Trends to Watch: How Developers Can Make Buildings More Adaptable, Relevant, and Resilient

In the article "Trends to Watch: How Developers Can Make Buildings More Adaptable, Relevant, and Resilient," Darrel Fullbright and Duncan Lyons from Gensler's Office Developers practice discuss future trends in office building development. They emphasize the importance of making office buildings more adaptable to changing work patterns and sustainable for the long term. Lyons suggests activating the ground plane of buildings to engage with the community, proposing mixed-use developments that combine residential and office spaces. This approach not only caters to fewer office workers coming downtown but also benefits local communities. Fullbright illustrates this with examples like a mixed-use government project in Costa Rica and a vertical project in Toronto, which blend office and residential spaces with shared amenities.

The article also explores sustainable design and decarbonization strategies in office building development. Fullbright outlines steps towards net zero energy, emphasizing starting with climate, reducing load, decarbonizing building systems, minimizing embodied carbon, and utilizing renewable energy. They also discuss the importance of passive strategies, like façade designs in Portugal and automated sun shading in China, to reduce operational carbon. The trend towards all-electric buildings is noted as crucial, especially as governments increasingly mandate decarbonizing the grid. Fullbright highlights the concept of 'perpetual assets,' designing buildings to be more adaptable and changeable over their lifespan, increasing their long-term value. The article concludes by discussing the 'flight to experience' trend, where the focus is on the experience a building offers, and the growing trend of urbanizing the suburbs, driven by the desire for amenity-rich, mixed-use environments in suburban areas.