees are contending with environments and cultures that lead to stress, isolation and low engagement. This session will explore how the workplace influences mental health and will outline the range of ways organizations can enhance mental well-being, with an emphasis on strategies in the WELL Building Standard™ v2. It will provide suggestions on how employers can harness design and culture to decrease stress and support a focused, engaged and productive workforce, including key considerations for both a remote workforce and for those returning to the office.
The appetite of today’s workforce to work wherever and however they want continues to grow. The role of the office is quickly changing from a traditional 9–5 mandate, to more of a hub for collaboration celebrating corporate culture and brand identity. Business owners are searching for new, innovative ways to achieve intuitive connection between employees and this new place of work.
As such, the role of designers must adapt and explore new ways of facilitating these new connections. ONE Global Design is a strategic alliance of best-in-class Architecture and Interior Design firms bringing together industry expertise, talent, and thought leadership. This panel of ONE Global Design members will explore how techniques and strategies from other design sectors can better inform workplace design in the future.
In 2020 the world as we knew it shifted. Our roles as designers, architects, technologists and strategists have allowed us to accommodate for this shift by pushing our creativity even further. We are no longer tethered to designing only physical environments for our clients; we are being challenged to rethink the way the virtual and built environments merge into one seamless ecosystem supporting the distributed workforce globally. With the urgency to foster employee engagement, organizations are willing to experiment and reinvent, now more than ever. IA will discuss three fundamental ways it is collaborating with clients through this paradigm shift, and share lessons learned. These include the creation and use of the virtual environment, workplace experience applications, and technology integration into the physical workplace.
Why will we return to offices in the future? While working remotely has proven a success for most companies during the pandemic, people are missing other people: work is getting done, yet collaboration, decision-making and serendipitous creative sparks can prove challenging.
In the future, the opportunity to work together in person will place the physical office at the center of a new work ecosystem. This office will be less about a place to work and more about a hub for connection and collaboration across both physical and digital dimensions. Together we'll discuss how the physical workplace will need to evolve from an obligation into a destination, and become an integrated ecosystem of flexible spaces designed for multiple activities. Our conversation will investigate the opportunities as well as the challenges in designing spaces and products for this new office ecosystem: provide insight into how the future of the office is taking shape, contextualized within macro lifestyle consumer shifts that look two to five years ahead; show how to build an efficient long-term strategy to engage with the new future workforce that is being delineated; and explore the products that will not only meet but also help anticipate the needs of such a workforce, as well as the key sectors to invest into.
As our hybrid future of work comes into focus, smart organizations are leveraging unprecedented flexibility and choice that will empower employees to design their own experiences. The hybrid workplace represents an entirely new model, requiring different space types, more integration of new collaborative technologies, and an entirely new connection between employees and management. These changes will cause major impacts on company culture and policies that will require new partnerships and tighter synchronicity across internal organizations. This session will explore the benefits, opportunities, and risks of this new era of the workplace and will arm attendees with the tools and insights they need to navigate this bright new future of work. Learn how Adobe, which was in the midst of the largest workplace transformation in its history when the pandemic hit, is planning for a very different future, one where its employees are at the center of everything they do.
COVID-19 will not only change the way we work, it will change how we interact with people and physical objects. As we return to the workplace, we will have to not only rethink the way we engage with the space, but how we interact with each other. A new social dynamic will be created with potential for unease, increased anxiety and conflict. Adding that to the fact that we are living in a world where we are constantly connected, and the in-flow of information seems never-ending, the inability to disconnect is causing a dramatic increase in stress levels amongst workers today. We are also living in a time where exponential change is being driven by advances and rapid development of new autonomous technology. Hence, we are seeing the parallel rise of the machine age and the rise of the human factor. These two streams were already converging in the workplace and changing not only the tools we use, but when, where and how we work as well. Going forward we need to create environments that can help accommodate all and address the physical and social challenges we now face.
Panelists will build on part one’s dialogue about the future definition and context of the office. Attendees will join leading minds who are actively researching why communal work is more critical to organizational success than ever, and who are developing the ground-breaking products and environments that will allow employees to safely return to the workspace. While the office we return to won’t be the office we left, the experts behind the scenes at Allsteel, Haworth, Mohawk, and Steelcase are generating cutting-edge design elements to enhance the workspace experience—a critical component to making sure the return to work (no matter when and where it will be) is as safe, productive, and innovative as possible. Join us for this complimentary program in partnership with Work Design Magazine.
