interior design visionaries' explorations of emerging trends

Interior Design Visionaries’ Explorations of Emerging Trends

Mary Joyce Hasell, D.Arch., University of Florida, and Suzanne C. Scott, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin

OBJECTIVES

A two-phase project is underway to identify salient social, technological, and global trends and anticipate their impact on interior design. A group of recognized visionaries from interior design education, practice, and industry was brought together to consider a menu of over 100 societal and global trends. Two objectives determined both the gathering of data and its analysis: (a) to identify trends deemed important by the participants, and (b) to amplify and clarify what these trends mean for the future of interior design.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Phase I employed a focus group methodology to structure a carefully planned discussion. Sixteen Roundtable participants selected trends and discussed the expected impacts important to the interior design profession.

ANALYSIS

Voting procedures within the focus group facilitated the selection of a few trends considered most important to the future of interior design. Audio tape recordings were made of all discussions and then transcribed for qualitative data analysis.

KEY FINDINGS

Future designers will need a broad-based liberal arts education complemented with specialized expertise to prepare them for new roles and responsibilities in an emerging global market. The importance of teamwork among divisions within the field and with other disciplines was highlighted. Calls were issued,for strategic planning that will guide the field’s response to new design problems to be solved, new knowledge to be acquired, research to be undertaken, and new design and business skills and methods to be developed.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants expressed optimism about opportunities for the profession and roles for future designers. A remarkable level of agreement evolved among educators, practitioners, and industry participants regarding ideals for the discipline.

Over the past century, interior design has grown from an avo- cation of architects, decorators, and artists (Malnar & Vodvarka, 1992) into a recognized profession with a body of knowledge. Current designers and educators go well beyond aesthetic issues to include those technical, functional, and environment and behavior issues that affect health, safety, and welfare of the world population at work, a t play, and at home. In this emerging professional role, designers monitor global business cycles related to the economic health of prac-

tice, recognize dramatic social and demographic changes, continue life-long learning to stay abreast of burgeoning tech- nologies and environmental threats, and adjust to shifting priorities in educational institutions and industries.

These shifts now shape every aspect of the maturing interior design profession that is uniquely positioned to enhance the quality of life through its central role as a connector between people and interior environments. Opportunities to continue

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1. D. VISIONARIES EXPLORE EMERGING TRENDS

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I f interior design is to gain prominence within a world experiencing dramatic and rapid social, political, economic, technological, and

environmental change, then current trends must be recognized and future impacts anticipated.

serving this vital role depend on understanding and respond- ing to uncertainty in a rapidly changing post-modern society. If interior design is to gain prominence within a world experiencing dramatic and rapid social, political, economic, technological, and environmental change (Knackstedt with Haney, 1995; Rubin, 1996), then current trends must be recognized and future impacts anticipated. With these issues in mind, the Research Committee of the Foundation of Interior Design Education Research (FIDER) set out to answer the question “What is the future of interior design?”

This task of looking to the future grew into The Future of Interior Design, a research project undertaken by FIDER with the support of the American Society of Interior Design (ASID) and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). The goal of the project was to identify salient social, technological, and global trends and anticipate their impact on interior design. This paper reports findings from Phase I of the Futures Project, which brought together a focus group of recognized visionaries from interior design education, practice, and industry to identify macro-level social, technological, and global issues.

Synthesis of the focus group’s insights yielded a refined list of critical trends for the field of interior design from which a quantitative mail survey for Phase I1 of the project was developed. This survey requested United States and Canadian educators, practitioners, and industry-related designers to evaluate critical trends with respect to their own situations and to identify impacts on the various dimensions of the field. Findings from Phase I1 will be forthcoming at a later date.

Literature Review Since publication of Toffler’s Future Shock (1970) and Naisbitt’s Megatrends (1984), interest in the future has increased and studies, symposiums, and colloquiums focusing on the meaning of trends for the design field and education have proliferated. For example, the Facility Management Institute with Herman Miller Research Corporation held a symposium to ask “What’s Next for Facility Management?” (Dugan & Malcolm, 1986), and in 1988 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) under- took a multi-phased study called “Vision 2000.” The Institute of Business Designers (IBD), Steelcase Inc., and Interior Design magazine sponsored “Forecast 21” (1994), a series of roundtable discussions about future challenges. Likewise, ASIDS annual survey, “Anticipations,” (K. Dunn, personal correspondence, 1993)

continues to look ahead to the emerging economic, technological, and business trends important to design professionals.

Design scholars also have written about the future of design education. Guerin ( 1 991) reviewed international, educational, and design literature to predict important issues that she expected to impact the interior design profession and education in the 21st century. Professional identity, liberal arts foundations, interdisciplinary elements, international concerns, technology integration, and scholarship activities were identified as major concerns in her discussion. Dohr (1991, 1992) emphasized the need for a shared vision among design constituents and included interdisciplinary teams of design specialists as a major concern. Fowles (1991) described future tradeoffs and dilemmas for educators as they

adjust their institution’s mission regarding student education versus the practitioner’s expectations for entry- level employees-a choice between educating or training students,

focus on general education versus specialization within interior design, and

develop the students’ critical thinking skills directed toward future learning versus current content to meet competency in entry-level design jobs.

