Have you wondered why some design ideas soar and others crash? Why clients embrace or reject a design concept? Whether your firm’s designs are trendsetters or followers?
To get answers to those and other design-related questions, Building Design+Construction polled the industry earlier this year, and received responses from 342 companies, most of which were architects, engineers, and contractors. The result of that survey is BD+C’s 2021 Design Innovations Report, whose 22 pages explore the complexities behind creating, pitching, and executing new ideas.
The purpose of this report is to:
- Uncover where AEC firms focus their efforts and how they stimulate new ideas;
- Gauge how receptive owners and developers are to project ideas, and why;
- Reveal which design trends—such as modularity, or the use of mass timber—are (or aren’t) catching on
- Examine whether firms’ idea machines are keeping pace with the rate of change in business, lifestyle, and society.
Some takeaways from the report include:
- The biggest factors that result in an innovation’s success or failure are cost, client buy-in, and communication;
- Several typologies—offices, education, multifamily, healthcare—are glaring in their need for innovation, even as these same building types have been cited as design leaders in the past;
- Contractors are often their clients’ gatekeepers when it comes to deciding which design innovations fly;
- Mentoring and training are the primary catalysts within AEC firms for nurturing new ideas;
- The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the need for design innovations, especially for indoor air quality and wellness.
The report makes clear that there’s no shortage of ideas or new products, and that “innovation” and “technology” are often thought of together.
Download BD+C’s 2021 Design Innovation Report (short registration required)
Related Stories
| Oct 5, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Roof hatch designed for energy efficiency
The cover features a specially designed EPDM finger-type gasket that ensures a positive seal with the curb to reduce air permeability and ensure energy performance.
| Oct 4, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011
Click here for the latest news and products from Greenbuild 2011, Oct. 4-7, in Toronto.
| Oct 4, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Methods, impacts, and opportunities in the concrete building life cycle
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Concrete Sustainability Hub conducted a life-cycle assessment (LCA) study to evaluate and improve the environmental impact and study how the “dual use” aspect of concrete.
| Oct 4, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Johnsonite features sustainable products
Products include rubber flooring tiles, treads, wall bases, and more.
| Oct 4, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Nearly seamless highly insulated glass curtain-wall system introduced
Low insulation value reflects value of entire curtain-wall system.
| Oct 4, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Ready-to-use wood primer unveiled
Maintains strong UV protection, clarity even with application of lighter, natural wood tones.
| Oct 4, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Two new recycled glass products announced
The two collections offer both larger and smaller particulates.
| Oct 4, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Mythic Paint launches two new paint products
A high performance paint, and a combination paint and primer now available.
| Oct 4, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Wall protection line now eligible to contribute to LEED Pilot Credit 43
The Cradle-to-Cradle Certified Wall Protection Line offers an additional option for customers to achieve LEED project certification.