The intersection of design, wellness and psychology all meet in the workspace. The workspace, by circumstance, has now expanded from the office to our dining rooms, living rooms and bedrooms. While work life balance has been a trending topic in recent years, it has now been thrown into the maelstrom of working through the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists’ dialogue will touch on the challenges and opportunities this moment in the workspace revolution has exposed. Attendees will enjoy an animated discussion about how what we continue to learn from the current situation will influence the design and definition of workspaces of the future. Join us for this complimentary program in partnership with Work Design Magazine.
In the months before COVID-19 struck, the climate crisis was at the top of many people’s minds—from teenagers protesting in the streets, to large corporations pledging to become carbon neutral. In the A&D world, we saw growing awareness of embodied carbon and significant commitment from firms and clients alike. How can our learning from the current health crisis help us take the sustainability movement to the next stage?
As designers, we are faced with the challenge of incorporating the essence of senior living into the overall design of a community—at all scales. Our session will build on the current concept of senior living: their desire is to be part of a multigenerational community supporting the engagement of active, purposeful and meaningful living. The designers’ goal is to provide environments that encourage all individuals to maximize their abilities and positive outcomes. Our session will update the trends and provide the direction for senior living and the related healthcare marketplace from the following perspectives: health and wellness, sustainability, programming, care population, as well as the utilization of inclusive design principles. [INTERMEDIATE][SH][HC][WE]
The migration of work to home during the Covid pandemic has accelerated the longstanding erosion of boundaries between workplace and domestic environments. One consequence of this erosion has been the emergence of resimercial design. A synthesis of commercial and residential elements, resimercial design is purported to boost occupant creativity and innovation, among other benefits. But what is the evidence for this claim? Have specific characteristics of home environments been proven to enhance idea flow? And is resimercial design applicable to home-based workspaces as well? This presentation explores the science behind the new philosophy and how building professionals can advocate for a resimercial approach on an informed rather than intuitive basis. Topics explored include furnishings, lighting, artwork, materials, planning, and programming. [BASIC][OF][RES]
This webinar has been developed by IDCEC and examines the changing landscape of learning. It explores presentation strategies to keep learners inspired, engaged, and motivated to learn for life. Attendees will discover a variety of tools for continuing education, and realize how to innovate and create positive change in the face of social distancing. Attendees will also build a collective fellowship in the design industry, and gain knowledge on how to operate in a cost- efficient manner in the new normal. This program is geared to CEU providers or potential CEU providers and is approved for .5 IDCEC credit. [BASIC][PD]
Join us as we dive into a new trend in design, the intersection where the hospitality industry meets other kinds of workplaces. This trend’s driven by a younger generation seeking experiences that align with their values, and the desire to have authentic interactions that speak to each person’s individuality. From restaurants and hotels, to healthcare spaces and even our workplaces—the hospitality industry has influenced the way we design for the end-user. All indications, too, are that this trend will continue to expand, so astute designers will want to better understand the trend and its future implications. In this presentation, a panel of experts will discuss what we can do to meet new challenges in demographics, mobility and technology. [INTERMEDIATE][HOSP][OF]
The Design Impact Grant Program offers annual project-specific grants to individuals and organizations using design or design principles to directly address pressing issues in Chicago communities. Tanner Woodford, Founder and Executive Director of the Design Museum of Chicago , speaks with the program’s inaugural recipients about their outstanding efforts to “Design a Better Chicago”: Maya Bird-Murphy, Founder of Chicago Mobile Makers, and Kathy Gregg, Chief Development Officer of Maplewood Housing for the Visually Impaired.
