Designing For The New Normal

While we are all naturally comparing life now with life pre-pandemic, I find it is worth taking a moment to also think how different things were just a year ago: the virus felt like a complete unknown, we were focusing a lot on transmission via surfaces rather than by air, and there was absolutely no certainty that a successful vaccine could even be developed. Our core business is hospitality design and the uncertainty over the future of travel sometimes felt overwhelming! A year on, we know a lot more and are on our way to recovery.  

As we look ahead, we are seeing a global pent-up demand for travel, and this is the reason our clients have forged ahead the past year in the face of unprecedented challenges. Personal health, wellness and safety are top of mind for consumers. For Architecture, landscape and Interior Design, it translates into amplifying green and outdoor space as well as high flexibility and modularity of interior spaces.

Projects that commenced before the pandemic generally continued to progress, although in some cases with less aggressive timelines as “wait and see” mode took hold. Seasoned hoteliers continued to work on building their portfolios but did take their time to rearrange their priorities as they returned to business. We sensed that in an increasingly risk-averse environment, our 76-years of hospitality design experience were of great value in a sector that was hard hit financially.

We saw enthusiasm for projects that in the new normal encourage more domestic travel and staycations. Locations within driving distance of cities are on the radar as families look to stay within their own bubbles, but also immerse in the natural surroundings and cultural experiences of their own homelands.

Before the pandemic, there was already a growing trend for urban hotels to open their public areas as co-working spaces – and it’s becoming more and more likely that flexible and/or hybrid working is here to stay. Hence, a change of scene where one can carry a laptop will be more welcome than ever to people who have spent months locked away in isolation along with the desired lifestyle of younger generations. Which means buzzy, well-designed multi-use spaces will be a high priority for developers and operators. 

It seems very likely that people are going to more carefully prioritise their business travel: with the success of online conferencing, the idea of two days’ travel for a routine two-hour meeting will seem bizarrely inefficient, however the appetite to meet and get to know new business partners in person is sure to be renewed. A similar hybrid model is likely to emerge as we’re currently seeing with conferences and events this spring around the world.

In terms of design and as a response to the pandemic, we are seeing interest in open, naturally ventilated spaces: fresh air is everything. Not only does this reduce energy demands, having more open circulation allows us to blend interior design directly with landscape design. Bringing the outdoors inside. We anticipate outdoor function spaces, particularly in the right climates, to become more prominent: this is an aspect where hotels and venues in India are already ahead of the curve, with large lawn spaces already set aside for external functions. Operators are also looking at less dense lobbies, larger guestrooms to accommodate in-room dining and windows that open, and more outdoor space and greenery on terraces. 

With these trends, we also anticipate strong momentum for our landscape architecture expertise to help clients creatively and strategically refurbish or renovate with a strong return on investment. Landscape architecture is a core element of our sustainable design strategies and addresses the needs of today’s consumers who are more focused on their health and wellness. 

At WATG, steps we have taken to prepare for a strong comeback include: 

Staff satisfaction and retention: the rapid switch to home working last spring worked for us in part because we were a tight-knit team so remote communication continued to flow. We were fortunate to have a number of large projects as the pandemic hit, which continued through 2020 – being able to retain staff meant we didn’t need to struggle to remotely induct and integrate new team members. And we relaunched our team-building events in the virtual world with happy hours, staff recognition programs, meditation / yoga and innovation hackathons.

Resilience and flexibility: London attracts talent from all over the world, but small London flats do not make great office replacements! We have supplied technology and furniture to allow people to work in lockdown, however for many younger staff the solution has been to return to their families. Technology has made our virtual connectivity seamless and we are looking at options for how our people can continue to find the balance between working remotely and in the studio. One of my projects is for a resort site in Gurgaon, the team comprises of colleagues working between New Delhi, London and Buenos Aires, and it cannot be more exciting!

Sustainable design: Any downtime we have had internally has been focused on sustainability training for our team around the world. We are carrying out staff training towards LEED and other qualifications and exploring new energy measurement tools with internal hackathon events. 

Having penned these observations, I am reminded of the principles that WATG’s founders set out with over 75 years ago: “go where the action is” – the action now lies in designing for the new normal. After a year of virtually no travel we are ready and raring to go!