I Hear Design: the i+s podcast

Today’s commercial products are being asked to do more than ever before. Joined by Steve Kooy and Anthony Serge from BIFMA, Lauren Brant explores how wellness, modularity, emotional performance, and experiential lighting are shaping Chicago Design Week 2026. Key Moments in This Episode 1:12 — Why Chicago Design Week 2026 feels differentLauren Brant introduces the major themes shaping this year’s NeoCon and Fulton Market Design Days, including wellness, adaptability, emotional comfort, and long-term product performance. 4:38 — Products are being asked to do moreThe conversation explores how manufacturers are positioning products as strategic tools that support flexibility, acoustics, maintenance, sustainability, and human experience—not just aesthetics. 8:57 — Emotional comfort and experiential workplacesLauren highlights product launches from brands like Designtex, Brentano, Allsteel, and HBF that reflect a growing focus on tactility, softness, and creating spaces people actively want to inhabit. 13:41 — BIFMA on what feels different heading into 2026Steve Kooy and Anthony Serge from BIFMA discuss how conversations around workplace products, wellness, and performance are evolving across the industry. 20:06 — Why modularity is no longer optionalLauren examines how adaptability has shifted from a premium feature to a baseline expectation across seating, acoustics, outdoor furniture, work pods, and specification technology. 24:18 — Long-term adaptability and lifecycle thinkingThe discussion looks at products from Silen, Emuamericas, DEDON, Turf Design, and Configura that prioritize reconfiguration, longevity, and collaborative workflows. 30:27 — Lighting takes center stage at NeoConLauren explores the debut of Illuminate at NeoCon and why lighting is increasingly being discussed as part of materiality, wellness, circadian health, and emotional experience. 34:44 — How lighting shapes perception and wellbeingThe episode dives into experiential lighting installations and how lighting design influences texture, finish perception, mood, and spatial psychology. 39:51 — From ergonomics to movementThe conversation shifts toward workplace wellness and movement-focused seating, including KI’s Cognetic Technology platform and the idea of designing environments that work with the body instead of against it. 44:32 — The future of specification and human-centered designLauren, Steve, and Anthony reflect on how commercial interiors are becoming increasingly outcome-oriented, with designers prioritizing adaptability, transparency, wellness, and emotional experience. 48:11 — Final takeaways for NeoCon and Fulton Market attendeesThe episode closes with advice for designers and specifiers on how to critically evaluate products, showrooms, and innovations during Chicago Design Week 2026.

In this ICYMI article-read episode of I Hear Design, we explore Radford University’s Artis Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity, an interdisciplinary, student-centered hub that brings the health sciences and the arts under one roof based on a recent article published by interiors+sources. Designed by Hord Coplan Macht in collaboration with William Rawn Associates, the 178,000-square-foot facility replaces siloed departmental space with shared, multipurpose environments—from studios and maker spaces to tech-enabled collaboration zones—helping reduce redundancies and deliver a more efficient footprint. You’ll also hear how the building’s campus-connector strategy turns the facility into both a destination and a thoroughfare, while universal design solutions address a challenging 60-foot grade change to support barrier-free access, belonging, and wellbeing.

With hybrid work raising expectations for the office, which is now judged against the comfort and convenience of home, organizations are increasingly prioritizing better amenities and services for their workplaces. In this In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) article-read episode of I Hear Design, based on the article, "Designing Workplace Amenities: Create Experiences That Attract and Retain Talent," we explore why amenities have become a defining factor in the competition for talent and why the real differentiator isn’t simply adding a coffee bar, rooftop deck, or game room, but designing the experience around it. You’ll hear a practical framework for amenity planning that goes beyond trends starting with site, climate, and infrastructure; designing around user demographics and community synergies; planning for programming, operations, and partnerships;, and clarifying design intent and functionality. Whether you’re a designer, owner, or workplace leader, this episode offers actionable questions to help amenities deliver lasting value, rather than simply another box to check on your workplace offerings.

In this episode of Product Talk, host Lauren Brant explores what product engagement data reveals about the way designers are thinking, clicking, and ultimately specifying for the year ahead. Drawing on real behavior from the interiors+sources audience, the conversation uncovers the categories and qualities that held attention longest—and what those patterns suggest about evolving priorities in commercial design. It’s an insightful look at how analytics can translate into smarter, more purposeful design decisions for 2026.

In this episode of I Hear Design, Gensler’s co-CEO’s Jordan Goldstein and Elizabeth Brink sit down with host Robert Nieminen to explore the firm’s 2026 Design Forecast and what it means for the future of the built environment. They discuss how the “6 in ’26” meta trends emerged from research across 33 practice areas and 57 offices, and why design agility and creativity are now strategic imperatives in an era of volatility and rapid technological change. Jordan and Elizabeth share how clients are redefining real estate value around experience and data using metrics like dwell time, emotional response, and behavioral patterns to shape workplaces, campuses, and mixed-use districts. They dive into predictive cost intelligence, digital twins, and AI as a creative partner, illustrating how these tools are helping owners minimize risk in projects, optimize conversions like office-to-residential, and even imagine buildings designed to adapt over centuries rather than decades. The conversation also covers “future fitting” existing assets, the mash-up of uses transforming cities, and why climate resilience and carbon performance have become critical business issues rather than purely sustainability aspirations. Finally, they talk about the skills emerging designers will need, such as data literacy, curiosity, and comfort with AI, and how firms of any size can start applying the insights from the report today. Listeners will come away with a clearer view of where architecture and design are headed next, as well as some concrete ideas for turning complexity into opportunity in their own practices.