The Polsky Forum produced a statement entitled “Vision 2010” that addressed the future of research and graduate education in interior design (White & Dickson, 1994). Kettler ( 1 994) described the “common base of knowledge for interi- or designers” as outlined by FIDER’s educational standards and guidelines for those seeking licensing. Just a few expectations of FIDER accredited design curricula include coverage of theories of design and human interaction; design process and methods; knowledge about technical aspects of structure and construction; furniture and lighting; materials; color; application of codes; communication and business skills; history and style of design, architecture, and art; economic and social influences; and methods for conducting research.

Such efforts by scholars and practitioners to grasp the future, as well as FIDER’s efforts to improve the standards of the profession, have contributed valuable insights for those who teach, practice, and work in industry. Still, despite this growing body of information, a comprehensive overview of the global-scale futures that await the field has not yet emerged.

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I. D. VISIONARIES EXPLORE EMERGING TRENDS

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A Futures Roundtable Focus Group was constituted to identify salient topics.

Identifying emerging trends and their impacts upon education, practice, and industry was the goal of Phase I.

Methodology Selection of Focus Group Participants Phase I employed a focus group (Basch, 1987; Krueger, 1988) of visionaries drawn from interior design education, practice, and industry. “A focus group is a carefully planned discussion designed to obtain perceptions on defined areas of interests in a permissive, nonthreatening environment” (Krueger, p. 18). People with certain characteristics are selected to provide data of a qualitative nature in a focused discussion. Following Krueger’s guidelines, a Futures Roundtable Focus Group was constituted to identify salient topics for the second part of the project, which was planned as a mail survey to be sent to a sample of design educators, practitioners, and industry-related individuals.

Table 1

The FIDER Research Committee solicited nominations for potential participants from current and past members of FIDER’s Board of Trustees and committees, chairs of U. S. and Canadian FIDER accredited design programs, leaders of interior design professional organizations, leaders in industry, and members of the interior design media. Professional organizations contacted included Business & Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association (BIFMA), National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ), Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC), American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), Interior Designers of Canada (IDC), International Interior Design Association (IIDA), International Society of Interior Designers (ISID), Institute of Store Planners (ISP), Council of Federal Interior Designers (CFID), and Interior Design Experience Program (IDEP), among others. Industry representatives from companies such as Steelcase; Herman Miller; Shelby Williams; Baker, Knapp, and Tubbs; Formica; Armstrong; The Knoll Group; Benjamin Moore; Boris Kroll;

Affinity Groups and Roundtable Participants and Individual Affiliations

Affinity Group

Industry (I)

Practice (P)

Education (E)

Roundtable Participants and Affiliations

George Beylerian, Designer and Consultant for Steelcase Design Partnership

John Geiger, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Geiger International

Dr. Hadley Smith, Consultant and Futurist, Arts and Industry

Ray Taylor, Roving Ambassador, Herman Miller Inc

Bill Whitland, Consultant and Futurist, Williams Marketing Services

Robert Cook, Principal, Interior Architects Inc.

Janice Stevenor Dale, Principal, Janice Stevenor Dale Associates

Dian Love, Senior Designer, Perkins and Will

Eva Maddox, Founder and President, Eva Maddox Inc.

B. J. Peterson, Past President, American Society of Interior Designers

David Rice, Founder and Choirman, Organization of Block Designers

Jeffrey Daniels, Chair, Interior and Environmental Design, UClA Extension

Dr. Joy Dohr, Professor and Choir, Department of Environment, Textiles, and Design, University of Wisconsin at Madison; Chair of Board, IDEC Kerwin Kettler, Designer, Writer, Teacher, and formally Academic Dean at New York School of Interior Design

Jerry Nielson, Professor and Choir, Deportment of Interior Design, University of Florida; President of IDEC Dr. Allison C. White, Associate Professor, Deportment of Interior Design, Merchandising, and Textiles, University of Kentucky; Chair, Journal of Interior Design Publication Board

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Selection b y the Research Committee was based upon achieving a diverse group of visionaries who have made significant contributions to the

interior design field.

and Jack Lenore Larsen were contacted. The interior design media contacts included people from Interiors and Sources, Interior Design, Interiors, Beverly Russell, and others. Over 200 nominees were invited to submit letters of interest along with their career credentials to FIDER. Selection by the Research Committee was based upon achieving a diverse group of visionaries who have made significant contributions to the interior design field. Their educational affiliations, along with out- looks affected by regional, gender, ethnic, and cultural distinctions, were considered. From the 120 submissions, 16 individuals (see Table 1) were invited to attend the Futures Roundtable held in Chicago, November 10-11, 1994.

Preparation for the Futures Roundtable A comprehensive trend scan based on current writing about the future was prepared under the supervision of the FIDER Research Committee members (Hasell, Malven, Scott, & Winkler, 1994) by graduate students in sociology, journalism, geography, fine arts, interior design, and architecture. A wide-ranging literature search was conducted from the most current futurists’ scientific and scholarly publications. This trend scan previewed global-scale transformations and societal shifts in expectations concerning business, manufacturing, practice, and teaching. Trends were organized under the headings (a ) Art, Culture, and Lifestyle; (b) Demographic and Social Change; (c) Economy and Business; (d) Education; (e) Environment; ( f ) Infrastructure; (g) Politics and Social Justice; and (h) Technology. Each topical area had the following three sections:

an executive summary with key trends briefly defined,

an explanation and discussion of each trend and related topics, and

a bibliography of recommended readings for further investigation.

