Now more than ever, there is a bigger awareness on the importance of hygiene and its place in society. This impact has created a shift that sparked conversations on wellness, its definition, and how hygiene has cemented its place in it. With technology redefining safer sanitary options, bathrooms are now becoming more thought about than before. 

Leading this conversation by inspiring the future with purposeful design is American Standard Design Catalyst L!VE (ASDC) organised by sanitary ware brand American Standard, which is part of LIXIL. The inaugural webinar held on 23 March was attended by nearly 1,500 industry professionals and brought together thought leaders in the architecture and design community from the Asia Pacific region to share practical insights, current trends and thoughtful ideas.

Lively discussions flourished amongst the 15 expert speakers and highly engaged attendees touching on three macro trends: health and well-being, sustainability, and urbanisation.

Health & Well-being

The discussion kicked off with Health & Wellbeing in the hospitality industry with Hayley Mitchell from Mitchell & Eades (M&E) in Australia and Ivy Almario of Atelier Almario in the Philippines. Almario described the evolving design and technology of bathrooms over the last two decades as fundamentally changing the user experience and heightening expectations. “Hotels are seen as a laboratory for delivering multisensory delights and influencing consumers,” she explains.

Meanwhile, Mitchell transported the audience to India, Dubai and China to uncover M&E projects that combined well-being with design excellence. Mitchell showcased how purposeful design blends the use of light, space, temperature and water with the human senses of sight, sound, touch, and even natural circadian rhythms that affect alertness.

Related: Student exhibition explores what our healthcare system could look like in 2030

Sustainability

With over 60 per cent of the attendees highly anticipating the topic, Sustainability offered many thought-provoking insights. With the global wellness economy valued at USD 4.4 trillion, Jojo Tolentino from AIDEA in the Philippines shared that “an individual’s wellness is intrinsically linked to the wellness of their environment.” As most of our waking hours are spent within buildings, he says that “building developers and designers are stepping up to their game with intelligent design responses to enhance human well-being.”

Ary Indrajanto from Aboday in Indonesia spoke on the importance of inspiring the next generation of designers. Indrajanto shared his personal and professional journey that led him to redefine architecture and how broadening his audience into community-led projects could be of similar benefit and impact for younger designers. “As long as there is a passion for the community, architecture can be a generator and connector to bring prosperity to the community,” he explains.

Related: Design Conversation: Sustainable development in the furniture industry

Urbanisation

The final topic started on how smaller spaces can offer many opportunities. Rahul Kadri, from IMK Architects in India, used examples from India’s rapid urbanisation and high urban population density as starting points for discussing how designers and architects can catalyse design for high-density buildings to uplift living and hygiene standards.

With the knowledge that societies and economies will continue to evolve as they adapt to the development of shared infrastructures, services, and spaces, Rakesh Kumar of Godrej in India ended the webinar by sharing how designs for structures like micro-apartments and offices can offer solutions to urbanisation. With urbanisation on the rise, the discussion touched on design trends such as biophilic design, multi-use spaces, Internet of Things (IoT) technology and how they can bring practical benefit to communities.

Related: On Socially Sustainable Urbanisation: INDE. Luminary, Juan Du

The ASDC webinar is available for viewing now at www.americanstandard-apac.com/asdc. It can be streamed in English, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai and Vietnamese. More information on upcoming Design Catalyst L!VE sessions can be found at the American Standard Design Catalyst website and LinkedIn pages.

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