As individuals and as organizations, how do we balance – especially in a crisis - who we are and what we’ve historically been known for with the urgencies of now and the musts of tomorrow? If you haven’t given it thought, you’re already irrelevant. For organizations to survive, it’s becoming increasingly imperative to master current demands while anticipating and planning for future innovation in an “innovate or die” world. With new technologies disrupting industries faster than ever before, we’re faced with finding a balance between thriving in the now and continuously reinventing ourselves and our organizations. Those who win the survival game are agile and adaptable, with ultimate success depending on how comfortable we are stretching ourselves in new, uncomfortable and disruptive ways while adjusting to rapid change. [INTERMEDIATE][PD]
Food has always played a vital role in cultivating and building communities, especially within campus environments. And further, the design of such spaces where students, faculty and families meet regularly to break bread together is more involved than the selection of table and chair. This seminar will zero in on several crucial questions, such as how do we create spaces that support daily meals as well as food-centered activities/events for students, faculty, alum and visitors? And further, how can their interior design reflect each institution’s unique community, mission and identity while strengthening our connection with food, each other and our environment? This seminar will provide attendees with thoughtful, workable answers. Through case studies, we will explore the different ways to design for food service in campus settings and how each serves a specific function(s) while reflecting the communities they serve. [INTERMEDIATE][FC/R][INST]
Join us to discover how to avoid the pitfalls, in order to design a sustainable future workplace that benefits the organization and its people. The first misstep often involves possible hidden costs—to both the organization and its people. In fact, our session will help you uncover how better design can result in benefits like improved job satisfaction, stronger organizational commitment and improved work performance. This concept is particularly important as we struggle to improve work environments to support well-being at the same time as meeting sustainability or greenhouse-gas-reduction targets. Both goals often require more than the minimum investment, which can be difficult to justify without a comprehensive view. To help make these complex concepts more concrete, our session will rest on the hard evidence of field studies, surveys and comprehensive reviews. [INTERMEDIATE][OF]
How are we navigating through COVID-19 and what is its impact on the economy, interior design industry, design professionals, and their businesses? ASID has been conducting a series of “pulse surveys” every two weeks since March 31, 2020 to capture snapshots of how interior design companies and practitioners have been responding to this unprecedented time and practicing resilience. Dig into the results of the industry-wide survey to understand the impacts on projects and business performance, identify the challenges professionals are facing, and gather insights for advancing the profession. Additionally, learn what ASID is planning next and how to become involved as we support professionals, business, and industry.
This webinar will provide an in-depth analysis of macro drivers influencing the 2021+ CMG World Color Forecast™ including an insight of the latest developments affecting our changing society’s color consumption. CMG’s color design professionals will examine their global color forecasts microscopically to reveal the societal and cultural forces impacting 2021+ color directions. Designers and product development teams know the power of CMG’s 64 color, multi-industry World Color Forecasts to their product’s success and are challenged to interpret the World Color Forecast from within our new chaotic and uncertain world. The chaos of the evolving “new normal” will impact how color directions are applied, mature, and evolve. CMG Key Color stories from North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific will be in the spotlight during the presentation with the aim of supporting product design decisions for 2021 and beyond. [INTERMEDIATE][PD]
Resilient design is commonly understood as being related to disasters like fires or floods, but it actually stands for creativity informed by long-term thinking. Adaptability and flexibility are the core tenets of resilience—aspects that have become a concern for everyone, because of COVID-19. Indoors and outside, how can designers create spaces that will endure short term shocks and have a long-lasting positive impact on people’s lives?
After ten years of industry growth, what comes next? One of the greatest challenges facing any Principal is to proactively plan, improve and evolve – especially when business is good, and your team is busy. David Solomon will share practical ways to help you better prepare, protect and future-proof your business to capitalize on whatever comes next. You’ll learn the importance of consistently making evolutionary changes, key indicators to watch, strategies to both mitigate risk and uncover growth opportunities, and actions to take to build a stronger sustainable business that delivers better returns now and in the future. [INTERMEDIATE][DS][PD]
Join us as we unveil some of the recent trends and changes in tile design. We’ll address design and installation requirements for both conventional and large format tile, including substrate preparation and floor flatness standards. Attendees will also develop an understanding of the various types of tile, setting methods, system components, as well as quality assurance methods as outlined in the ANSI A108 standards and the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) Handbook. Furthermore, our session will examine ANSI requirements for mortar coverage, grout joint width, allowable lippage, layout and bonding, as well as other aesthetic and functional criteria. Our program will also look at the new standards for thin Gauged Porcelain Tile (GPT) panels, as well as the recommended specification language for installer qualifications appearing in the TCNA Handbook and MasterSpec. [INTERMEDIATE][FC/R][INST]
Ever wonder how designers navigate through new products and materials as they consider what is best for their clients and projects? Listen in on a series of conversations between designers and reps as they review new products. You will leave with an understanding of the questions to ask when evaluating products, how to navigate relationships with product reps, and fresh insight on what’s up and coming from manufacturers.
