What’s Next in the World of Planning and Design?

What’s Next in the World of Planning and Design?

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Like the rest of the world, architects and planners are facing significant uncertainty of how to best move forward given the current public health situation.  Just as colleges and universities face new realities concerning the recruitment and retention of their students and communities reimagine what togetherness means, so are architects reimagining how well-designed built environments will impact their users. 

In the world of architecture and planning, architectural design standards continue to closely inform and guide our designs and recommendations to clients.  Though we have yet to experience any trend to drastically change standards due to the pandemic, thoughtful design will undoubtedly help forge a new era of creating healthier buildings and communities.  As we forge through this uncertainty, our experts have summarized three conclusions and considerations for the future of planning and design.

  1. Design-centric perspectives continually bring new awareness.

 Architects currently find themselves in a unique position.  Our life’s work is studying the ways we interact with built environments and how to improve them.  Safely designed spaces are more essential than ever.  As architects and planners, we have a great responsibility to use our design-centric perspective to align human and environmental health to improve lives going forward.

  1. Quality design creates quality outcomes.

In health care, good architectural design has the power to help patients heal quicker and improve the quality of care.  Likewise, in education, forward-thinking design can facilitate better learning outcomes for students and empower communities to prioritize the health and well-being of all.  Better health and quality-of-life is an outcome of better design.

  1. Now is the time to reimagine the future of your facilities.

In particular, the next 12 months afford significant opportunity to establish a long-term strategy regarding the modifications to your spaces.  What aspects of your facilities are user-friendly?  Where may this be lacking?  Consider the potential of your facilities and how they can best support your community.

Contact Erik Kocher at [email protected] or (314) 529-4004 to talk about your future project and how our firm is shaping the future of innovative design and planning.