EXPAND | 2021 | NO. 2 | Making Places

November 1, 2021

Often designers can be captivated by the rush to innovate, making assumptions about how the spaces will be used and who will use them. Great design requires us to put aside our preconceived notions, to instead focus on listening to the existing conversations and to understand the needs of a community so we can create spaces that allow for functionality and adaptation beyond our personal involvement.
Over the past year, we have seen increasing interest in how individuals and groups of people engage with each other and their own spaces, both indoor and out. While all communities have universal needs, flexible, adaptable spaces, and their ability to serve the unique desires of an individual, have become key. This is not a sudden trend, but one that has been building for some time. Elevated from a “preference” to a “need” by circumstances that have demanded it, flexibility allows occupants to make a space their own and determine how THEY want to live in it. As designers, we strive to foster that self-expression, community appropriation, and evolution of space in our design solutions.

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