What drives furniture decisions in the commercial-built environment? At the outset, we designers know the importance the eight key attributes: aesthetics, quality, craftsmanship, safety, performance, health & wellness, sustainability and verification. In this session, we will dive into each of eight attributes to explain their influence on the decision-making process for furniture in contract environments. The session’s content will also include the importance of original design, an overview of wood and upholstery manufacturing construction methods, impacts on the health & wellness of the user, the sustainability of commonly used materials, as well as the role of certification schemes and other evaluation tools to verify each attribute. [BASIC][GR]
Healthcare institutions, architects and engineers reacted and adapted to the COVID-19 crisis, and their stories are being shared around the world. From converting existing facilities to building temporary solutions to an increased utilization of telehealth, we realized most healthcare facilities were not designed to handle the demand and care needs of those affected by the pandemic. In this session, panelists will speak to what designers can do moving forward. We will touch upon how our design process can change to include risk assessment programming while also looking at lessons learned from the facility adaptations during COVID-19. [INTERMEDIATE][HC][FC/R][HSW]
Due to an overwhelming response and the need to continue the candid conversation addressing the diversity problem facing architecture and design, Novità will be hosting Part II of the Diversity in Design: The Time for Change Is NOW panel, led by Joseph Cephas (SVP, Novita). Black design industry leaders will return on the panel to discuss critical topics and further to examine the role of design in social justice issues and the importance of black representation in firms.
Part II will be a Town Hall style format that will rely heavily on audience participation. The panel will answer questions to build an understanding of the problems facing African Americans both in society and in the design industry.
When we hear the word connected environments, we tend to think about how we can control things with the touch of a button. However, how can good design drive experience—by disconnecting us from technology? Our session will provide exciting answers and solutions to this counterintuitive question. We’ll pivot off several design case studies, such as the design for an interactive wall of water, or a ceiling that simulates the sky, even syncing to music or your own heartbeat. We’ll discuss how these design elements would affect your experience of physical space and promote digital detachment. Our session will offer attendees the chance to rethink how they can incorporate these design tenets to stimulate creativity, honor mindfulness and digital disconnection, as well apply these ideas to the modern workplace. [INTERMEDIATE][PD]
In this three-part series, Contract talks to leading experts who offer concise and optimal insight on how we will redesign interior spaces around us in a post-pandemic world. Discover the new opportunities on how to design better spaces, as we examine everything from anti-microbial surfaces, non-touch interfaces, and how personal spaces will evolve.
Part Three: Reshaping the healthy workplace in a post-pandemic world
We’ll look at how the workplace will evolve and be redesigned to make employees happier and healthier.
In light of the current health crisis we will examine the inherent challenges designers face when dealing with five generations in the workforce to provide choices of where, how, when and with whom they work to enhance user experience and performance. In this panel discussion, our experts will present generational similarities and differences. From that perspective we will consider post-Covid generational expectations for the workplace, from dedicated and shared individual workspaces; formal and informal meeting spaces; and community spaces and quiet spaces. With the added emphasis on physical and psychological safety and security. [INTERMEDIATE][OF][PD]
Celebrating the power of design, the ASID Outcome of Design Awards highlight new tools and processes in design, strategy, technology, and research. The 2020 winning projects, the Sensory Wellbeing Hub by HKS and M Moser Associates Living Lab by M Moser Associates, successfully demonstrate the measurable effect of projects on people in spaces. Hear from the winners in a candid, interview format that will explore their processes and provide actionable approaches to put into practice. The 2020 Outcome of Design Awards are presented by ASID, in partnership with Herman Miller and Mohawk Group, with Metropolis as media partner.
As our clients increasingly want to go green, we designers need a strategy to talk with them about how best to do so. Join us as we employ evidence-based design, which reveals how materials and products used in interior spaces directly impact health/wellness of people, pets and the environment. You’ll learn to compellingly inform your clients with accuracy. Also, you’ll learn how to navigate the latest industry resources to ensure you have the knowledge, tools and foresight to make sustainable, healthy and informed decisions for building occupants, as well as to provide documentation for project accreditation submissions. Finally, you’ll discover how to become your client’s most trusted advocate by enhancing well-being through the use of healthy, sustainable materials. [INTERMEDIATE][GR][RES]
The most important way that designers can combat the climate crisis is by bringing down carbon emissions. While every building or space may not achieve carbon neutrality, every bit of reduction counts—whether in interiors or architecture, in embodied or operational carbon. What tools and strategies can designers use today to better evaluate and reduce the carbon emissions of the spaces they create? How can they leverage the strategies of carbon-neutral design to deliver better spaces and experiences for clients and end-users alike?