Participants were mailed these trend scans two weeks before the Roundtable event. They were invited to read this docu- ment, elaborate on trends, or to present trends they thought had been overlooked to the assembled focus group. Since the methodology for selecting significant trends depended upon several rounds of voting by focus group participants, the ini- tial trend scan could be inclusive of all participants’ ideas. The voting procedures assured that the personal bias of an individual participant could be eliminated by the group.

The Research Committee worked with Dr. Lorilee Sandman, a professional focus group facilitator of Futuring Sessions, to develop an agenda of tasks for the Roundtable based upon the project goals. The agenda consisted of large and small group discussions, individual and small-group decision-making tasks, and sessions of sharing and justifying decisions before the larger group. A pretest of the roundtable procedures and materials, including the trend scan, was conducted by the facilitator prior to the actual Roundtable to check both the flow and timing of the day’s events and the clarity of materials and instructions for tasks.

Conducting the Futures Roundtable On the opening evening of the Futures Roundtable in Chicago, sociologist John Scanzoni (1994) made a presentation to the gathered visionaries entitled “Ongoing Social Trends Likely to be Significant for Designers.” His talk harkened to the social, economic, and technological forces that existed just after World War I1 in the U. S. Scanzoni challenged the visionaries to attend to the global, social, economic, and technological forces shap- ing the future as the emerging milieu for creating appropriate and successful design solutions for the coming generations. Following this presentation, participants were asked to consider their own predictions for the future and then to review, discuss, and change the trend packages as they felt necessary.

Trend Selections and Discussion of Impacts Morning session. Educators, practitioners, and industry-related participants were commingled in four small groups where trend importance was deliberated. Following these discussions, participants voted individually for the trends they considered critical for interior design’s future during the next 10 years. Participants were allo- cated 10 votes each and could place either one vote per trend or as many as they wanted per trend. Prior to voting, several new trends were added by individuals and supported by the group. The most frequently selected trends were clarified via discussion among the whole group. Table 2 reports votes received by individual trends plus a summary of votes for trends grouped by topical category. Votes within topical categories also are broken down by affinity group to highlight areas of agreement and differing viewpoints.

One of the trends proposed by participants, New Knowledge and Rate of Change, received 26 votes of the 160 total votes cast,

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Table 2

Votes for Important Trends Summarized by Topical Categories and Affinity Groups

Votes by Trend Topical Category Votes by Topical Category (n= 160) Individual Trends Affinity Group'

I P E Total (Yo)

26

3 1 1 1

a

Tech nology 17 12 11 40(25%) New knowledge-rate of change Category as whole important to field Media misinformation and focus on negative Computer-based business and conferencing Computer simulation spaces and products, remote transmission possible Automation of workplace-computers replacing people

a 8 5 3 2

Art, Culture, and lifestyle 10 9 14 33 (20.6%) Value placed on quality of life and free time Treat all products as art, socially conscious design Environmental poetics Value placed on ethniciiy, gender, cultural diversity Multiple family types, expanded gender roles Electronic technology blends media and art Design. emphasis on safety, variety and emotional warmth, and diversity of cultures More TV/catalogue shopping Advertising Architecture. institutional, transportation, leisure, and culture strong markets

1 1 3 3 3 3 1 1

Education 8 7 10 25 (1 5.6%) Collaboration of industry, practice and education Category as a whole important to the field Access to knowledge via information super-highway Apprenticeships and internships Continuing education for workers Computer literacy as basic skill need Recognition of diversiiy in school populations

9 5 3 3 2 2

Environment 5 8 11 24 (15%) Category as a whole important to the field More focus on sustainable planning Custom materials superior to traditional ones Environmental justice Unequal consumption of world energy resources Increasing population, resource-poor climes spawn conflict, hunger, and environmental degradation

9 3 2

Economy and Business 8 7 6 21 (13%) Business values. global cooperation, accountability, environmental ethics, and human rights Interdependence of global markets Information driven economy; technology and manufacturing are strategic resources Flexibility required far adlusting to diverse business cultures in global marketplace Increased concern by businesses far preserving green space and ecological balance Percentage of women in work force increases Fewer younger workers, mare older workers Younger families more dependent on borrowing

Demographics and Social Change Category as whole important to the field Higher median age spurs healthcare industry Broader definition of family units World population doubles by 2050 Suburbs become more urbanized

3 3 3 9 (5.6%)

3 1 1

Political and Social Justice 1 3 1 5 (3%) Business security balanced with employee privacy Increase in minority representation in design firms Internationalization may result in licensing or registration of base firms facilitating contracts

3 Infrastructure

Total infrastructure system needs attention 1 2 0 3 (2%)

*I=lndustry P=Practice E=Education




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which was the most received by a single trend. Collaboration Among Industry, Education, and Practice for Research and Development followed with 11 votes. Business Values, defined as global cooperation and consensus on ethics concerning environmental issues and human rights, received 9 votes. Within the A r t s , Culture, and Lifestyle category, Value Placed on Quality of Life, Free Time, and Treat All Products as Art, received 8 votes each. Participants selected the entire category of Environment as well as that of Technology to indicate the overall importance of all environmental issues and technology trends.

