What Will We Make of This Moment?

This is a moment to think about what we're going to do in our built environments after COVID-19.

After September 11th the world was a scary place and many predicted that workers would not return to high rise Manhattan offices that would be seen as targets. Yet, over the next two decades, paused only by the financial crisis Manhattan real estate only got more expensive and coveted.

At the heart of it, people still want to be part of NY culture, and I think that will always endure. That said, people will not return simply because the buildings are there. There needs to be sufficient care taken to make sure occupants feel safe and their overall health and wellness is being considered. There is already motion in this direction started by the Delos group and the WELL Building Standard. But we can go further. We can work with the best science around circadian lighting, we can promote good screen time practices and we can employ light-based disinfection technology to make spaces safer and healthier than ever before.

Even those steps are not enough, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for lighting. We live in a neurodiverse world, it's important that our lighting solutions recognize this fact. The needs of individuals on the autism spectrum and with other sensory disorders must be taken into account when we design the future spaces we inhabit. The fact is if we design for this population will also be enabling the preferences and desires of all other building inhabitants.

Our preferences and needs shift not just from person to person, but from moment to moment and light can and should respond to these shifts. What does that look like in practice? It means tailoring visual preferences such as color temperature and brightness throughout the day, and according to user preferences. It means intelligent responses to screen time and exposure to natural light and it means a little fun (a pop of color, anyone?)

We can accomplish these things with products that integrate into our ceilings, ship quickly, and can be programmed wirelessly, but only if we start educating end-users, property developers, office planners, educators, and healthcare professionals now on what lighting can do.

Make no mistake. This is a moment, and if we want to keep designing the future, and if we want that future to not just be all of us on zoom all day every day, then we need to push design to the next level. Beyond LED, beyond energy code, and to a place of powerful design that makes a real impact on people’s lives.