As design professionals, we are in the unique position of influencing natural and human environments. Therefore, we have a responsibility to make sure our influence fulfills its potential for sustainability and a thriving world. Attendees to this presentation will discover how regenerative design and the practice of systems thinking focuses on building their capacity to embark on that exploration. We’ll start by introducing regenerative design and its relationship to sustainability; next, we’ll explore how best to shift mindset for your practice and clients. Our session will also rely on examples of how regenerative design has been put into action and the tools to help you implement it in your own projects. Attending this session will help you bring regenerative design to the forefront to ensure that your design strives towards a sustainable and thriving future. [BASIC][GR][PD]
Gendered Design spans histories and cultures, visible in the language and classifications within building components, and in how we conduct business and address each other as colleagues and friends. As society becomes more aware of our gender non-binary nature, designers must tailor their techniques to design without bias and understand how “gendering” can adversely affect our global culture by impacting participation, inclusion, and emotional wellbeing. Inclusion is not difficult. In fact, in many cases it involves a simplification process making things easier! As with nearly everything, education and awareness is key.
Presented by leaders in gender-neutral design, this virtual program will provide historical context to gender neutral design, real-world project examples for how gender neutral design has taken shape, inspiration for how gender neutral design looks to future designers to provide an inclusive built environment as a cultural platform for society to mirror, and a panel discussion on the process of educating and bringing awareness to the advantages of Gender Neutral Design in our industry.
Creativity, like other skills, should be strengthened and nurtured. Design requires us to look at space and problems and imagine things that have never been done before. How can we use creativity outside of the workplace to spark the creativity required to design the unimaginable? How are the challenges of this current crisis driving innovative solutions for our personal and professional lives. This panel of visionaries will discuss how they use creativity in their everyday lives to guide their revolutionary work. [INTERMEDIATE][PD]
In this three-part series, Contract talks to leading experts who offer concise and optimal insight on how we will redesign interior spaces around us in a post-pandemic world. Discover the new opportunities on how to design better spaces, as we examine everything from anti-microbial surfaces, non-touch interfaces, and how personal spaces will evolve.
Part Two: Rethinking materials in a post-pandemic world
Is it time for a fundamental rethink of how we specify materials? Experts weigh in how materials need to work in our interior spaces. Sharkskin, anyone?
In this session, experts will explore how design can provide a solution to the issue of ocean plastic. As we continue to shift from a linear to circular economy, reframing waste plastic as a resource is vital. Doing so in new product manufacturing allows conscientious designers to specify products that can directly help reduce ocean plastic. That said, keeping plastics in the economy and out of our oceans is easier said than done. It takes a change of mindset. It takes a company-wide commitment. It takes internal and external communication. And, it takes collaboration across diverse sectors to develop a supply chain to source ocean plastic at scale. Our session will use case studies to outline how sourcing ocean plastics actually happens, and what the impact is on local communities. Attendees will walk away with new concepts about how to source materials and the social, environmental and economic impact of designing with sustainability as a foundation. They will be able to identify a variety of sustainable design approaches and techniques, as well as describe how using sustainability as the source of innovation can yield measurable positive impacts. [INTERMEDIATE][GR][PD]
In this three-part series, Contract talks to leading experts who offer concise and optimal insight on how we will redesign interior spaces around us in a post-pandemic world. Discover the new opportunities on how to design better spaces, as we examine everything from anti-microbial surfaces, non-touch interfaces, and how personal spaces will evolve.
Part One: Learning from Healthcare: Adapting to a post-pandemic world--
We look at the expert knowledge and practices in healthcare that we can apply to other sectors like workplace and hospitality. Sponsored by Kwalu.