Afternoon session. The task of describing and assessing impacts of important trends was accomplished in small group discussions, this time formed according to the three affinity groups (i.e., industry, practice, and design education). Each affinity group selected five trends from those identified in Table 2 as the ones considered most critical to their aspect of the field. Impacts of each selected trend were discussed and assessed. The expected time frame for occur-

Table 3

rence of these impacts, as well as positive and negative implications for interior design, were outlined. Table 3 reports the trends selected by affinity groups. Each group summarized its speculations about the future and explained expected impacts. All three groups chose New Knowledge - Rate of Change along with Technology as trends to watch closely in the near future. Business Values were important to both industry and practitioners, although interpretations by the two groups differed.

A serendipitous event occurred within the groups that later became very important for the overall findings of the Roundtable. Individuals who were persuasive advocates for two particular trends influenced group outcomes by fervently and eloquently arguing for the probable occurrence and importance of these trends. The research team believes that visionaries often function in this way to impact outcomes in various situations. The trends that emerged in this way were Ethnic and Cultural Diversity and Environmental Justice and Environmental Poetics.

Trends Identified as Most Important by Each Affinity Group: Industry (I), Practice (P), and Education (E)

Selected Trends

New KnowledgeRate of Change

Affinity Group

I P E

x x x Technology

as new design, materials, and manufacturing processes ( I ) as force changing how and where people work (PI as force changing products, design processes, and the delivery of education (E)

x x x

Business Values as a new valuing of design (I)

as ethics and accountability to clients (P)

x x

Collaboration as apprenticeships and internships ( I )

as team approach to design and education [E)

X X

Environmentalism X

Ethnic and Cultural Diversity X

Environmental Justice and Environmental Poetics X

Education as new content, methods, and life-long learning necessitated by a11 other trends impacting field

X

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The purpose of the analysis was to be both inclusive and representative of the breadth of the discussions rather than to determine the number of times a particular trend or issue was raised.

Qualitative Analysis of Roundtable Transcripts Two objectives determined both the gathering of data and its analysis. The first objective, already discussed, was to identify future trends deemed important by participants. (See Tables 2 and 3 for the voting results.) The second objective was to amplify and clarify what the visionaries thought these trends meant for interior design. In addition to the Roundtable voting procedures, audio tape recordings were made of all discussions throughout the day. These audio tapes were transcribed to facilitate qualitative analysis of the data.

To understand the meanings of the visionaries’ insights, the researchers individually coded transcripts of the audio-taped discussions that they observed during the Roundtable sessions. This coding process involved ( a ) verification of the transcripts against the audio recordings and researchers’ notes taken during the session; (b) identification of the speakers so that remarks could be accurately attributed to a source; and (c) coding the text to identify related issues and trends, broad futures themes, and memorable thoughts.

Several factors led to the selection of this qualitative content analysis technique over a computer-based content analysis based on word or phrase counts. First, the purpose of the analysis was to be both inclusive and representative of the breadth of the discussions rather than to determine the number of times a particular trend or issue was raised. Second, the terminology and phrasing used to speak of various trends and impacts were quite diverse depending on the context of the discussion and the background of the speaker. This would make keyword matching by computer difficult and inaccurate. A manual content analysis per- mitted detection of common ideas rather than common language. Finally, since the sample of participants was a small and select group, a quantitative representation of the data would be of limited value.

Inter-rater reliability of the coders’ interpretations of these transcripts was checked as the researchers shared and discussed the data they compiled using the coding procedures. Differences in terminology used by individual participants and affinity groups were discussed until researchers reached a consensus about what trends and impacts were being expressed and the meanings intended by the speaker. The emergence of recurring, similar, and overlapping trends and themes throughout the analyses of the various coders increased

confidence in the coders’ interpretations and suggested the level of importance of specific issues.

Researchers’ discussions about the data helped clarify meanings by providing and comparing the contexts within which trends and issues were presented. For convenience in further review- ing what the visionaries had to say about each trend, a computer sorting procedure was used to organize trends by topic. By bringing together conversations involving the same topic from various groups, central related themes began to emerge.

Findings The findings that follow are organized according to trend themes and include (a) the trend definition used by each particular affinity group, ( b ) each affinity group’s perceived impacts expected for interior design, and (c) summaries of participants’ comments and views.

New Knowledge - Rate of Change lndustry Participants Definition. Designers are confronted with ever-increasing amounts of rapidly emerging knowledge that redefines environmental needs and environmental solutions. Environmental design situations are becoming more complex and require designers to acquire, interpret, and apply new and increasingly technical knowledge.

Perceived impacts. 9 Reframes all viewpoints and purposes as new problems

emerge and new strategies are required to solve them.

Redefines relationships and opportunities as new design solutions are needed and new roles emerge for designers.

Institutionalizes ongoing learning as a life-long process that is part of one’s career and part of the social fabric. Life-long learning transforms work habits and work styles making them ever present but more flexible.

