On a cold, wet winter night in Adelaide last week, designers, architects and a number of Australian Design Review’s (ADR) Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) sponsors came together at the Zenith showroom to celebrate the announcement of the IDEA 2024 shortlist and explore the opportunities of design with technology for deeper impact.
Technology has evolved at lightning speed over the past few years. Acronyms such as VR, AR, AI and ChatGPT have become part of the vernacular. These technologies and countless others have already had, and will continue to have, a significant impact on the way architects and designers go about their design processes.
Acknowledging this and also being conscious of the anxiety that some of these tools elicit for the creative sector, ADR, in collaboration with IDEA sponsor Zenith — one of the most forward-thinking and technologically innovative furniture manufacturers in Australia — convened a panel discussion to dive into this far-ranging topic.
Moderating the panel was Sophia Leopardi, director of Williams Burton Leopardi. Leopardi kicked off the conversation by acknowledging that, for many in the industry, technology represents a big unknown, which can stir up anxieties. This set the scene for an open and honest discussion, where Emma Smith, interior designer and senior associate at Woods Bagot, shared she had to Google what some of the acronyms meant.
From there, the conversation moved on to consider ways in which technology is already being used in the industry. James Gilmore, major accounts ‑ strategic sales lead at Zenith, gave examples of the ways in which Zenith has been utilising augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies to support designers in a collaborative way for several years already. As Gilmore said, such technologies don’t replace the designer.
What they allow the designer and Zenith to do is focus on their client’s needs, reaching exceptional design outcomes more efficiently and sustainably, as these technologies can often eliminate the need for costly and time-consuming product prototyping.
The clear takeaway from the night was that technology is a tool. It is not something to be afraid of. Peter Zgirin, 30UNDER30 cohort member and co-founder of Wizzard Design, an AI archi-tech company, gave the beautiful analogy of a paintbrush.
He said that AI is akin to a paintbrush: give it to ten different artists and you’ll get ten distinct artworks. In the same way, what designers and architects can achieve with AI and these technologies depends on how they use them. AI won’t replace jobs, but embracing it is essential because the future is now.
AI is a tool, like a paintbrush.
Peter Zgirin
Smith, who is currently working on a large-scale hospital development project, further expanded on the ways that innovative human-centric technology can be integrated not only into design processes but also into the very fabric of the building itself to enhance the experience for people.
Smith said that although much of the technology in the medical space is complex, she has gained significant insight into how it is being used to enhance patient care and accelerate recovery times.
In some of the recovery units, the monitors that track a patient’s vital signs are connected to sensors that adjust the temperature and light levels in the room. If the patient falls asleep, the lights automatically dim. If the patient’s body temperature drops 0.1 of a degree, the room temperature adjusts accordingly. Smith said it’s these relatively simple things that integrated technology can achieve that have a significant impact on recovery time.
Thought-provoking questions from the audience came thick and fast. It was clear that the appetite for this topic, and the desire for the A&D community to both embrace technology and resist it at the same time, is very strong.
As one member of the audience suggested, perhaps this moment in history is akin to the Industrial Revolution, which spawned the Arts and Crafts movement. Confronted with industrialisation and mechanisation, designers embraced the antithesis of the machine, turning towards natural materials and hand-crafted organic forms as a gesture of the enduring importance of the human element in all things design.
The overall hope in the room on Thursday night was that by embracing technology to automate the more mundane and often laborious aspects of design — such as training an AI model to identify errors in documentation as Smith provided as an example — designers will be able to return to focusing on design.
While it remains to be seen whether a clear design movement akin to Arts and Crafts will transpire, if this year’s IDEA 2024 shortlist is indicative of a potential trend, then this hope — and our audience member’s — may not be far off. Rich materiality, response to Country, conscious sustainability, and thoughtful integration of technology with everyday life and work are present in almost every shortlisted project.
Click here to discover the shortlisted projects and critique them for yourself.
The Interior Design Excellence Awards, IDEA, are presented by Australian Design Review and Niche Media, with the support of our overall sponsor Miele alongside sponsors ForestOne, Crafted Hardwoods, Cult, Halliday + Baillie, Krost, Laufen, MillerKnoll, Neolith, and Zenith.
A special thank you to our IDEA event partner, Four Pillars Gin, whose delicious cocktails contributed to the flow of candid conversation.