In this session, we’ll explore how optimizing employee experience is at the forefront of innovative workplace design now and in the future. Post-COVID-19, additional consideration must be taken to address employee health and safety when planning workspaces and providing amenities that increase collaboration and engagement. Given these new challenges, how do you quantify and plan these types of spaces without overdoing or underestimating? Hear from a designer, a building developer, and a real estate broker as they share their perspectives on the changing landscape of work and what changes we might see in the workplace to enhance experience in a post-pandemic world. To conclude, they will share quantitative and qualitative analyses that form the basis of 21st century decision-making in an industry that still references 20th century programming data and methodologies. Join us to see how this fairy tale has a happy ending. [INTERMEDIATE][OF][FC/R][FM]
Join IIDA CEO and Executive Vice President, Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA, for a special edition of Collective D(esign) in dialogue with female design leaders, to discuss the urgency of this current moment, what’s next for design, and how a diversity of design thought is more crucial than ever. Hear what they have to say about the importance of mentorship, inspiration, and the future of the profession.
How will we feel safe going back to work in our office? Three designers discuss what their firms are doing for themselves and for their clients to create an environment and an attitude that supports staff safety and comfort. These issues are not limited to furniture plans and high-touch surfaces but address the culture of the business and its understanding the concerns of those who work in it. In the short-term, how do designers develop a strategy, and work with their clients to implement that strategy, how critical both physical and emotional wellness are at this time? Is it too early to assess the longer-term implications of remote working? Will greater flexibility and empathy be the outcomes of this period of unlooked-for experimentation? [Intermediate][OF][HSW]
Join IIDA and a panel of industry veterans, human resource specialists, career counselors, and recruiters as they answer your questions about the state of the industry. Panelists will participate in a rapid-fire Q&A and respond to video submitted questions from students and emerging designers.
Submit your questions here by Friday, May 29 for your chance to be on screen.
[link for above: https://iida-career.secure-platform.com/a]
This session should appeal to both architects and designers, particularly those interested in lighting and spaces. We’ve built this program, so it lets the attendee see the lighting design process with the eyes of a hospitality design architect. In fact, new design trends are utilizing lighting as a tool to create ambiance in built experiential environments and is key in supporting new brands and concepts. We’ve found that in the search of attractive, functional and exciting built environments, architects and designers rely on the versatility and quality of current lighting technologies to emphasize the elements of new trends on retail, wellness and hospitality projects. The attendee will also understand the power of lighting design in brand and ambiance creation. Ultimately, attendees will learn a new approach to the use of lighting design with natural light in harmony for hospitality projects. [INTERMEDIATE][HOSP][LT][WE]
In recent years, the need for sustainable manufacturing as well as the broader wellness movement have encouraged designers to pay closer attention to the materials and products that they design with, and the systems and spaces that they create. Now, thanks to the global pandemic, 2020 is a watershed moment for wellness and sustainability. How can designers navigate this challenge and create healthier, more sustainable spaces?
How can we design space that can help accommodate all and enable the neurodiverse and inclusive workforce? Our session will help answer this question for designers. We are living in a time of increased numbers and awareness about individuals with neuro-sensitivities and special needs, such as ADHD. But these individuals can be high energy, risk-taking, good in a crisis and bold problem solvers. In our session, we’ll share opportunities to rethink the physical design of workplaces to improve the experience for neurodivergents. We’ll also explore the benefits of inclusive organizational and workplace design. [INTERMEDIATE][OF][WE]
The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed almost everything about our daily lives—the way we shop, work, exercise, and even spend time with our loved ones. But how has it changed artistic expression and the ways that we experience art and design? Art is critical in spurring conversations on justice and equity, and artists play an important role in the narrative around our response to a global crisis. Now more than ever, society turns to visual culture in an effort to translate our current challenges and the visions of a better tomorrow.
Join moderator IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA, and participants Amanda Williams, renowned Chicago-based artist and architect, and Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, for an enthralling discussion on art in the time of COVID; how museums, galleries, and DIY spaces will continue to adapt for the future; and the ways we can let society know that creativity can’t be canceled.
As the COVID-19 pandemic eases, the world will not return to business as usual but will instead accelerate and evolve in a number of strategic shifts, creating new design landscapes. Join the editors of Contract, Healthcare Design, Hospitality Design, and design:retail for a special webinar highlighting key global design trends and opportunities in their respective markets, followed by a Q&A panel discussion. Covering the major architecture and design market trends, how different sectors in workplace, healthcare, hospitality and retail will look like in a post-pandemic landscape, and what strategic thinking you should know to help grow your business.