Heightens the responsibility of those having knowledge to share it on a global scale.

Practitioners Definition. Designers have a need for new knowledge in scientific areas as problems today require more understanding of technical aspects of materials and the environment. Collaboration


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“We redefine our purposes when we have more information.. . it reframes everything, our assumptions, our behaviors about knowledge, our values and what we’re going to do about it”

among schools of science, engineering, and design is seen as key to acquiring this new knowledge.

Perceived impacts. None were listed.

Educators Definition. Designers are confronted with an expanding amount of rapidly emerging knowledge that redefines environmental needs as well as environmental solutions. Design situations are becoming increasingly complex and require designers to acquire, interpret, and apply advanced technical knowledge.

Perceived impacts. Requires life-long learning that presents a value and demand for both continuing and graduate education.

Necessitates advanced graduate education for the gen- erat ion of new knowledge. Partnerships among education, industry, and practice will be needed to support research. Educators have an increasing obligation to disseminate new knowledge.

Requires integration of new knowledge into undergraduate curriculum so that we can educate future designers to be good consumers of research. Students, as critical thinkers, must learn to inquire in ways that lead to the pursuit of new knowledge.

Spawns new specializations based on types of information (e.g:, environmental psychology, materials technology).

Encourages specialization of design programs in schools and universities as the wave of future education. Students respond to new markets and seek programs based on type of design expertise offered. New roles emerge within the field as the preparation of interior designers changes. Certification tests and licensing restrictions will be reconfigured.

Requires collaboration across disciplines within teams to examine multiple facets of increasingly complex projects and problems.

Participants’ Summaries Rapidly changing and emerging knowledge produces new uroblems and new auestions. Thus. we must think about our

field so we address not only the needs of clients but also our need to maintain current and accurate knowledge. We have fresh opportunities here. “We redefine our purposes when we have more information ... it reframes everything, our assumptions, our behaviors about knowledge, our values and what we’re going to d o about it,” Hadley Smith said.

There is an increase in the need for ethical distribution of new knowledge on a global scale. Although everyone in every coun- try is not equally prepared to acquire and deal with new information, we have an increasing responsibility to make information accessible. “I’ve always worried about the fact that experts write in academic journals in a format that only people who know the system and care get access to it,” said George Ekylerian.

Bill Whitland added, “One of the consequences of all this new knowledge is a heavier responsibility for its distribution. We all carry a much heavier responsibility to make sure we get this into so many different places and different forms that are usable.”

Eva Maddox noted, “Designers are ready to deal with what they must do now to care for the problematic environments created by past mistakes. We must either gather the knowledge ourselves or work with specialists. There are so many areas that we absolutely have no understanding of, that we must either decide that we’re going to find an expert or be responsible ourselves.”

Jeff Daniels said, “Just managing all this information is going to be a real problem. So you’re going to come up with this curriculum that students need, a core kind of base knowledge with which to understand the world, through which they can then begin to assess all this new knowledge.”

Joy Dohr added, “New knowledge also has an impact or con- sequence for teaching the ability to evaluate information that is pertinent, that fits, and that is good.”

Technology Industry Participants Definition. Technology is considered to mean both new materials and design processes. It allows development and delivery of new and better designed products, which will result in increasing awareness and valuing of design by end users.

Perceived impacts. Creates new materials and new processes along with the iudicious applications of those processes. Increases

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Technological advances are changing design products, methods, and processes of designing and the means by which design and

design education are delivered.

industry’s ability to quickly customize products for users.

Requires interaction across disciplines to produce high quality design.

Heightens public awareness of the value of design because designers do a better job of providing socially responsible designs and products.

Creates a design sensibility that connects design issues to human values.

Redefines design professionals as “integrators” so that design is understood as a process and not just a style. Socially responsible designers integrate art and function in ways appropriate both to people’s needs and desires.

Practitioners Definition. Technology, particularly communication technology, is changing the way people live, work, and play and thus the types of environments needed. It also introduces new equipment, methods, and materials that both solve problems and introduce new health and safety hazards to be addressed.

Perceived impacts. Changes the ways people work and creates demands for new and more flexible work environments.

Affects the profession by creating more jobs for specialists and ultimately more work for designers.

Requires designers to have more knowledge of technology and the ability to design environments to accommodate it.

Necessitates a systems approach to design, linking in- dustrial engineering, human factors, and psychology to design, which is a new aspect to design education.

Educators Definition. Technological advances are changing design products, methods, and processes of designing and the means by which design and design education are delivered.

Perceived impacts. Expands design education to include content on high- tech solutions in the built environment, such as smart buildings which can monitor the use of energy, lights, air quality, and water use.

Creates new and unforeseen problems and hazards that emerge along with the new products and materials.

Demands new archival systems, regardless of paperless technology, to preserve design exemplars that will become tomorrow’s design history.

Requires students to be proficient with information tech- nologies as an integral part of their design process.

Necessitates partnering among educational institutions, as well as between educational institutions and industry and/or practitioners, to share the high cost of technology.

Changes the process of delivering design education. Distance education and multi-media presentations require research and development to learn new teaching skills and prepare instructional materials suited to electronic media. Methods and materials will require testing for their effectiveness.

Places greater importance on teaching principles and processes, rather than content and products. Students must be prepared to adapt to high-tech product devel- opments once in the field.

Lengthens design programs and results in greater demand for continuing education.

Increases the ethical responsibilities connected with the impacts of technology.

Participants ’ Summaries Dian Love stated, “Expertise in some area of technology will be necessary for each interior design practitioner in the future. Technology means more jobs and more work for designers in the end. Educators need to remember this as they plan curricula.”

B. J. Peterson reminded participants, “Technology is about an integrated lifestyle, not just the office. It is not just about how you work, rather it’s about how you live.”

Joy Dohr stated that technology is important in our method of delivering new knowledge. “The term for the future is distance education. So people will be able to stay in their home environments and tap into learning. So there’s product, there’s process, and there’s delivery. I also see a myth in education that technology will reduce the cost of education. I think that technology increases the cost.”

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Employers are recognizing that the physical environment has to support new structures and help motivate and release creativity of workers, lifting

the human spirit and putting people back in touch with themselves.

Business Values lndustry Participants Definition. Business values require a move toward global cooperation and consensus on ethical standards regarding environmental issues and human rights. An increase in corporate sensitivity to and valuing of creativity, individuality, and flexibility rather than bigness and consistency is being seen.

Perceived impacts. Shifts power away from rigid and hierarchical centers and empowers new leaders who have a vision of the future.

Requires new organizations and structures with corporate cultures that will collaborate as well as compete responsibly, both in culture and commerce.

Requires new types of leadership (i. e., planners and visionaries rather than expert managers). Organizational chains of command are flattened and workers are inspired to take new initiative.

Necessitates new flexible workplaces that support and enhance the teaming of creative workers and then re- teaming for each new project.

Practitioners Definition. Business values are changing in response to demands of clients and environmental users who place new value and importance on the role of the environment in the quality of life and work. Values were identified as ethics, cooperation, environmentalism, and human rights. These new values arise from a changing lifestyle in which work and personal life are merged and in which workers demand more supportive, healthy, safe, and comfortable work environments. Additionally, practitioners see accountability for the added value of design as a new value held by better informed clients.

Perceived impacts. Demands that research and knowledge be used to justify design solutions. Designers must help clients achieve their goals for improving the quality of both life and work. Such information helps to sell a design and in the process educates clients about the value of good design. The body of research must be critically evaluated so that individual case studies can be formed into generalized design theories.

Requires research methods that will provide new ways to evaluate and measure the success of designed products.

Requires balanced communication between designers and clients. Designers educate clients about the designer’s vision, and, more importantly, clients and users share with designers their value system and priorities.

Participants’ Summaries In the global marketplace, John Geiger noted, “There will be times when organizations will compete and times when they will collaborate in partnerships and alliances.” Companies, large and small, must be flexible to be able to change and adapt. “Flexibility within roles will be necessary and there will be more roles to play,” said Bill Whitland.

Hadley Smith speaking to manufacturers said, “We are shifting from management to leadership. One has to do with control and other has to d o with inspiring and motivating people. Employers are recognizing that the physical environment has to support new structures and help motivate and release creativity of workers, lifting the human spirit and putting people back in touch with themselves.”

Ray Taylor added, “Business values are moving toward global cooperation and consensus on ethical standards regarding environmental issues and human rights. There is an increasing sense of corporate responsibilities and valuing of creativity, individuality, and flexibility rather than bigness and consistency.”

Robby Cook, a practitioner who shared the view of industry participants, commented that to be considered as a viable competitor on the global level, a designer must keep abreast of a growing knowledge base and social shifts as well as maintain flexibility in business practices. “I see this economic trend as one of the two or three most important because it is forc- ing us all to be more efficient.”

“In the 80s we were considered ‘gods of design’. They [clients] used to say give me a beautiful space, that’s what I want to have. In the 90s it’s how much can you lower my operational costs?” commented Janice Stevenor Dale, who has been involved in projects aimed at defining the office of the future.

Collaboration Educators Definition. Complexity and scope of design problems will encourage team approaches where designers can benefit from the expertise of others, both from other disciplines and from within the design field.



Participants see the need for collaboration to begin during the educational process.

Perceived impacts. Increases respect for the field. Through collaborative experiences, clients and other design team participants recognize the expertise interior designers bring to the team.

Requires restructuring of educational institutional rules to facilitate collaboration across disciplines, among the divisions of the professions (industry/practice/ education), and between educators and the community.

Industry Participants Industry participants did not formally vote on collaboration as a trend although they discussed apprenticeships and internships as valuable forms of collaboration. Such experiences allow educators and students to learn from practitioners and industrialistslmanufacturers and vice versa.

Participants’ Summaries Participants see the need for collaboration to begin during the educational process. Team projects can strengthen communication skills and make students more flexible and stronger professionals. “Educators want interaction between business and schools. If students d o more intensive internships with practitioners, they could gain both a sense of business ethics and practices,” said Joy Dohr.

Jerry Nielson added, “Public perception is frequently negative. We are seen as elitists. By collaboration with other experts, we might reduce that perception. We can expand a view of what we are as a discipline, and we can be more effective with collaboration rather than separatism.”