With a new generation of students on campus, innovations in classroom design are supporting new ways of learning and teaching. Join us as we do a deep dive into a prominent case study focused on a design that combines a multitude of learning spaces all designed to foster student engagement and collaboration. You’ll learn how a holistic approach integrating architecture, interior design, sustainability, technology and furniture led to a new academic environment. [GR][INST]
Join us for a panel and open discussion where we will be addressing the diversity problem in our industry. The panel will be moderated by seasoned public relations, marketing, and branding leader Joseph Cephas (SVP, Novità, previously VP, Communications & Brand Experience, ASID), who will be joined by black design industry leaders: Angelita Scott, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Georgia Southern University), Maya Bird-Murphy (founder, Chicago Mobile Makers), and Ronnie Belizaire, IIDA (Corporate Real Estate Manager, Daimler). This powerful panel will examine the role design plays in solving social justice issues as well as the lack of diversity and representation in the profession. The second half will be an interactive Q&A with the audience. This will provide a forum to listen, learn, and grow together.
Looking to the future, it's clear that designers and design thinking will be hugely impactful, leading the charge on changes to healthcare, workplace, institutions, education, and of course the home. We may not yet have all the answers, or even the questions in terms of “what's next,” but we do know that design is forward and future-facing. It is imperative that design is at the forefront of the brave new world. Global leaders in design join IIDA to discuss the current state of the industry several months into the crisis, and to consider what is still to come. This webinar has been approved for one IDCEC CEU.
This session pivots on complex design challenges, as outlined in a comprehensive case study. The study involves a corporation seeking to not only gain efficiency in real estate, but also to create better alignment between business, people and workplace design. To meet this host of challenges, the design team had to also look at real estate as an asset aligned with the corporation’s brand and culture to ultimately better position the corporation attract and retain top talent. Attendees can expect to learn about the process and strategies to develop agile workplaces that support its employees—and gain insight into real estate strategies that improve the company’s overall bottom line. [INTERMEDIATE][FM][OF][PD]
This session reveals a health danger in materials that designers should fully understand, so as to minimize the danger. We’ll amplify a study designed to determine and combat infections on hospital surfaces. One essential and alarming statistic is that contaminated environmental surfaces, furniture and equipment have been associated with outbreaks of hospital acquired infections (HAIs). In fact, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) accounts for more than 50% of all hospital acquired Staphylococcus aureus and can remain viable for up to 14 days on a variety of surfaces. Often, studies evaluating surface contamination do not specify the material composition of the surface. Our study helps to remedy this shortcoming by focusing on the following materials: 1) stainless steel; 2) solid surface; 3) high-pressure laminate; 4) copper sheet; and 5) cupron-enhanced solid surface. Our study’s objective was to compare common surfaces used in healthcare and other institutional indoor environments to determine which material may have advantages in minimizing risk of HAIs. [INTERMEDIATE][FM][HC][HSW]
The level of conformity in any organization is in inverse proportion to its creative ability. The success of your design firm depends on your ability to provide bold, creative solutions and ideas. But what if the conventional wisdom you’ve been following is actually blocking your pathways to innovation? We call it wisdumb, which best describes outdated and ineffective business standards in a changed world, standards that can ruin your business and practice. In this session, we’ll explore how to drive the wisdumb out of your business and, in its place, devise an innovation strategy using our four innovation agreements. We’ll identify these institutional blocks to creativity and show you how to transform the components of your organization and team that are lagging. Also, we’ll explore the ways that traditional business thinking and industry standards are holding you back, losing you customers and destroying your competitive advantage. By attending this talk, attendees will learn how to identify the top obstacles to their business, their blockages to growth and change, as well as how to develop a path forward to innovate and transform their business or projects. [ADVANCED][GR][PD]
In an age where anyone can work from anywhere, and companies offer more amenities than ever as a way to attract and keep employees, how can workplaces be designed to be customized and flexible spaces so that they create work environments that allow individual employees to be truly happy, have purpose, and still be productive. New workplace models such as designing for serendipity and non-linear working are becoming embedded in new workplaces. This seminar will discuss the needs of designing for a new workforce that will attract and retain employees. Using recent case studies--such as Slack Headquarters in San Francisco—in addition to projects on the board, the panel will illustrate how these models can become new possibilities for designing new workspaces. It will also discuss rethinking workspaces in a post-pandemic world. [INTERMEDIATE][OF]