Designer Janice Stevenor Dale hopes to see more of collaboration among fields. “It would not only be a business opportunity for designers, it would also help to break down the adversarial relationship that often exists between architects and designers.”

Environmentalism Practitioners Definition. Both social consciousness and the desire to educate clients about the relationship between the environment and interior design is critical. Knowledge is needed concerning the use of products that contribute to a sustainable planet as well as the new demands being placed upon designers to be concerned with the air quality of indoor environments.

Perceived impacts. Increases the potential of legislation to constrain design decision-making if practitioners don’t voluntarily cre- ate sustainable and healthy environments.

Increases the need to serve an education role to get clients to buy into the value and importance of envi- ronmentally sensitive design.

Requires additional technological knowledge concerning the environmental impacts of construction methods, building systems, materials, and other design components. This is a prime opportunity for collaboration between schools of science, engineering, and design.

Increases demands from owners, who face liability pressures stemming from employee injury and dis- satisfaction, to design more comfortable, supportive, safer, and healthier environments.

Industry Participants Definition. Industry participants glossed over this trend saying it was to a large extent “old news,” being a direction of change they have had to address for some time. While origi- nally motivated by environmental protection regulations, their efforts in regard to environmental issues are now seen as smart business and opportunities to both distinguish and increase the value of their products in the marketplace.

Participants’ Summaries Janice Stevenor Dale summed up the range of environmental issues relevant to interior designers as “population and urbanization, climate, ozone, acid rain, energy, biodiversity, tropical deforestation - everything from new materials to indoor air quality.”

B. J. Peterson cautioned, “We cannot wait to have standards dictated to us. We should be helping to set the standards.” She also encouraged design programs to collaborate with science and engineering departments as a way of getting needed technological expertise into the design curriculum.

Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Educators Definition. The U. S. population is becoming increasingly diverse and we are truly a global marketplace. This means that designers will be serving culturally diverse clients. Cultural diversity is seen as both valuable and at risk due to homoge-



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Cultural diversity is seen as both valuable and at risk due to homogeneous and repetitive design solutions lacking cultural relevance

(environmental poetics) and the wholesale distribution of western design models to other parts of the world.

neous and repetitive design solutions lacking cultural relevance (environmental poetics) and the wholesale distribution of western design models to other parts of the world.

Perceived impacts. Requires developing an attitude that values preserving cultural diversity and recognizes how cultural diversity spawns and allows for greater creativity and variety in environmental design.

Widens the circle to include faculty, students, and design professionals of more diverse backgrounds within our institutions and businesses.

Requires exposing students to design experiences that allow them to confront and accommodate ethnic, gender, and age diversity.

Necessitates learning foreign language( s) and studying other cultures.

Participants’ Summaries “I see the world’s different people not as primitive or different but as models that we can draw upon. These ethnic forces rubbing up against each other result in a positive creative force,” said David Rice.

Environmental Justice and Environmental Poetics Educators Definition. Environmental Justice. There is an increasing activism regarding environmental rights and demands for environmental quality by consumers. Environmental justice involves environmentalism and the ethics of accountability to others for how design shapes and impacts the environment and uses nat- ural resources. Concern was voiced that design is perceived as an elitist profession that does not serve the needs of groups whose socio-economic status restricts access but who might benefit most from good design.

Environmental Poetics. This term refers to that unique com- ponent of designed environments that distinguishes merely functional spaces from places that affect the intellect and spirit of the inhabitants. Meaning, expression, and spiritual values are not being given as much consideration in design as function, practical objectives, and other aesthetic components such as style. It is feared that in losing sight of the poetic, the design professional has substituted technical and practical

proficiencies for a more unique expertise and the inhabitants of the interiors created settle for a reduced quality of life.

Perceived impacts. Necessitates teaching environmental ethics and socially responsive design awareness.

Necessitates teaching environmentalism and ecology as part of the design curriculum.

Necessitates teaching that the meaning of places as communicated through design is at least as important as function and style.

Participants’ Summaries “To me, environmental poetics is having an elegant fit among environmental elements in design, the sensitivity to human issues, and the means or way of expressing things, “ said Joy Dohr. Later she elaborated on this definition by adding, “Poetics form a language and expression that touches people on several levels of meaning. It is thinking of cultural symbols, of celebrating people in places, and providing a soul or passion to spaces. Poetics are ways of saying something in design that becomes memorable and inspirational to the inhabitants. Poetics may be found in or about different aesthetic appearances or styles, but essentially, whatever the content, the design speaks to one’s mind and heart. There is a humanity to the poetic solution.”

According to Jeffrey Daniels, “It has to do with focusing on the emotional responses generated by interior design- the expressive qualities of interior design and how they provide a catalyst for emotional responses. We spend a lot of time talking about styles and not enough time talking about the basic emotional quality or character of spaces. What is the meaning of space in design? Metaphorical content rather than stylistic content. Environmental poetics basically refers to qualitative, emotional responses that we all have to physical space. It is something separate, aside from style.”

Education Practitioners Definition. Education must change in the future as a by-product of the other changes foreseen. Education is an essential means of preparing future professionals for dealing with upcoming changes, but our educational institutions cannot meet this challenge using current educational models.




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The importance of collaboration between the three divisions of the field, education, practice, and industry, as well as with other

disciplines was underscored.

Perceived impacts. Requires educational institutions to adopt new teaching methods, processes, and content.

Necessitates accepting and approaching education as a lifelong process.

Participants’ Summaries Allison Carl1 White reported that in May 1994 she and col- leagues hosted the Polsky Forum, where the participants formulated and agreed upon a Vision Statement for 2010. She said, “Many of the same themes that emerged during the Polsky Forum have been developed further here today.” Both groups felt that graduate education needs to be seen as a time to focus on building specialized knowledge. Whether working in a scientific field or with business, there is a consensus that future designers will need more knowledge, which implies better education. Collaboration among education, research, and business is seen as important to meeting the goal of expanding knowledge.

Robby Cook added, “The world is becoming so complex that you have to have teams.” In the face of globally expanding markets for both clients and designers, teamwork is vital. Design education in the future will need to include courses and experiences that focus on team problem-solving skills and processes.

Numerous questions emerged from the focus group discussions concerning the future of design education. Should design education have just one set of standards, or will it have multiple standards to reflect specialization? Should all programs be the same or have unique specialties? Should programs prepare uniform looking graduates or a variety of types of graduates who reflect new and diverse design roles in the field? Can a four- year undergraduate degree provide all the different types of specialized knowledge that designers will need in the future? Should programs be longer, perhaps five or six years? Will the field have a greater need for practitioners with graduate degrees?

Should design education include new course content, for example, (a) more environment, behavior, and human factors content including ergonomics and socio-cultural components; (b) more materials technology; (c) more methods, process, and theory particularly in regard to a variety of CAD and communication technology and team participation dynam- ics; and (d) more emphasis on selection, interpretation, and application of research and research methodologies?

How will faculty be able to provide all this specialized expertise? With more new knowledge relevant to design problem-solving needed, will the market grow for graduates with research degrees? Will the increasing costs of design education and greater demand for faculty with diverse expertise, coupled with the availability of telecommunication technology such as distance learning and the world-wide web, change institutional structures? Will all faculty associated with a design program be located on the same campus or within the same institution? How will educators themselves be prepared to deliver quality instruction via multi- media? How effective will electronic education be?

What roles in education should industry and practice take, and how will their contributions to education be measured and evaluated? What are the problems and questions designers are facing for which more research and new knowledge is needed? What issues, topics, and new questions should be on interior design’s research agenda?

Implications Starting with a menu of over 100 individual trends affecting society on a global scale, the Roundtable participants were able to focus attention on 8 areas of change viewed as most important to the future of interior design that represented both new challenges and opportunities. They had a clear understanding of the trends as complex and often interrelated. Discussions were rich with insightful interpretations of relevance and impacts, observations based upon diverse professional experiences, as well as scenarios for change and possible responses. Calls to action were issued for strategic planning that would direct the field’s response regarding new design problems to be solved, new knowledge to be acquired, research to be undertaken, and new design and business skills and methods to be adopted or developed. The importance of collaboration between the three divisions of the field, education, practice, and industry, as well as with other disciplines was underscored. There was a call for future designers who have broad based liberal arts education complemented with some area of specialized expertise in content or process that might suit them for new roles and market niches for design services. Overall, participants were optimistic about opportunities for the value of the field and roles for designers in the future. Additionally, there was a remarkable level of agreement across the three divisions regarding ideals for the field.

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FIDER’s Futures Roundtable participants’ answer to the question, “What is the future of interior design?” is summed up in this closing statement by Kerwin Kettler:

I’m encouraged, personally, by the approach that we’ve taken here. All of these areas, regardless of their values (positive or negative), or regardless of our projections (short term or long term or might never happen), don’t really make much difference if we really look at this as a structure for an opening dialogue. We have begun to organize our thinking to include a broad variety of cultural forces, not interior design forces, not architectural or environmental issues, but a broad variety of cultural issues. I f we continue thinking along these lines, interior design might just lead the way toward demonstrating to society that environment is a value. That the things we design, the things we produce, the services we offer, the education we offec do, in fact, demonstrate the connections we, as human beings, have to our physical world. This can only elevate the entire system and bring us to a much higher level in our posi- tion within society.

The focus group successfully accomplished the first step toward this study’s objective of providing the field with information use- ful to strategic planning, that is, narrowing the scope of global trends that those visionaries saw as relevant to interior design. This insight alone, however, is insufficient for developing strategic plans with clear statements of appropriate goals and concrete, achievable objectives. For example, what is the level of awareness of these trends? Which of these trends are perceived as most important and immediate to various groups and specialties within the larger design community? How d o members of the field expect the impacts to be felt? How prepared is the field to respond? Has planning begun or have actions been taken by individuals or organizations to adapt to these changes?

The second phase of the Future of Interior Design study uses a mailed questionnaire to assess the current status of the field in regard to these trends, and it does so in terms of various demographics characterizing the field. The results of this follow-up survey should be both applicable and helpful in directing strategic planning of individuals and organizations within the field.

References

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interior design visionaries' explorations of emerging trends

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